British Journal of Religious Education explores the Earth Charter
The latest edition of the British Journal of Religious Education contains an insightful essay on the use of the Earth Charter in religious classrooms. In their article „Ethics in a global world: the Earth Charter and religious education“ the authors reflect on the potential of the Charter to draw together the themes of human rights, citizenship, globalization and ecological responsibility and consider the value of the Earth Charter for religious education in pluralist societies.
The abstact of the article holds as follows:
„The authors consider the potential and promise of the 2000 UNESCO Earth Charter for the work of the religious educator in situating a ‚common‘ ethical core in a global world. It is argued that the Charter represents a courageous attempt to negotiate a global ethic of universal and mulit-faceted responsibility based ont he foundation of membership of the human family in a common home: the Earth. Both the vision and the methodology of the Charter witness to a capacity for moral discourse across the boundaries of difference. As such, the Charter merits sustained and serious philosophical critique. Accordingly, the religious educator must sensitively support pupils in the challenging task of responding to the expanded ehtical landscape that the Charter presents.“
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See also David A. Grunewald: A Foucauldian Analysis of Environmental Education: Toward the Socioecological Challenge of the Earth Charter, in Curriculum Inquiery Vol. 34, Issue 1, 2004