How do Secondary-level World Religions classes affect the personal faith lives of students who take them?
Abstract
Inspired by Nostra Aetate and Vatican II, many US Catholic High Schools developed and offered World Religions or Comparative Religions classes for their students in the late 20th Century. At one time, it was common to find World Religions as a required religion or theology course within Catholic High Schools all over the US. Today, it is more common to find such a course as an elective, if offered at all. As historically Catholic and Christian nations become more religiously diverse, young people live in pluralistic societies, where truth is harder to identify, especially without alienating those who believe differently than they do. In such a cultural setting, young people find it hard to claim and own their religious beliefs and fear that, if they do, they will be seen as judgmental, exclusionary, and intolerant by their peers. The proposed study seeks to learn whether High School World Religions classes can hold two tasks together at once: 1.) improve knowledge of and empathy for practitioners of different religions and 2.) help students feel more confident in their Catholic Christian identity and better articulate their faith in Jesus Christ and the Church. A rough proposal for methods to complete this study would include both qualitative and quantitative methods. Interviews with both theology teachers and high school students in and out of World Religions classes could provide insight into the cognitive and affective development that occurs through them. Coupled with quantitative data from pre- and post-testing students who take these courses, this study could begin to find answers to not only whether World Religions courses can help students grow in their Catholic faith, but how teachers can support that growth for all students.
How do Secondary-level World Religions classes affect the personal faith lives of students who take them?
Inspired by Nostra Aetate and Vatican II, many US Catholic High Schools developed and offered World Religions or Comparative Religions classes for their students in the late 20th Century. At one time, it was common to find World Religions as a required religion or theology course within Catholic High Schools all over the US. Today, it is more common to find such a course as an elective, if offered at all. As historically Catholic and Christian nations become more religiously diverse, young people live in pluralistic societies, where truth is harder to identify, especially without alienating those who believe differently than they do. In such a cultural setting, young people find it hard to claim and own their religious beliefs and fear that, if they do, they will be seen as judgmental, exclusionary, and intolerant by their peers. The proposed study seeks to learn whether High School World Religions classes can hold two tasks together at once: 1.) improve knowledge of and empathy for practitioners of different religions and 2.) help students feel more confident in their Catholic Christian identity and better articulate their faith in Jesus Christ and the Church. A rough proposal for methods to complete this study would include both qualitative and quantitative methods. Interviews with both theology teachers and high school students in and out of World Religions classes could provide insight into the cognitive and affective development that occurs through them. Coupled with quantitative data from pre- and post-testing students who take these courses, this study could begin to find answers to not only whether World Religions courses can help students grow in their Catholic faith, but how teachers can support that growth for all students.