Why Study Religious Education?
- Religious Education helps us to understand our Catholic faith. We know Jesus and the Bible more deeply. We learn from the wisdom of the saints and other good people. We understand how to celebrate our faith. We grow in our understanding of Church teachings.
- Religious Education explores and celebrates God’s truth, goodness and beauty.
- Religious education helps us to pray and worship with more understanding, depth and love.
- Religious Education improves our quality of life. Catholic beliefs help us find meaning and purpose. Moral principles give direction. Prayer and liturgy bring us closer to God.
- Religious Education helps us to make good choices. It helps us to develop our consciences and how to answer important questions. How can I help to heal the earth? What does it mean to be sexually healthy? How can I help those who have little?
- Religious Education helps us to explore life’s deep questions. Why do good people suffer? What is love? Why be just? What happens after we die? How do know God exists? What is my purpose in life? Why should I care about other people?
- Religious Education gives us ways of understanding our world. It gives us tools to figure out what harms us and what helps us.
- Religious Education helps us to understand other religions. In North America, many of our family and friends belong to other faiths. It helps us to avoid misunderstandings that can lead to hatred.
- Religious Education gives us practical skills for living. Reflection helps us to learn from our actions. Discernment helps us to choose between difficult choices. Critical thinking helps us to understand our own thinking patterns. Conscience formation helps us to find God’s will for our lives.
- Religious Education gives us tools to follow a path of life that leads to happiness and intimacy with God.
See also the podcast: What is the Public Benefit of the Study of Religion? Bettina Schmidt, Nicholas Campion, J. Gordon Melton, Tim Jensen, Kim Knott, Marion Bowman, Wouter Hanegraaff, Naomi Goldenberg and Suzanne Owen
The Top Five Reasons to Study Religion by Gary Laderman Religion Chair of the Department of Religion, Emory University and Editor of Sacred Matters Magazine
How Religious Education Classes Benefit Young Children Office of Evangelization and Catechesis for the Diocese of Hartford
Losing My Religion? The Impact of Spiritual Cues on Noncognitive Skills. Journal of Catholic Education October 20 Daniel H. Bowen, Rice University and Albert Cheng, University of Arkansas
Abstract: Studies consistently show that Catholic schools produce positive impacts on educational outcomes. Many charter school networks in the United States now provide, what are essentially, secularized versions of the Catholic education model. However, charter schools cannot legally replicate the overt religious curriculum and mission of Catholic schools. Although difficult to disentangle its impacts from confounding variables, research suggests that religiosity is a positive predictor of educational outcomes. This relationship might suggest that religious-based education produces effects on outcomes of public value that could be difficult to replicate in secularized contexts. To examine this question we conducted an experiment where 180 secondary school students were randomly assigned to a priming task with religious, secularized, or neutral cues. We find that religious cues increase students’ self-regulatory capacities, a predictor of educational attainment, and boost political tolerance. These findings provide preliminary evidence to suggest that religious-based education provides benefits that secularized equivalents cannot fully emulate.