Towards Interpretive and Empathetic Encounters between Worldviews

Abstract

Research on young people’s attitudes and skills in dealing with religious diversity has been conducted in many surveys, but in real life one is faced with many different types of diversity. How does pupils’ preparedness for inter-worldview dialogue develop? This article approaches young people’s emotions faced by different types of dissimilarity and skills of asking about others’ worldviews. Key theories in analysing the results were Abu-Nimer’s stage model of interreligious sensitivity and Jackson’s interpretive approach to religious education with a special focus on empathy. The use of pictures when studying emotions revealed that most of the participants experienced non- religious features as pleasant. The pictures depicting the most dissimilarity were experienced as the most negative but also in many cases as interesting. The questions written by the teenagers indicated a wide range of attitudes and skills. Many of them were capable of addressing religious or personal meanings, thus showing an ability to rise above the surface level and seek understanding. An interesting category of questions on the possibility of inter-worldview interaction also emerged. Visual techniques in the research on teenagers’ thinking should be further developed because young people today are surrounded by images.