Will European education guidelines help reduce discrimination and promote understanding?

The European Union, in light of increasing religious and cultural diversity, is exploring ways to foster inclusiveness and diminish racism and discrimination. In 2008, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) published a report called The Toledo Guiding Principles on Teaching about Religions and Beliefs in Public Schools. The document, akin to guidelines produced in the U.S. a decade earlier, supports teaching about religion in a neutral, respectful fashion as part of the education curricula in the 56 OSCE member states. Stemming from this, IRCV was invited to OSCE headquarters in Warsaw, Poland as a U.S. participant on an Editorial Board overseeing the production of a booklet addressing intolerance against Muslims in Europe. The project evolved into the 2009 “Bridging Histories” initiative, which aims to produce teaching materials for formal and non-formal education that highlights the history of relations between Christianity and Islam from different perspectives. The project encourages discussion on the plurality of historical experiences.

IRCV contributed substantial components to the “Bridging Histories” foundational documents, including an overview of consensus-building in the U.S. on teaching about religion, and a summary of historical and evolving Western views of Islam.

For more information: IRCV addresses Biblical scholars in Rome regarding Toledo Guiding Principles