Teaching Secular Worldviews in a Post-Secular Age

Abstract

This paper discusses how secular worldviews could be included in non-confessional religious education. Knowledge about secular worldviews can be understood in different ways. The paper distinguishes between two types of knowledge: the standard model of secular worldviews and the nonstandard model. The first model reflects the self-understanding of modernity, while the second represents a more critical stance influenced by late modern thinking. The nonstandard model is presented as a hermeneutical approach for teaching secular worldviews in non-confessional religious education, using atheism as an example. In the paper, this model is elaborated on, as it is argued that only the nonstandard model is suitable for religious education in schools if the aim is to conduct an inclusive, non-confessional education.