Dear readers,
EREnews editorial staff and the scientific committee want to clarify and present here the scientifical framework and the cultural horizon of our bulletin, led for almost twenty years by Prof. Pajer (whom we thank once again on this occasion).
We conceived EREnews as an important tool for an ambitious project: we want to examine in depth the complex argument of “public schools and the teaching of religions in Italy and Europe”, we will tackle the different European perspectives and we will encourage a debate on this topic. We want to address both professionals and the general public. We feed the urgency of clear and complete information about the question of teaching of religions at school,, especially following the approval of the Rampi amendment to the decree-law concerning urgent measures to contain the COVID-19 epidemic (https://temi.camera.it/leg18/provvedimento/d-l-44-2021-decreto-covid-aprile-2021.html)
In the previous number of ERE we launched the topic and now we report some of the comments and results of an initial debate.
In this monographic sections of EREnews we focused on the “Italian case”, the teaching of religion in Italy. By opening a public debate we aim to collect proposals for reforms. Therefore, we believe it is important, to devote this and future issues to an in-depth examination of the legislation, scientific research, proposals and experiments that have followed one another over the years.
Our crucial questions are: What is the “place” of religions in public schools? Is the issue of religions’teaching pivotal in the school’s offer? How to talk about religions and the history of religions at school?
Teachers, academic scholars, institutions, and directors of degree courses in the sciences of religions at the various Italian universities are involved in discussing these issues.
In order to take into the account all of these questions, EREnews 3(2022) offers these contents:
• Italian and international press review related to the topics of laicity, religious education and religions;
• editorial news and information about conferences and seminars on the same topics;
• an article as introduction to the Catholic religious education in Italy and Europe;
• a critical review, ten years after its publication, of “La materia invisibile” by A. Saggioro and M.C. Giorda;
• For the session dedicated to the teaching of religions and religion in Europe, a detailed study of the school system in Scotland.
The next number of EREnews, concerning the topic “school and religions”, will focus the spotlight on the teaching of the Catholic religion in order to suggest new proposal and reforms. Comparing the different case in the European panorama and the cultural needs of our communities– we want to defined new horizons and alternative (and innovative) practices for teaching religions at the school.
We spent months for consultations and confrontations, which for us in the editorial staff are fundamental steps in this moment of ” passage” for EREnews from one editorial line to another.
We apologise to our readers for the delay and would kindly invite you to take part at this survey fill-in the questionnaire you have received in the email together with this number of EREnews. We want to know if we are going in the right direction, if the sections of the magazine satisfy your interests.
If you have any corrections, criticisms or suggestions, please write to us at the following e-mail address: erenews@uniroma3.it.
Enjoy your reading!
Federica Candido
Francesco Carta
Sara Giorgetti
Filippo Mariani
Giulia Nardini
Michele Trabucco
