1st Edition
Young People’s Attitudes to Religious Diversity
Investigating the hitherto unexplored topic of how young people understand and relate to religious diversity in the social context in which they are growing up, this book makes a significant contribution to the existing body of literature on religious diversity and multiculturalism. It closes a gap in knowledge about young people’s attitudes to religious diversity, and reports data gathered across the whole of the UK as well as comparative chapters on Canada, USA and continental Europe. Reporting findings from both qualitative and quantitative research which reveal, for example, the importance of the particular social and geographical context within which young people are embedded, the volume addresses young people’s attitudes towards the range of 'world religions’ as well as non-religious stances and offers an interdisciplinary approach through the different analytical perspectives of the contributors.
Part 1. Setting the Context
1. The ‘Young People’s Attitudes to Religious Diversity’ Project in the Context of Warwick Religions and Education Research Unit (WRERU) Research
Robert Jackson & Ursula McKenna
2. The Qualitative Strand: Listening in Depth
Elisabeth Arweck & Julia Ipgrave
3. The Quantitative Strand: An Individual Differences Approach
Leslie J Francis, Gemma Penny & Mandy Robbins
Part 2. Qualitative perspectives
4. Sources of Knowledge and Authority: Religious Education for Young Muslims in a Birmingham Comprehensive School
Julia Ipgrave
5. Uniting Two Communities or Creating a Third Community? Research in a Northern Irish Integrated School
Julia Ipgrave
6. Cradling Catholics in Secular Scotland: Research in a Scottish Roman Catholic High School
Julia Ipgrave
7. The Matter of Context: The Case of Two Community Schools in Wales
Elisabeth Arweck
8. Religious Diversity as a Personal and Social Value: Impressions from a Multicultural School in London
Elisabeth Arweck
Part 3. Quantitative Perspectives
9. Does RE Work and Contribute to the Common Good in England?
Leslie J Francis, Gemma Penny & Ursula McKenna
10. Testing the ‘Worlds apart’ Thesis: Catholic and Protestant Schools in Northern Ireland
Leslie J Francis, Gemma Penny & Philip Barnes
11. Growing up Catholic in Scotland: Not One Catholic Community but Three
Leslie J Francis, Gemma Penny & Peter Neil
12. Schools with a Religious Character and Community Cohesion in Wales
Leslie J Francis, Gemma Penny & Tania ap Siôn
13. The Personal and Social Significance of Diverse Religious Affiliation in Multi-faith London
Leslie J Francis & Gemma Penny
Part 4. International Engagement
14. Young People and Religious Diversity: A Canadian Perspective
Lori G. Beaman, Peter Beyer and Christine L. Cusack
15. A Collage of Contexts: Young People and Religious Diversity in the United States
Mary Elizabeth Moore
16. Young People and Religious Diversity: A European Perspective, with Particular Reference to Germany
Alexander Yendell
Biography
Elisabeth Arweck is Principal Research Fellow in the Warwick Religions and Education Research Unit (WRERU), Centre for Education Studies, University of Warwick, and the Editor of the Journal of Contemporary Religion. Her recent research has focused on young people’s attitudes to religious diversity and the religious socialisation and nurture of young people. Recent publications include a number of co-authored articles (with Eleanor Nesbitt) and (co-edited) volumes, such as Religion and Knowledge (with Mathew Guest, Ashgate 2013), Exploring Religion and the Sacred in a Media Age (with Chris Deacy, Ashgate 2009) and Reading Religion in Text and Context (with Peter Collins, Ashgate 2006). She is the author of several book chapters and of Researching New Religious Movements in the West (Routledge 2007) and co-author (with Peter Clarke) of New Religious Movements in Western Europe: An Annotated Bibliography (Greenwood Press 1997).
"This volume makes particularly valuable and original contributions to the public debate about religious diversity not only because it tackles such a ‘hot button’ topic but also because its approach foregrounds young people’s own opinions and attitudes. Contributors are also careful to clarify the theoretical debates in which their empirical investigations are grounded and the methods that they used to collect information. Readers will appreciate the book’s extensive scope as well as its intensive drilling down into robust findings about young people and their attitudes to religious diversity."
- James A. Beckford, Professor Emeritus of Sociology at the University of Warwick
"This book offers a fascinating insight into young people’s attitudes to religious diversity that ought to be obligatory reading for anyone concerned with supporting peaceful coexistence. The foregrounding of young people’s perspectives should be commended because this provision of agency gives rare and pertinent understanding into the defining experiences of a generation informing the future of the UK and its relations to the world. Scholars, teachers and policymakers will hopefully listen and take appropriate action so as to ensure social cohesion."
- Louise K. Gramstrup, The University of Edinburgh in Journal of Beliefs & Values, 2017