Patrick Loobuyck

Towards Integrative Religious Education in Belgium and Flanders: Challenges and Opportunities.

This article describes the way in which religious education (RE) has been organised in Flanders and Belgium, and gives attention to the problems and challenges that arise these days. We argue that the Schoolpact of 1958 which implies separate RE in different religions in public schools needs a revision. Therefore, we propose an alternative system, within the boundaries of the Belgian constitution that makes room for integrative RE as a new compulsory school subject in all schools.

The Future of Religious Education on the Flemish School Curriculum: A Plea for Integrative Religious Education for All

Abstract After an elaboration of the paradigm shift concerning religious education in Europe, we will give a critical presentation of the Belgian and Flemish system of religious education. The article continues with a discussion of diverse proposals to change the religious education system in Flanders, and concludes that the introduction of an independent, nondenominational, and obligatory subject about religions, ethics, citizenship, and philosophy is the most promising option. In addition, denominational religious education can still be offered as an optional subject. This double system seems the best approach to cope with the educational challenges, the freedom of religion, and (religious) education in Flanders today.

Church–State Regimes and their Impact on the Institutionalization of Islamic Organizations in Western Europe: A Comparative Analysis

Since the 1990s, the establishment and recognition of representative bodies for Muslim communities in Western European countries have been an important political and social topic. In many immigration countries in Europe, there were a variety of initiatives. In this article, we shall discuss to what extent particular church–state regimes are crucial to the understanding of the genealogy of these representative Muslim organizations. Four countries in Europe, including Belgium, France, Germany, and the UK, are studied in a comparative manner. These countries have very different church–state regimes which makes it possible to explore how and if the emergence of several Muslim councils was structured by pre-existing church–state practices and arrangements. After an introduction and a description of the research hypotheses, the paper provides first a brief overview of the church–state relations in the four European nations and then outlines the genealogy of their Muslim representative bodies. Finally, the similarities and differences among these institutions are discussed in the light of three research hypotheses. In conclusion, we are able to demonstrate that, contrary to general belief, it is largely not the case that the emergence of various Muslim councils in the different states was structured by pre-existing church–state arrangements.

Introduction: mapping the multiculturalism-interculturalism debate

Since the 1970s multiculturalist policies that recognize and accommodate ethnocultural diversity have been implemented across western democracies. However, the tide seems to have changed: a ‘backlash against multiculturalism’ has been occurring since the 1990s. While it remains unclear whether this backlash is a matter of rhetoric or if there is indeed a wholesale retreat from multiculturalism, several scholars, politicians and journalists have invoked a pervasive narrative of the rise/advance and fall/retreat of multiculturalism. ‘Interculturalism’ has been introduced as a remedy, being allegedly well-suited to address some of the shortcomings of the multicultural approach. In this introduction to the Special Issue, which is about the key texts of Tariq Modood and Ricard Zapata Barrero, we present and question the nexus between the two terms. How has the ‘multiculturalism-interculturalism’ debate been held so far?

Neutrality and impartiality in RE: an impossible aim?

From confessional to nonconfessional Over recent decades, there has been a shift in several western nations from confessional to non-confessional religious education. This ‘paradigm shift’ (Franken and Loobuyck 2011) is the result of a changed religious landscape: due to immigration, individualisation and secularisation, the religious landscape in Western Europe (and in several other parts of the world) changed substantively. Accordingly, the aims of religious education changed as well: for a long time, the main aim of religious education in Europe (and elsewhere) was to respond to parents’ wishes to educate their children in their own denominational (Christian) tradition. Today, however, the aims of religious education are formulated in a more open and pluralistic way and accordingly, religious education classes have been deconfessionalised in several western nations (e.g. Sweden, Norway, Denmark, and in fully state funded schools in England and Wales, and Scotland) or regions (e.g. Brandenburg; most Swiss cantons; Québec). This deconfessionalisation did, however, not go smoothly, and in Norway and Québec, this shift has even led to a number of court cases (Folgerø v. Norway [2007]; SL v. Commission scolaire des Chênes v. Québec [2012]; Loyola High school v. Québec [2015]), in which the impartial or neutral character of non-confessional religious education, and its relation to the freedom of conscience and religion, has been discussed extensively. In Folgerø, the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) argued that it is possible to make non-confessional religious education obligatory for all students, but only when there is no indoctrination and when the subject is taught ‘in an objective, critical and pluralistic manner’. Similarly, the Canadian Supreme Court pointed at ‘the objective presentation of various religions’ as a condition for the compulsory character of religious education. The meaning and scope of this objectivity is, however, not clear: does it imply a mere phenomenological or scientific approach to religion (education about religion)? Or is it, within a context of objectivity, also possible to learn from religion? And if impartiality is required, is this attitude only required as a professional stance for teachers, or should students also be ‘neutral’ in the classroom?

Imams in Flanders, Belgium: Toward the First Flemish Imams

In this contribution, we present the results of an exploratory empirical study on imams in Flanders.1 The research question was descriptive, namely to explore the profile of imams active in Flanders, as well as to seek out their opinions on their (social) position as spiritual leaders in an immigration context. Aside from this introduction and the final remarks, our chapter is composed of three sections. The first provides the necessary background information on the place of Islam in Belgium. It situates Islam as a recognized religion within the Belgian church-state regime and focuses on the questions of how Islam is institutionalized and how imams are organized. The second section describes the research background of this study and briefly discusses the methods used to gather our data, while the third section presents the main results. It not only provides information about the national and educational background of the imams, their language skills, tasks, and workload; this section also discusses the challenges imams face as community leaders in a largely secularized society and as representatives of their community within the further integration process of the Muslim community in Flanders and Belgium.

Creating mutual identification and solidarity in highly diversified societies. The importance of identification by shared participation

Abstract Like the liberal nationalists, we insist that a sense of belonging together is necessary for the practice of an egalitarian democracy. Therefore, we can take a shared national identity as one of the building blocks of the welfare state. However, we argue that a shared cultural or civic national identity can not be a necessary condition for this sense of belonging together. The mere fact of co-operation and common participation in shared activities and projects can create a sense of belonging together, regardless of whether the participants do share a national identity. Governments of diversified societies can try to establish a shared national culture, but equally important is their task to create a sense of belonging together by virtue of co-operation and shared participation. It is particularly important that people can meet each other, and therefore efforts by the government to establish social mix and a common language may be legitimate policies.

Imams in Flanders: A Research Note

This paper presents the results of an exploratory, mixed-method study on imams in Flanders. The research question was mainly who are they?, in an attempt to draw the first picture of their socio-demographic background, ethnicity, functions, and expectations with respect to their position in Flanders, or in Belgium more broadly speaking. The first three sections give context information about Muslims, Islam, and mosques in Belgium and Flanders. In the next sections, the research design and the results are presented. This presentation focuses on four issues: imams as immigrants; their tasks and workload; their job situation and attitude towards official recognition and payment; and finally their ambiguous attitudes towards government initiatives. We give also some reflections in dialogue with research on imams in other Western European countries. The conclusion discusses the challenges for imams and the government to become real partners within the further integration process of the Muslim community in Flanders and Belgium.

Mogen we nog multicultureel denken? Over diversiteit, sociale cohesie en de integratie-erkenningsparadox

Het multiculturalisme als officiële beleidsstrategie is de laatste jaren onder druk komen te staan – ook in landen als Nederland en Groot-Brittannië die op dit punt lange tijd als rolmodel fungeerden (Blair 2006; Joppke 2004; Entzinger 2003). Vanuit verschillende hoeken wordt geopperd dat het ‘multiculturalisme’ voorbijgestreefd is. Een multicultureel beleid zou tot maatschappelijke en sociaaleconomische drama’s leiden (Scheffer 2007) en het zou de weldenkende progressieve intellectuele bovenklasse blind hebben gemaakt voor de gevaren die andere culturen (met name de islam) met zich meebrengen (Van Rooy 2008). Het multiculturalisme als ideologie van verdraagzaamheid zou het bovendien onmogelijk hebben gemaakt nog enige kritiek op andere culturen te uiten – elke kritiek moest in de kiem gesmoord worden door een (politiek correct en elitair) multiculturalistisch denken. René Cuperus (2009), ideoloog van de Wiardi Beckman Stichting van de Nederlandse PvdA, heeft het in dit verband over het ‘Misverstand Multiculturele Samenleving’. Het misverstand bestaat er volgens hem in dat diversiteit, multicultuur en wereldburgerschap voor de gewone mens – anders dan voor de elites – geen hoeraconcepten zijn. In tegendeel, ze zouden veeleer met bedreiging en vervreemding geassocieerd worden. En natuurlijk hebben ook de aanslagen van 11 september 2001, de moord op Theo van Gogh in november 2004 en de algehele dreiging die uitgaat van het moslimterrorisme de anti-multiculturalistische teneur nog versterkt (cf. Roy 2008; Buruma 2006; Scruton 2002). Ten aanzien van deze evoluties waarin het multiculturalisme steeds duidelijker kop-van-jut is, is het belangrijk de vraag te stellen wat precies wordt bedoeld met dat multiculturalisme waar men zo graag vanaf wil. Veelal blijkt het te gaan over een naïef cultuurrelativisme (alle culturen zijn evenwaardig), onbeholpen laissez-faire beleid (alles en iedereen is welkom), conservatief en gesloten communitarisme Mogen we nog mu l t i cu l tu r e e l d enken?