Religion in the classroom: comparative observations

Abstract

As a profound characteristic of humanity that cannot be circumvented or dismissed, faith, religion and religious practices are ubiquitous. There is a direct link between the propagation of religions and education. Despite the fact that faith is a matter of intensely personal conviction, religious practices inevitably have communal and public dimensions, whereby society is directly involved. Since religion is foundational to strong and often oppositional convictions, it is essential that the state as keeper of the social peace is involved in regulating the repercussions of religious practices in society. The question here is how successful the South African educational system currently is in its regulation of religion in the classroom for the purposes of maintaining balance in this multireligious society.