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Despite the increased trend towards secularisation in state schooling, issues of religion and spirituality have remained important. Increased pluralism within societies through expanding migration patterns is changing the religious and cultural contours of many countries in Europe and North America, and is creating a need for a deeper understanding of religious diversity. However, the lack of religious or spiritual education within the educational curriculum leaves a moral vacuum that can become a space to be exploited by religious extremism. More recently, religiously motivated incidences of terrorism in several parts of the world have heightened prejudicial attitudes and distrust of certain religions, in particular. These are profound concerns and there is an urgency to examine how religion, religious education and interfaith initiatives can address such misconceptions. This book is thus timely, focusing on an area that is often neglected, particularly on the role of religion in education for sustainable development. While religious organisations and faith communities have had a long history of involvement in both schooling and social service delivery in many countries, their role in reaching development goals has not always been explicitly recognised, as is evident even in the United Nations' most recently conceptualised 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Undeniably, the integration of religious dialogue into mainstream development issues is crucial because deep cleavages resulting from the issue of minority religious rights continue to give cause for concern and conflict in many countries. This edited book explores some of these tensions and issues and draws parallels across differing geographical contexts to help enhance our collective and comparative understanding of the role of religious education and institutions in advancing the post-2015 development agenda. The contributors to this volume each demonstrate that, while religion in education can contribute to understanding and respect, it is also a space that can be contested and co-opted. Without addressing the salience of religion, however, it will not be possible to foster peace and combat discrimination and prejudice. This book will be of interest to researchers, scholars and students in the field of comparative education and development, religious studies, theology and teacher development and training. This book may also be of interest to national and international policy makers. There are also numerous faith-based organisations, as well as other non-governmental organisations (NGOs) working on religion and education issues that may find these case studies a useful resource. Following a foreword by Keith Watson, this book presents the following chapters: (1) Religion and Education from a Comparative and International Perspective: Issues, Tensions and Possibilities (Malini Sivasubramaniam, Ruth Hayhoe); (2) Global Education Challenges: Exploring Religious Dimensions (Katherine Marshall); (3) Confucius Institutes and Classrooms as Educational Partnerships in Africa: The 2030 Agenda of Sustainable Development from a Confucian Perspective (Jun Li); (4) The Internationalization of Religious Higher Education: A Comparative Study of Christian Universities in South Korea and Canada (Christina Hwang); (5) Islamic Education in Post-Soviet Tajikistan: A Tool in Creating and Sustaining a Nation-State (Sarfaroz Niyozov); (6) The Role of the Church and Religious Learning of Young Women Migrant Workers in Western China (Vilma Seeberg, Shujuan Luo, Ya Na); (7) Inter-Religious Dialogue and Education: Three Historical Encounters Between Christianity, Buddhism and Confucianism (Ruth Hayhoe); (8) Religious Education in a Multi-Religious Context: An Examination of Four Religious Schools in Hong Kong (Mei-Yee Wong); (9) State Schooling and Religious Education for Muslim Hui Students in Northwestern China: Changing Perceptions and New Developments (Xinyi Wu); (10) The Buddhist Approach to a School-Based Curriculum: The Effective Learning Innovation That Promotes Human Values to Learners for Sustainable Living in Thailand (Prapapat Niyom, Art-Ong Jumsai Na Ayudhaya, Witit Rachatatanun, Benjamin Vokes); (11) Modernizing Islamic Education: Bangladesh and Senegal (Lauren Herzog, Nathaniel Adams); (12) Faith-Based Low-Fee Private Schools in Kenya and Haiti: The Paradox of Philanthropy and Enterprise (Malini Sivasubramaniam, Steve Sider); (13) Religious Education in the Israeli State School System (Yaacov J. Katz); (14) Religious Education in Northern Ireland: Conflict, Curriculum and Criticism (L. Philip Barnes); (15) Mainstreaming Madrassas in India: Resistance or Co-Optation? (Huma Kidwai); (16) Religion's Uneasy Return to the Russian School: A Contested and Inconsistent Desecularization 'From above' (Elena Lisovskaya); (17) The Role of Religious Education in Countering Religious Extremism in Diverse and Interconnected Societies (Ratna Ghosh, W. Y. Alice Chan); and (18) A Multicultural Analysis of School Policies on Religion in 20 Western Democracies, and Their Challenges for Accommodating Migrant Religions: A Cluster Analysis (Bruce A. Collet, Hyeyoung Bang).

Despite the increased trend towards secularization in state schooling, issues of religion and spirituality have remained important. Increased pluralism within societies through expanding migration patterns is changing the religious and cultural contours of many countries in Europe and North America, and is creating a need for a deeper understanding of religious diversity. However, the lack of religious or spiritual education within the educational curriculum leaves a moral vacuum that can become a space to be exploited by religious extremism. More recently, religiously motivated incidences of terrorism in several parts of the world have heightened prejudicial attitudes and distrust of certain religions, in particular. These are profound concerns and there is an urgency to examine how religion, religious education and interfaith initiatives can address such misconceptions. This book is thus timely, focusing on an area that is often neglected, particularly on the role of religion in education for sustainable development. While religious organisations and faith communities have had a long history of involvement in both schooling and social service delivery in many countries, their role in reaching development goals has not always been explicitly recognized, as is evident even in the United Nations' most recently conceptualized 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Undeniably, the integration of religious dialogue into mainstream development issues is crucial because deep cleavages resulting from the issue of minority religious rights continue to give cause for concern and conflict in many countries. This edited book explores some of these tensions and issues and draws parallels across differing geographical contexts to help enhance our collective and comparative understanding of the role of religious education and institutions in advancing the post-2015 development agenda. The contributors to this volume each demonstrate that, while religion in education can contribute to understanding and respect, it is also a space that can be contested and co-opted. Without addressing the salience of religion, however, it will not be possible to foster peace and combat discrimination and prejudice. This book will be of interest to researchers, scholars and students in the field of comparative education and development, religious studies, theology and teacher development and training. This book may also be of interest to national and international policy makers. There are also numerous faith-based organisations, as well as other non-governmental organisations (NGOs) working on religion and education issues that may find these case studies a useful resource. Contents include: (1) Religion and Education from a Comparative and International Perspective: Issues, Tensions and Possibilities (Malini Sivasubramaniam and Ruth Hayhoe); Section One. Internationalizing/Globalizing Religious Values: (2) Global Education Challenges: Exploring Religious Dimensions (Katherine Marshall); (3) Confucius Institutes and Classrooms as Educational Partnerships in Africa: The 2030 Agenda of Sustainable Development from a Confucian Perspective (Jun Li); (4) The Internationalization of Religious Higher Education: A Comparative Study of Christian Universities in South Korea and Canada (Christina Hwang); (5) Islamic Education in Post-Soviet Tajikistan: A Tool in Creating and Sustaining a Nation-State (Sarfaroz Niyozov); (6) The Role of the Church and Religious Learning of Young Women Migrant Workers in Western China (Vilma Seeberg, Shujuan Luo, and Ya Na); (7) Inter-religious Dialogue and Education: Three Historical Encounters between Christianity, Buddhism and Confucianism (Ruth Hayhoe); Section Two. Curriculum, Pedagogy and School Leadership: (8) Religious Education in a Multi-religious Context: An Examination of Four Religious Schools in Hong Kong (Mei-Yee Wong); (9) State Schooling and Religious Education for Muslim Hui Students in Northwestern China: Changing Perceptions and New Developments (Xinyi Wu); (10) The Buddhist Approach to a School-based Curriculum: The Effective Learning Innovation that Promotes Human Values to Learners for Sustainable Living in Thailand (Prapapat Niyom, Art-ong Jumsai Na Ayudhaya, Witit Rachatatanun, and Benjamin Vokes); (11) Modernizing Islamic Education: Bangladesh and Senegal (Lauren Herzog, and Nathaniel Adams); (12) Faith-based Low-fee Private Schools in Kenya and Haiti: The Paradox of Philanthropy and Enterprise (Malini Sivasubramaniam and Steve Sider); (13) Religious Education in the Israeli State School System (Yaacov J. Katz); Section Three. Religion in Policy Processes and Conflict Resolution: (14) Religious Education in Northern Ireland: Conflict, Curriculum and Criticism (L. Philip Barnes); (15) Mainstreaming Madrassas in India: Resistance or Co-Optation? (Huma Kidwai); (16) Religion's Uneasy Return to the Russian School: A Contested and Inconsistent Desecularization "From Above" (Elena Lisovskaya); (17) The Role of Religious Education in Countering Religious Extremism in Diverse and Interconnected Societies (Ratna Ghosh and W. Y. Alice Chan); and (18) A Multicultural Analysis of School Policies on Religion in 20 Western Democracies, and Their Challenges for Accommodating Migrant Religions: A Cluster Analysis (Bruce A. Collet and Hyeyoung Bang). Notes on Contributors is included. [Foreword by Keith Wilson.]