Educating Religiously in the Multi-Faith School: Donald Weeren

Ray Covell was a librarian in Kelowna, British Columbia.

Donald Weeren is a professor of education at St. Mary’s University, Halifax, and has developed a course for teachers entitled “The public schools and religious education.” He is thus well qualified to edit this book, which provides a rationale and various models for religious education in public, separate, and private schools. The author believes that schools should have religious studies as a necessary ingredient. Canadian practice varies a lot, from Newfoundland where public funding has been allocated exclusively to denominationally controlled schools, to British Columbia, where no clergyman of any denomination has been eligible for the position of superintendent, teacher, on trustee.

Weeren does not separate religious from secular education, and sees every teacher as a teacher of religion, as of English. Other authors discuss biblical literature in the high school and a religions of the world course for junior high school students. Parent attitudes and student remarks are documented, and most are toward religious education; one chapter is devoted to the Toronto model of daily readings and prayers, and another chapter addresses religious study in the regular curriculum.

This book will be of great interest to any school system which is considering initiating religious education, or which wishes to investigate ways of improving the religious education program which they already have in place.