Teaching Islam in schools promotes tolerance

"In German-speaking areas of Switzerland, denominational Islamic religious instruction is currently given at eight schools in four cantons (Lucerne, Zurich, Thurgau, Schaffhausen) – according to the results of the study. This teaching, like Catholic or Protestant instruction, complements the compulsory lessons about questions of ethics and religions. Associations responsible for this type of teaching create a broad base that includes parents, local governments and churches. The lessons provide age-appropriate teachings of Islam, which is geared towards the Swiss context. While legal recognition of a religious organisation is a prerequisite for teaching religion in the majority of Swiss cantons, in some cantons there is a bit of leeway.

In Western Switzerland, for example, religious education is entirely the responsibility of the state. In some cases, excursions offer the opportunity to explore religious buildings and meet representatives of religious communities. Thus, teaching increasingly also involves religion as it is practiced. In Ticino, on the other hand, the new religious education introduced in 2019 also focuses on the concerns of religious minorities."

"Preventing radicalisation

For the study, the authors used qualitative expert interviews to interview key figures in denominational religious Islamic education as well as state religious education. These interviews provided a variety of different perspectives which came from administrators, schools and religious communities. It turned out that despite fundamentally different starting points, all the forms of teaching had similar characteristics in important points such as the acceptance of different perspectives on the topic of religion. According to the general view of the research, forms of ( Islamic) teaching that take this diversity into account make an important contribution to the prevention of radicalisation: they strengthen understanding and tolerance, provide guidance to children and young people in building their own religious identity, and enable them to constructively deal with religious diversity, thus increasing the resilience to religious understandings that are strongly demarcating and identitarian. These types of teaching avoid creating a vacuum with regard to religion and identity, a situation which can make young people vulnerable to radicalisation processes.

"The study was jointly developed by the Swiss Centre for Islam and Society and the Institute for Religious Law of the University of Fribourg as well as the Center for Research on Religion of the University of Lucerne. It was backed by the Swiss Federal Office of Police (fedpol) as part of the National Action Plan to prevent and combat radicalisation and violent extremism.

SOURCE:

https://www.unifr.ch/news/en/28830

Comments

Return to the Killing Fields: When Arab Silence Becomes Complicity

In March 2025 , a flicker of hope broke through Gaza’s smoke-choked skies . Seventeen Palestinian children— each a living testimony to horror —were evacuated from the rubble of their homes and transported to Jordan for medical care. Some arrived with legs blown off at the thigh , tiny bodies bandaged like mummies. One boy, no older than ten , had both arms amputated and his face marked by deep burns —his eyes wide with trauma , silently screaming for comfort . A girl, barely breathing , had shrapnel embedded near her spine and could only speak in whispers —if at all. They came on stretchers , barely conscious , wrapped not in blankets but in sorrow . Their mothers were left behind, many buried under collapsed buildings or lost in the chaos of airstrikes. These children were not just patients— they were war’s rawest wounds, symbols of a people being systematically erased. And then, the unthinkable happened. These same children —these shattered, fragile souls—have now be...

The Hunger Crisis in Gaza: A Deadly Cycle of Starvation, Suffering, and Refeeding Syndrome

As the siege on Gaza continues to devastate millions, the world watches as a catastrophe unfolds — one of the most heart-wrenching humanitarian crises in recent history . The simple act of eating has become a life-or-death decision for thousands of Gazans, as they struggle to survive on dwindling supplies of food and water. The situation is dire. According to recent reports from The New York Times , nearly 91% of Gaza's population is now facing “food insecurity,” with many enduring “emergency” or “catastrophic” levels of hunger. Bakeries have shut down , and charity kitchens are overcrowded as people wait for a meager meal. The UN has raised alarms that Gaza may already be on the brink of famine , with children showing the visible signs of malnutrition — emaciated bodies, hollow eyes, and weakened immune systems. But the horror doesn’t end with hunger. As Gaza’s population survives on less and less, the collapse of the healthcare system has created a terrifying new danger:...

She Stitched Wounds With Empty Hands—And Lost All Nine of Her Children

In Gaza, where the sun rises over ash and broken concrete, where lullabies are drowned by the sound of drones, lived a woman whose hands brought healing to children even as the world around her collapsed. Her name was Dr. Alaa — a pediatrician , a mother , a lifeline in the middle of hell. And she has become a symbol of both the highest form of love and the deepest human suffering. Nine children. All hers. All dead. Killed in a single Israeli airstrike. Not soldiers . Not fighters . Just children — tucked beneath blankets, seeking safety that never came. She was saving children in the hospital when her entire world was bombed out of existence. “ Mama, when will this end?” Her youngest had asked her this just days before the strike . He was five . He used to draw little suns on the wall with crayons , yellow and smiling — a child who believed light could still live here. One of the child of Dr. Alaa. Dr. Alaa hadn’t answered. Because she didn’t know. She hadn’t...

The Awakening of the Willfully Asleep: Western Media’s Sudden Gaza Epiphany

After nearly nineteen months of Israeli war crimes in Gaza—flattened hospitals, mass graves of children, obliterated families—the Western editorial boards have suddenly found their voices . Not journalists, not lone columnists, but the actual institutions . Congratulations to The Guardian , The Economist , Financial Times , and The Independent : the horror finally got too loud to ignore . Or maybe the PR risk finally outweighed the political obedience. Let’s be very clear: this isn’t conscience speaking —this is survival instinct . These media giants aren't waking up because of a sudden moral revelation ; they’re waking up because they smell something worse coming. Something catastrophic enough that silence will no longer offer plausible deniability. They know their blatant neutrality , their brutal silence , and their thinly veiled complicity will soon look monstrous under the light of historical reckoning . They're not opposing genocide because it shocks them . They’re...

Trump’s Gaza Plan and the Arab Autocrats: Displacement, Deals, and Betrayal

The Trump administration’s reported plan to forcibly relocate up to 1 million Palestinians from Gaza to Libya or Syria is more than a policy proposal—it is a geopolitical earthquake. It signals a dangerous shift toward normalizing permanent ethnic displacement under the guise of reconstruction. 1. What Is Trump’s Gaza “Solution”? Mass Deportation : Trump argues that Gaza is no longer livable and suggests relocating its population permanently—starting with Libya and possibly post-Assad Syria. Bribing the Host : Libya would receive access to billions in frozen funds in exchange for hosting Palestinians. Buying Consent : Trump suggests offering Palestinians housing and stipends to “incentivize” their exile. Fantasy Development : He wants to rebuild Gaza as the “Riviera of the Middle East”—without its native population. This plan, if implemented, would be a modern-day Nakba , violating international law and the principle of the right to return. 2. Why Are Arab Autocracies Qu...

Ainnbeen

Search This Blog