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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History of Religions
History of the 3 Monotheistic religions (Judaism, Christianity and Islam) and of the main different Christianity confessions (Roman Catholicism, Eastern Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy, Anglicanism and Protestantism)
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Pedagogical Approaches
New pedagogical approaches to teach history of religion
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Role of Religions in Civilization
How to didactically promote among students of different confessions, the capacity of a critical analysis and understanding of the role played by religions in the history of mankind
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Interreligious Students’ Competences
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
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Managing Multi-Religious Classes
Teaching Sources to help teachers dealing with multicultural and multi-religious classes
Map
An interactive didactical map interactive didactical map giving access to sites with a religious relevance.-
Introduction
A comparative review of the liturgical celebrations, ceremonies and dietary rules existing in the different religions.
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Celebrations
Description and comparative analysis of the celebrations of different religions and confessions
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Ceremonies
Description and comparative analysis of the ceremonies of different religions and confessions
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Dietary Rules
Description and comparative analysis of the dietary rules of different religions and confessions
Events
The Pathway through Religions project has been promoted trough conferences and articles.
Conferences
The Pathway through Religions project was presented in a number of events in order to report about the activities carried out and the results achieved
Press Review
The Pathway through Religions project partnership made contacts with web sites focusing on the fields of educationPartnership
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Contractual Partners
From this section it is possible to access to a description of each contractual partner of the Pathway through Religions project.
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Schools
From this section it is possible to access to the information about the schools involved in the Pathway through Religions Project in the European countries involved.
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Associated Partners
As a result of the exploitation activity a number of associated partners officially joined the project in order to contribute to the improvement of the project impact on their target groups and to ensure the project sustainability by continuing using the project deliverables in the next years.
This section of the Pathway through Religions portal provides administrative information for the project contractual partners and for the European Commission and it is password protected.
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
5. Religion and Politics
The relation between religion and politics is still an important topic among political philosophers. The teacher can ask students what their first ideas are about the link (or not) between politics and religion in the main religions in Europe.
This topic is important since religions often make strong claims on people’s allegiance, while the right to freedom of conscience is recognized as well as the need for a sort of separation between the Church and the State. For instance, in some countries, religion and politics are strictly separate (for instance in France) and in some others the separation is not as clear (for instance the United Kingdom where the Queen/King is head of the State and head of the Church). But religion and politics can interact with each other very easily. For instance, Islam has traditionally held that all people owe obedience to Allah’s will. Thus, it is probably inevitable that religious commitments will sometimes come into conflict with the demands of politics. But religious beliefs and practices also potentially support politics in many ways. The extent and form of this support is as important to political philosophers as is the possibility of conflict.
On the political perspective, religion can strongly influence which party a person votes for, and on the religious perspective, political views can play a major role in religious conversion – in other words, people can sometimes change religions or denominations in order to find a suitable party for their political beliefs.
That is to say, even when politics and religion are supposed to be strictly separated, they may interact with each other and people cannot always separate them when thinking about one of them and making up their minds.
This topic is important since religions often make strong claims on people’s allegiance, while the right to freedom of conscience is recognized as well as the need for a sort of separation between the Church and the State. For instance, in some countries, religion and politics are strictly separate (for instance in France) and in some others the separation is not as clear (for instance the United Kingdom where the Queen/King is head of the State and head of the Church). But religion and politics can interact with each other very easily. For instance, Islam has traditionally held that all people owe obedience to Allah’s will. Thus, it is probably inevitable that religious commitments will sometimes come into conflict with the demands of politics. But religious beliefs and practices also potentially support politics in many ways. The extent and form of this support is as important to political philosophers as is the possibility of conflict.
On the political perspective, religion can strongly influence which party a person votes for, and on the religious perspective, political views can play a major role in religious conversion – in other words, people can sometimes change religions or denominations in order to find a suitable party for their political beliefs.
That is to say, even when politics and religion are supposed to be strictly separated, they may interact with each other and people cannot always separate them when thinking about one of them and making up their minds.
Online Resources
- Five Ways Religions can influence Political Beliefs This is an article explaining the views of Ryan Williams LaMothe from the St. Meinrad School of Theology about how religion can affect political beliefs at the individual level.
- Religion and Politics This article explains the history of religion and politics throughout the centuries, notably exploring the themes of establishment and separation, toleration, liberalism, etc.
Practical Activity
- Religion and PoliticsThe activity is a discussion about the links between religion and politics according to different countries.
