Religious Education: Towards Building Communities in Asia

J. W. Gladstone ^[1]

In our quest for 'building communities' in the Asian context, religion plays an important role. Asia is a region of different living faiths. One is being born and brought up in a particular faith tradition. In fact, the religious roots of Asian culture are rather deep. Therefore religious education needs serious reflection. People of Asia in general are supposed to be more religious. The religious traditions, practices and experience provide the basis for the so-called Asian spirituality. Religious education takes place in different ways in the Asian situation. But here we are more concerned about formal religious education. We often speak about �Christian Education� which means the learning of Christian religion by Christians. The scope of �Religious Education� is certainly wider and relevant to a religiously plural society. So we speak more in terms of Religious Education which is a "broader type of education of, for and among seekers and learners who come from various religious groups or faith communities."^[2]

Religious education, in a narrow sense, can often foster 'exclusiveness' of one�s own faith. This type of religious education does not help the creation of communities that we here envisage. Instead it can lead to the fostering of religious fundamentalism which is proved to be a threat to the harmony of social life itself. It is indeed a threat to human society. We reflect more in terms of peace and harmony partly because the world today has been threatened by the forces of religious fundamentalism. The growth of fundamentalism causes the breaking down of 'communities'. Religious education imparted in the wrong direction can legitimize the socio-economic imbalances, exploitation, negation of human values, etc. We have enough examples in the history of education. Therefore, religious education is to be fostered in the right direction, so as to develop communities based on justice and peace.

Dimensions of Religious Education

Religious Education in the context of our discussion has two dimensions.

First is an earnest attempt to know the faith of others who are our neighbors. This should enable us to understand the positive values and to appreciate them. Sometimes, Christian exclusiveness may prevent us from having this perspective. In the missionary traditions of Asia (acknowledging their great contributions to the socio-cultural revival) which had shared the colonial superiority, this aspect of an attempt to know the other was almost absent. Dr. K. P. Aleaz has pointed out the response of Swamy Vivekananda to such an attitude: �You train and educate and clothe and pay men to do what? To come over to my country to abuse all my forefathers, my religion, and everything. They walk near a temple, and say, 'You idolaters, you will go to hell��. Needless to say that those who are engaged in Religious Education need to develop open mindedness.

Second is a genuine self-understanding about one�s own faith. A deeper analysis of one's own faith need not make a person fundamentalist or exclusivist. It is where we could envisage the process of building of communities.

For various reasons, we claim to have responsibility to engage in religious education. Jesus Christ taught with authority. The emphasis that Jesus Christ gave to 'relationship' between one another cannot be minimized. In the Sermon on the Mount, the use of the term �righteousness� and the six examples that followed (Matthew 5:21ff.) indicate the importance that Jesus Christ gave for relatedness. This can form the basis for an authentic Religious Education, which would lead to 'building communities'. Also the entire Christian tradition fosters the study of scripture, tradition, etc. The missionary movement had given such an importance to education. We also have an ongoing process of teaching and learning. Moreover, the message of the Kingdom of God is to be communicated to others. However, Religious Education needs to be relevant to the context, to Asian realities.

Concerns of Religious Education

Some of the concerns of a relevant religious education in our context are given below.

1. It should address the contextual realities. The context has been marked by pluralities, socio-economic imbalances, growing religious fundamentalism and tensions. These realities should provide the necessary background for a meaningful religious study.
    

2. Issues or emerging issues are to be taken into consideration. Some of these issues are:

   1. Gender Justice: Interpretation of the Scripture cannot be used to justify or foster the inequality of the sexes. Women in Asian societies are oppressed. A genuine search for truth should be a force for liberation. Only then will it become good news to the oppressed.

   2. The marginalized sections of society should receive the good news of acceptance in the total life of society and the 'fullness of life' which Jesus Christ has given.

   3. The creation of God should receive 'peace'. Religious Education should not legitimize the destruction or indiscriminate exploitation of the environment which God has created. A spirituality may emerge which would enable the protection of the entire creation.

   4. Those who are in the darkness of frustration and hopelessness, as a result of various forces which encircle them, should receive new hope.
       

3. The concerns pointed above makes an appropriate hermeneutics essential. The criteria of a relevant hermeneutics on the one hand is the proclamation of the Good News and the other is the affirmation of life-giving values as against the life-negating values. God's love is to be revealed in the varied life situations.
    

4. A relevant understanding about the mission of the church should emerge in this process. Communication of the gospel is essential to the life of the church. The communication may impart an impetus to the transformation of people and structures. Though the church in Asia is a minority religious group, it can be a source of the prophetic voice for justice and peace.
    

5. A relevant Religious Education should lead to practical experience of building up of relationships with and among peoples of other faiths, ideologies, etc. We do have some experiences in different parts of Asia in this direction. In the midst of pluralities, the expression of God's love can create communities across the barriers which have been created by 'man'.

A relevant religious education leads to changes in the understanding about 'the other'. This necessitates radical changes in everyone. This can be related to the experience of transformation and repentance which has been proclaimed as necessary for the Kingdom of God (Mark 1:15). The transformation leads to openness to the other.

Possible Methods

Apart from having a relevant hermeneutics, possible methods may be explored towards the building of communities. These include the following:

1. Common studies and sharing of experiences

2. Issue/problem oriented joint actions

3. Participation in celebrations

4. Dialogue

5. New curriculum and new pedagogies in theological institutions

6. Attempts at Religious Education at the grass-roots level by local congregations

New Endeavors

Religious educators need to find new and appropriate practices for doing contextual ecumenical or pluralist Religious Education. �A truly contextual, ecumenical or pluralist religious education theory implies new perspective, new goal, new content, and new ways of doing things.�^[3] �If the vision is for a more neighborly, just and peaceful world, then the practices of Religious Education should include equipping the people for neighborliness, hospitality, justice-seeking, peace-making, and the struggle for fullness of life for all.�^[4] Compassion, companionship, communion, community. They all point to the interrelated elements of an ecumenical or pluralist Religious Education so needed in our plural context.�^[5]

The Asian context, the situation around us, demands us to engage in ecumenical Religious Education which can be a motivating force towards the building of communities.

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