Dialogue and difference

Religious identity, religious life and religious educationJoyce Miller

REDCoReligion in Education. A contribution to dialogue

or a factor of conflict in transforming societies of European Countries

Dialogue is different from conversation

Implies difference and the need for resolution

Difference is linked to aspect(s) of identity

Religious identityBritish Social Attitudes Survey of 2008 which

showed that religion, for many citizens, is a – and sometimes the – salient feature of their identity:

61% said that religion is an important aspect of how they define themselves

93% of Muslims said that religion is an important part of their identity

2009-10 Citizenship survey

The proportion of Muslim people who practised their religion increased over time (from 73% in 2005 to 79% in 2009-10), and this rise was particularly evident in the younger (16-29) age group (from 68% to 80%)

Religion per se did not predict the influence of religion on everyday life. Instead practice of religion and perceived importance of religion to a person’s identity were more important predictors (CLG 2011, 8).

Identity/ies – stereotype(s)

‘First we were Asian,

Then we were Pakis,

Now we’re Muslims.’Interviewee from the REDCo project

Separate phenomena

Samad and Sen point to the difference between:

Ethnicization of religion (Islam as identity marker)

Increasing religiosity

Rise of fundamentalism (2007,15).

Religious/ faith identities'The state has made faith identities…highly

salient through the formation of its policies... one consequence has been to construct adherence to the Islamic faith as the major category of self-definition for many people who would previously have seen themselves through the lens of ethnicity and national heritage’ (Husband & Alam, 2011, 204)

'There is a pervasive sense that when it comes to Islam in contemporary Britain, being devout is in itself a suspicious act' (205).

Political identityThe Rushdie affair became… ‘… The salient

event in the formation of a separate Muslim political identity in Britain’ (See e.g. Modood, 2010; Husband and Alam, 2011, 30, Goodhart 2013, 184)

It caused ‘young British born Muslims to reinvent the concept of the Ummah as global victims’ (Modood, 2006, 42)

A new sense of transnational identity and a stimulus to transnational political activity (Samad,2007, 11).

‘Racialised’ agenda‘their [i.e. Muslim] cultural and religious

distinctiveness, not within or due to structural

determinants or forces’… ‘the state itself has

promoted a programme of categorical

stereotyping of Muslim communities’ (Husband

& Alam, 2011, 58)

'Institutionalised anti-Muslimism' (207).

‘National collective’…now can best be shared as a collective

characteristic through a common opposition to another faith’ (Husband & Alam, 2011, 112)

an alien faith is not merely another signifier of difference; it is a highly salient and emotive basis for exclusion from the national collective (113)

‘…it is their difference that must be made explicit so that they can be clearly known as the cultural Trojan Horse that they are: hence the reification of religious difference as a vehicle for their ejection from the collective ethnos of the national body’ (116).

‘Clash of Civilizations’

… Muslims became what Samuel Huntington

described as the ‘ideal enemy’, a group that is

‘racially and culturally distinct and ideologically

hostile’.

(Kundnani, 2014,10).

Two modes of thinking

The roots of terrorism are:

1. Islamic culture’s failure to adapt to modernity – the conservative view

2. Not in Islam itself but 20th century idealogues who distort the religion to produce …Islamism’ – the liberal view (Kundnani, 2014, 10).

For example…

‘At the root of the crisis lies a

radicalised and politicised view of

Islam, an ideology that distorts and

warps Islam’s true message.’

Tony Blair, 23 April 2014

Singular identity‘…odd presumption that the people of the world

can be uniquely categorised according to some singular and overarching system of partitioning’

‘None can be taken alone to be the person's identity’

Intergroup strife can easily be fomented if credence is given to the solitarist approach to identity.

Amartya Sen (2006)

Religious identity and ideology

There needs to be a shift from focusing on religious ideology to a broader understanding of the factors that cohere to create extremist violent behaviour: political, economic, social, historical, moral and intellectual, as well as religious.

Does RE play into the hands of politicians and the media and their narrow understanding of the causes of extremism?

Religiosity and REYoung people are willing to respect

religious identity but they do not show respect for religiosity

Religious commitment and behaviour are viewed as ‘odd’

Julia Ipgrave (APPG evidence)

What, then, of RE?Need to explore both religious and political

aspects of Muslim/ Islamic identity, particularly

RE part of a whole school curriculum and needs to be seen in holistic context

If we focus on ‘real’ Islam’ do we concur with the view that ideology is the major issue?

Need to enable critique of views that oversimplify and generalise

Need to return to the question of what RE is for…

Critiques of REsilienceConflation of community cohesion and ‘Prevent’

State manipulation –e.g. Gearon, 2010, 2014

‘McCarthyism and instrumentalism– Moulin,

2012

Failure to address Islamophobia and Orientalism-

Revell, 2012.

‘Religious life’ cf ‘instrumentalism’

The relationship between religiosity and secularity

Issues of reification and generalisation

Buddhism as an example: Wisdom – interconnectedness Morality - intentionality Concentration – mindfulness

Some key Buddhist concepts: Citta Karma Authority – the Kalama sutta.

Is this the problem for RE? ‘… evidence of teachers’ confusion about what

they were trying to achieve in RE and how to translate this into effective planning, teaching and assessment. In many of the schools visited, the subject was increasingly losing touch with the idea that RE should be primarily concerned with helping pupils to make sense of the world of religion and belief’ (Ofsted, 2013, 14).

Does RE Work?

Are these the answers? 1

‘It should develop in pupils an aptitude

for dialogue so that they can participate

positively in our society with its diverse

religions and worldviews’ (RE Review,

2013,14) (my emphasis).

RE and socio-political issues? 2

RE should enable ‘critical discussion of

religion and religions within their

globalised and politicised context and

which also addresses controversial local

issues’

Michael Grimmitt ( 2010, 17).

RE as part of curriculum? 3

Signposts - Council of Europe’s work on religion and beliefs is closely linked to: Intercultural understandingHuman rightsEducation for democratic citizenship (2014, 15)

Pupils’ SMSC development

Duty to promote community cohesion

Secular transcendence? 4Identity seems now to imply membership of a

group, through ethnicity, affinity or religion or

otherwise. Rather than acknowledging the

miraculous privilege of existence as a conscious

being… it has reference now to knowing one’s

place culturally and historically speaking.

Marilynne Robinson: 2012, xiii

RE’s ‘multiple identities’? 5

There are many disciplines within our area of study and many facets to our work, we have varying and sometimes competing our aims and purposes, we have a range of content and skills and different values, we have different communities and interest groups and a wider range of schools than ever before

There is room for all of us with our differing priorities.

RE and community relations

RE is in a unique position because key questions about community relations are intrinsic to the content of our subject.

Why would RE teachers (or any teacher) not wish to promote better community relations?

ReferencesCannadine, D (2013) The Undivided Past. History

beyond our differences (London, Penguin)

CLG (2011) Race, Religion and Equalities: A report on the 2009-10 Citizenship Survey (London, DCLG)

Gearon, L (2010) ‘Which community? Whose cohesion? Community cohesion, citizenship and religious education: from revolutionary democracy to liberal autocracy’ in M. Grimmitt (Ed) Religious Education and Social and Community Cohesion (Great Wakering: McCrimmons)

ReferencesGearon, L (2014) ‘The counter-terrorist classroom:

countering extremism through (religious) education’ in Religion and Conflict (London, TonyBlairFaithFoundation)

Goodhart, D (2013) The British Dream: Successes and failures of post-war migration (London, Atlantic Books)

Grelle, B (2014) Unpublished plenary paper, ISREV

ReferencesGrimmitt, M (2010) ‘Introduction’ in Religious

Education and Social and Community Cohesion (Great Wakering: McCrimmons)

Husband, C and Alam, Y (2011) Social Cohesion and Counter-Terrorism: A policy contradiction (Bristol, The Policy Press)

Jackson, R (2014) Signposts (Strasbourg, Council of Europe Publishing)

References Kundnani, A (2014) The Muslims are coming! (London, Verso)

Malik, Z (2010) We are a Muslim, Please (London Heinemann)

Modood, T (2006) ‘British Muslims and the politics of multiculturalism’ in T. Modood, A. Triandafyllidou and R. Zapata-Barrero (Eds) Multiculturalism, Muslims and Citizenship: A European Approach (London, Routledge), 37-56

Modood, T (2010) Still Not Easy Being British (Stoke on Trentham Books)

Moulin, D (2012) ‘Religious Education in England After 9/11’ Religious Education (107:2) 158-173

Ofsted (2013) Religious Education: realising the potential (London, Ofsted)

References REC (2013) A Review of Religious Education in England .

http://resubjectreview.recouncil.org.uk/media/file/RE_Review.pdf

Revell, L (2012) Islam and Education (Stoke on Trent, Trentham)

Robinson, M (2012) When I was a Child I Read Books (London, Virago)

Samad, Y (2007) ‘Introduction’ in Y Samad and K Sen (eds) Islam in the European Union: Transnationalism, Youth and the War on Terror (Oxford, Oxford University Press)

Sen, A (2006) Identity and Violence: The illusion of destiny. (London, Allen Lane)

ReferencesWoodhead, L and Catto, R (2012) Religion and

Change in Modern Britain (London, Routledge)

Wright, A (2010) ‘Community, diversity and truth: What might local faith communities reasonably expect of religious education in the state schools of a secular democracy? ’ in M. Grimmitt (Ed) Religious Education and Social and Community Cohesion 131-144 (Great Wakering: McCrimmons)

Questions of identities??‘… religious and political authorities have a

great stake in using educational systems to promote “preferred” religious and national identities… So my question is – aren’t we really talking about replacing one preferred identity – a narrowly religious or nationalistic one – with an alternative preferred identity that is more inclusive and multicultural in nature? And to what extent does this require engagement not only in struggles for spiritual and educational reform, but in broader societal and political struggles as well?’

Question of dialogue

The Buddhist response is to go inward: to observe the mind, to practise mindfulness

‘Right speech’ - part of the Noble Eightfold Path

Mindfulness as a spiritual and a moral and a social exercise – none can be separated and each is explored within its context