Promoting fundamentalist belief? How scripture is presented in three religious education programmes in Catholic primary schools in Australia and England and Wales

ABSTRACT

Regardless of what method is chosen for formal religious education, the fundamental principle of all catechetical activity in the Catholic Church is fidelity to the Word of God and the concrete needs of the faithful. This article will argue, however, that fidelity to the Word of God falls short of the requirements of the Catholic Church in the three religious education curriculum schemes that dominate current religious education in Australia and England and Wales. Utilising a set of ‘best practice’ principles drawn from documents of the Catholic Church and developed by the author in an unpublished doctoral thesis this article identifies and describes practices which misrepresent and distort Scripture. In its own terms, good hermeneutics should be a priority for Catholic religious education. This article reveals significant hermeneutical problems with prominent Catholic religious education programmes in three countries.

KEYWORDS:

• Scripture
• religious education
• fundamentalism
• Catholic Schools
• hermeneutics

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Margaret Carswell

Margaret Carswell (PhD) is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Religious Education at Australian Catholic University. Her research interests are religious education curriculum development in Catholic schools, teaching Scripture authentically and the role of the language in the development of a conception of God.