Exploring the social benefit of religious education in post primary schools within the Republic of Ireland : an empirical enquiry among 13- to 15-year-old students

Religious Education as currently conceived within post-primary schools in the Republic of Ireland, following the introduction of State-sponsored syllabuses, in 2000 and 2003, is designed to equip students to understand their own religious tradition or non-religious worldview and also to reflect on the religious traditions and worldviews of others. It seeks to help young people live within the religiously diverse communities that make up Ireland today, promoting respect for diverse religious and non-religious ways of living. Drawing on a survey of 3,000 13- to 15-year-old students from schools across the Republic of Ireland, this study examines the effect of learning from religious education on attitude toward religious diversity as relevant for community cohesion. The data demonstrate that, after taking individual differences in personal factors, psychological factors and religious factors into account, learning from religious education in school adds significantly to shaping a positive attitude toward religious diversity. This finding suggests that reducing commitment to religious education of this kind within post-primary schooling in the Republic of Ireland is likely to render young people less well equipped to live with religiously diversity and consequently to damage community cohesion