Religious Pluralism,Conflict as Issues in Ugandan Religious Education

This study investigates the complications raised in teaching a Confessional Religious Education curriculum in a multi-religious context of Uganda’s religiously founded public schools. The thesis contends that the introduction of foreign religions in Uganda introduced a new era of competition for converts that led to religious conflicts. A denominational and divisive educational system was introduced and this was not addressed by the colonial government and the independent government since Religious Education remained Confessional. The study probes the current syllabuses, aims and content of CRE and IRE for secondary and primary schools and suggests that their main intention of promoting spiritual growth of students is inappropriate for implementation in the multi-religious schools. The thesis questions the government’s proposed exclusion of RE from the curriculum and its replacement with Moral Education. It suggests that Religious Education needs to be re-designed to address the multi-faith context. It presents a single faith syllabus with a multi-faith element as the ideal format of teaching about religion.