Non-denominational RE teaching based on a Christian ethical heritage: the Swedish case

Abstract

This article discusses whether there is a contradiction in prescribing a religious, more specifically a Christian, tradition as the ethical basis for a teaching that is prescribed to be non-denominational. In the Swedish curriculum, the ethics borne by a Christian tradition and Western humanism are used as a platform for the school's teaching at the same time as this is not allowed to be of a denominational nature. It has been argued that there is an incompatibility or even an adversarial contradiction here, which must be eliminated by dethroning and removing either of the two poles. The article analyzes such a stance, and it is argued that such a position, indicating general claims, can be said to rest on a weak argumentative base. A critical and complex interpretation of the concepts of non-denominational and denominational teaching, and of intensional and extensional references associated with them, can open up for a less dichotomous positioning.