In Malta, the Church has a right to teach the Catholic faith in all schools. The State and the Holy See signed an agreement on Catholic religious instruction and education in Church schools in 1989. As a result of the agreement, Church schools’ existence has been guaranteed and the Christian events and message has been able to be presented through religious education.
It is important to note that the agreement does not state that the Catholic religion is the only one that can be taught in schools, nor that it will be forcefully taught to students.
It would be very sad indeed if either people or the party in government were to decide that religious education was no longer to be offered in local schools, or if parents and students opted for ethics and stopped taking religious education.
The reasons for offering religious education are compelling: personal development, cultural understanding and social integration are all essential in a multi-cultural society such as ours, whereas ethics is very limited.
To see parents deny their children a Catholic religious education is sad, but it would be even sadder if the subject were to be completely excluded from our schools
Some people who are advocating the teaching of ethics have given the impression that doing so would be the first time we would be teaching respect for all and open-mindedness. As a teacher of religious education for over three decades, I have to tell them they are misinformed.
The issue of religious education requires a proper process of discernment not just for the Church and the State, but also for us as a people. We may look at our past to inform ourselves, but it is more important that we look at our future: How do we envision ourselves? What do we want for our people? What kind of society do we want to become, and what would be the best education for us in the light of this vision?
I can see three alternatives:
• Giving students an option between Catholic religious education, Muslim education and ethics. This has the advantage of appeasing the Muslim community, sustaining the Catholic culture, and providing humanistic/atheistic parents and students the option of ethics.
• Giving students an option between Catholic religious education, ethics and a comparative religious education. This would provide an alternative to Catholic religious education for all students, not just Muslims, sustain the Catholic culture, and provide humanistic/atheistic parents and students with the option of ethics. Naturally, this would mean there would be more than one nationally approved syllabus for religious education, and that resources would need to be boosted.
• There is also the option of reverting back to the way things were originally configured, with Catholic religious education being offered to everyone, and ethics being offered only to students who are exempted from the subject. Thus, ethics would be an alternative for the few, but not an option for all.
It is important to note that none of these options affect the 1989 agreement. The teaching of the Catholic religion would still have to be in conformity with Church doctrine, following syllabi and methods established by the Maltese Episcopal Conference, which would still have the right to draw up or choose students’ text books and teachers’ guide for Catholic religious education.
Those who see Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour, and wish to share this faith with all present and future students, certainly cannot impose it on anybody. To see parents deny their children a Catholic religious education is sad, but it would be even sadder if the subject were to be completely excluded from our schools.
Malta would not be the first country to do this. In the US, for instance, parents who wish to pass on their faith tradition to their children either pay to send them to religious or other schools, or teach them at home. As things stand, neither of these is an option for most parents in Malta – there are not enough Church school places for everyone, independent schools are too costly and home tutoring is not legal.
To exclude religious education from schools would mean: firstly, that the spiritual aspect of human beings is being overlooked; secondly, that we refuse to acknowledge the importance of religions in the world; thirdly, that our forefathers’ beliefs and values are being overlooked; and fourthly and worst of all, that there would be no forum in the education system where it is possible to mention a transcendent. Considering that the whole schooling system was started by the churches, this would be sad indeed.
(Concluded)
Pauline Dimech PhD (Durham) is a full-time lecturer at the University of Malta’s Faculty of Education and Faculty of Theology. She has been a religious educator since the 1980s, and obtained a PhD in Systematic Theology from Durham University, UK, with the support of a scholarship under the MGSS.