Lifelong Learning Programme

This project has been funded with support from the European Commission.
This web site reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.

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Role of Religions in Civilization

Homepage > Teachers’ Guide > Role of Religions in Civilization

Set of teaching contents, to be used by teachers to highlight and valorize the universal values of tolerance and universalisms that all Monotheistic religions and religious texts contain to promote and sustain mutual understanding among students

Role of Religions in Civilization

Table of Content

1. Religion and Religious Structures as Incentives for Education and Enlightenment
The teacher can help students draw a line between religion and education. Indeed, all religions recognize the importance of education from childhood through adulthood: of course, they emphasize the importance of having knowledge about god, but also the importance of education in a global way in order to develop as human beings and citizenship.

For example, the Bible speaks of the moral and spiritual instructions of believers in general and more particularly of children. It underlines the value of knowledge and defines its moral and spiritual advantages. When the Roman Emperor Constantine in the early fourth century embraced Christianity, Christian organizations began to highly develop modern institutions. The earliest universities in Italy trained their students in canon law, in theology and in the humanities. Almost all of the American and Western European universities founded until the mid-19th century were founded by religious organisations. Those organisations were more or less involved depending on the institution, but almost all of the universities and colleges have been influenced by them at some point.

Education and the importance of knowledge are also strongly emphasised in the Quran. For instance, the first verse begins with the word «Read», and says: “Read. Read in the name of thy Lord who created; [He] created the human being from a blood clot. Read in the name of thy Lord who taught by the pen: [He] taught the human being what he did not know." (96: 1-5). In the Quran, the Prophet preaches about the importance of knowledge, but also gives examples of promoting knowledge (for instance, at the battle of Badr between the Muslims and unbelievers, the Muslims won the battle and caught some prisoners: one of the criteria for releasing the prisoners was that those who were literate could go free if they taught ten Muslim children how to write and read).

Of course, those are just examples, and the idea of highlighting the importance of education can be applied to other religions as well. The teacher can also use the example of many online religious organisations which highly support education or provide teachers with information or ideas to help them with their students, such as, for instance, the Religion and Public Education Project, Islamic Networks Group, Sikh Coalition – Resources for Educators, Religious Literacy Project, Teaching About Religion in Support of Civic Pluralism, Institute on Religion and Civic Values (formerly the Council on Islamic Education). A list of those organizations and their aims is available online: http://religiousworldsnyc.org/resource-page/online-curricula. Looking at those organisations, one can notice the diverse spectrum of different religions.
Online Resources
Practical Activity
  • Linking religion to education The activity presents to students the key concepts of religions and the benefits of education, and makes the students draw a line between the two.

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This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This web site reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.