THE ROLE OF RELIGIONS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF IDENTITY PROCESSES IN A GLOBALIZED SOCIETY
THE ROLE OF RELIGIONS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF IDENTITY PROCESSES IN A GLOBALIZED SOCIETY

AN EXPERIMENTAL STUDY IN THE SCHOOLS OF PUGLIA

Summary/Abstract: Religious diversity plays a significant part in relationships between cultures. They have a profound effect because religions have represented and still represent central factors in human history. Embodied in the various cultural contexts, they substantiate the traditions, the thought, the behaviour of the people for whom it is difficult to establish a positive and enriching inter-cultural dialogue even if it is not possible to establish an inter-religious dialogue. To achieve this dialogue it is necessary also at an educational level to have the commitment to work to develop new open attitudes and also new acceptance towards religious diversity. It is evident that the confrontation and conflicts between the different historical forms of religion does not derive so much from nature and content of religions but is due exclusively to an incorrect interpretation of religious education. Working on religious education in terms of interculturalism means precisely to highlight the strong categories, supporting and qualifying the human experience from a pedagogical perspective. For young people of today intercultural widespread skills are necessary to be able to interpret the pluriverse world in which relations between different religions are asked to live together. How can we configure relations between the various religions today? How are religions changing in our time, characterized by profound changes? How can we interpret the great transformations that shuffle cards, areas and identities, breaking the traditional ties between religion and culture? These are some of the most significant questions which the religious dimension poses today. On this basis the Laboratory of Intercultural Pedagogy of the University of Bari "Aldo Moro" in collaboration with the Multicultural Section of the Pugliese Regional Council Library has launched an experimental project involving 14 high schools from Puglia to monitor the perception that more than 400 young students have of the religious phenomenon and its effects at a cultural level.

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