THE REPRESENTATION OF RELIGION IN EDUCATION: A CRITIQUE OF JOHN HULL'S INTERPRETATION OF RELIGIONISM AND RELIGIOUS INTOLERANCE

This essay evaluates the recent, important response of Professor John M. Hull, of the University of Birmingham, to the question of what schools should do to foster harmonious relations between the disparate religious and non-religious groupings that constitute the population in most of our liberal, democratic Western nations. In a series of influential articles, Hull has articulated both an interpretation of the nature of religious intolerance and a proposed strategy for challenging intolerance in schools. In this paper Hull's position is carefully set out and then critically assessed. In the light of weaknesses in his account, a different understanding of the nature of religious intolerance is pursued along with a brief outline of a different educational strategy for responding to religious and cultural differences in schools.