Learning from religions. Post-secular Schools and the Challenge of Pluralism

The postsecular notion highlights the increasing religious pluralism and the persistent public role of religions in secularized western societies. Besides, the concept recommends a way to deal with differences in social spaces, referring to mutual recognition and to Habermas’s idea of complementary learning. Adopting the postsecular frame, the paper focuses on religion and education in public schools. An overview on the European scenario is drowned and solutions for the accommodation of religious plurality inspired by the ‘postsecular school’ idea are outlined. The paper refers to the concept of ‘learning from religion’ as not far from the suggested view, since it extends the ‘about religions’ teachings to what students may learn about themselves and the others through religious studies. However, from the postsecular perspective the ‘learning form religions’ may also mean the possibility for schools to increase new forms of awareness, reflexivity and innovation implementing practices of cooperation with religious organizations.