Religious Education
In secular terms, religious education can be defined as the teaching of a particular religion and its varied aspects -its beliefs, doctrines, rituals, customs, rites, and personal roles. In western or secular societies, religious education is largely deemed separate from academia, which (generally) regards religious belief as a fundamental tenet and operating modality, as well as a prerequisite condition of attendance.
Government-sponsored religious education can be a source of conflict, since people within a given country often hold varying religious and non-religious beliefs. Countries vary widely in whether religious education is allowed in government-run schools (often called "public schools"), with those allowing it also vary in the type of education provided.
Religious education in public schools is opposed on various grounds, foremost of which is that it endorses state sponsorship of that religion being taught. It is also argued that if a particular religion is taught in school, children who do not belong to that religion will either feel pressure to conform or be excluded from their peers. Proponents, however, argue that religious beliefs have historically socialized people's behavior and morality. They feel that teaching religion in school is necessary to encourage children to be responsible, spiritually sound adults.
In countries such as the United States, religious education is imparted in supplementary "Sunday school", "Hebrew school", catechism classes, etc. taught to children at their family's place of worship, either in conjunction with worship services or some other time during the week, after weekday school classes. Many faiths also offer private college and graduate-level religious schools, which may be accredited as colleges. Under U.S. law, religious education is forbidden in public schools, except from a neutral, academic perspective. For a teacher or school administration to endorse one religion is considered an infringement of the "establishment clause" of the First Amendment.
In Canada, religious education has a varying status. Some sections of the Constitution Act, 1867 make publicly funded Catholic education is mandatory. Different states have different policies and laws regarding endorsing religious education in public schools.
On the other hand, European countries and their former colonies usually maintain a state-supported religion, usually either Lutheran, Roman Catholic, or Orthodox Christian. It is taught in a special class of the government schools. In many countries families can get permission to withdraw children from these classes. Many families with other religions use religious schools. However, I these countries, religions other than the state religion, even if ancient and respectable, are often deprecated in the national cultures (e.g. they are called "cults" in the news media).
Having a long history of almost even division between Roman Catholicism and Protestantism, some federal states of Germany history of almost even division between Roman Catholicism and Protestantism, have an arrangement where the religious bodies oversee the training of mainline Protestant, Catholic, and Jewish religious education teachers. Children who don't belong to a mainstream religion or wish to opt out for another reason must usually attend neutral classes in "Ethics" or "Philosophy" instead.
In Austria the situation is similar. Because of its history as a multi-national empire that included the largely Islamic Bosnia, Sunni Islam has been taught side by side with Roman Catholic, Protestant or Orthodox classes since the 19th century. In France, the state recognizes no religion and does not fund religious education, whereas in the UK, Catholic, Church of England and Jewish schools have long been supported within the state system with all other schools having a duty to provide religious education within a broadly Christian context.
Many Muslim countries have state-run schools for the sole purpose that children are taught to read and sometimes speak Arabic and memorize the major suras of the Qur'an. However, the study of Islam does not suffice. Students must pass the state mandated curriculum to pass. Religious scholars often serve as judges, especially for criminal and family law.
Similarly, children receiving a traditional Jewish education are often taught some Hebrew, and students at Greek Orthodox schools typically learn some Greek.
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