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Educating for Citizenship? Re-Assessing the Role of Islamic Instruction in German Schools

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 June 2010

Joyce Marie Mushaben
Joyce Marie Mushaben*
Affiliation:
University of Missouri at St. Louis
*
Address correspondence and reprint requests to: Joyce Marie Mushaben, Department of Political Science, 347 SSB, One University Blvd., University of Missouri, St. Louis, Missouri, MO 63121-4400. E-mail: [email protected]
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Abstract

Positing a “clash of cultures,” many European politicians oppose Muslim headscarves as well as Islamic instruction in public schools; the real source of “failed integration” lies not with the religiosity of young Muslims but rather with an arcane definition of “state neutrality” that sustains the dominance of some religions at the expense of others. Focusing on Germany, this study reviews educational statistics pertaining to youth of migrant origin, showing that conflicts over Islamic instruction mirror deeper patterns of minority discrimination. It outlines the legal hurdles new faith communities must overcome to secure recognition as “corporate entities under public law” (Körperschaftsstatus), entitling them to accredited teacher training, tax-funded salaries, construction subsidies, and other institutional privileges. It describes divergent curricular models utilized by the Länder, followed by a closer look at Islamic instruction in Berlin, where a court ruling compelled authorities to take a pro-active approach. It concludes with a review of dilemmas inherent in Germany's approach to “value education” against the backdrop of the new European Union anti-discrimination directives.

Show me any mischief produced by the madness or wickedness of theologians, and I will show you a hundred resulting from the ambition and villany of conquerors and statesmen. Show me an absurdity in religion, and I will undertake to show you a hundred for one in political laws and institutions

Edmund Burke, 1756

Type
Articles
Information
Politics and Religion , Volume 3 , Issue 3 , December 2010 , pp. 518 - 552
Copyright
Copyright © Religion and Politics Section of the American Political Science Association 2010

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