Religionens mange dimensioner: Skoleteologi og muslimske børn i en dansk provinsskole

Authors

  • Sally Anderson

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.7146/tifo.v8i2.25337

Keywords:

folkeskolen, muslimer, teologi, provinsen,

Abstract

This article is based on fieldwork with young Muslim refugees from Iraq, Iran and Afghanistan, who attend small-town schools in the Danish countryside. The article explores the Danish schools’ ’mixed bag’ approach to religious education. Drawing on theology, philosophy, cultural history and the sociology of religion, the national curriculum privileges evangelical Lutheran Christianity while postulating a universal ’religious dimension’ in people’s lives. The article discusses how this school theology that highlights a common human religious attitude simultaneously excludes any serious discussion of a child’s relationship with God and the many other dimensions of religion that impact the lives of Muslim refugee children. While reporting that they enjoy learning about Christianity, Muslim children also feel compelled by God, family, classmates and their teacher’s lack of knowledge of Islam to find and hold on to their own religious convictions. In this they are surprisingly little helped by a subject designed to get at the religious dimension in people’s lives.

Author Biography

Sally Anderson

Sally Anderson har i mange år forsket i relationer mellem skole, børn og religion. Hendes feltarbejde i private trobaserede grundskoler og i folkeskolen har fokuseret på, hvordan religion kommer til udtryk i skolen og hvordan børn forholder sig til og deltager i udtryksformer forbundet med religion. Publikationer af interesse for TIFO læsere er: ”Going through the motions of ritual: Exploring the ’as if’ quality of religious sociality in faith-based schools (2011) og “Likeable children, uneasy children: Growing up Muslim in small-town Danish schools” (2014).

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Published

2017-02-05

How to Cite

Anderson, S. (2017). Religionens mange dimensioner: Skoleteologi og muslimske børn i en dansk provinsskole. Scandinavian Journal of Islamic Studies, 8(2), 77–100. https://doi.org/10.7146/tifo.v8i2.25337