REA 2012 - 2012 Annual Meeting of the Religious Education Association

2012 Annual Meeting of the Religious Education Association
(An Association of Professors, Practitioners, and Researchers in Religious Education)
November 2?4, 2012
Sheraton Atlanta Hotel
Atlanta, GA
http://www.religiouseducation.net/rea2012/call/
Theme
“Let Freedom Ring! Religious Education at the Intersection of Social Justice, Liberation, and Civil/Human Rights”
From Yolanda Smith, President-elect and Program Chair:
“Let Freedom Ring!” The iconic refrain from Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech (1963) has long been an enduring symbol of the struggle for freedom and equality not only for African Americans, but for many fighting the ravages of injustice and discrimination throughout the world. Religious education in its various forms has often been a key but unacknowledged component of diverse freedom and protest movements such as the Indian Independence struggle against British rule (Mahatma Gandhi); the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 60s (Martin Luther King, Jr.); the National Farm Workers Movement (Cesar Chavez); and most recently, the struggle against apartheid and the quest for democracy in the Middle East. But how has religious education functioned amid these and related movements to empower countless people in their quest for basic human rights and civil liberties? How has spirituality/religion fueled and sustained such movements? And what insights can we as religious educators, glean from freedom/protest movements that have applied spirituality to social action for shaping prophetic and transformative educational ministries and pedagogy?
The 2012 conference theme seeks to explore not only the historic role played by religious education in empowering oppressed communities for social activism and personal/communal transformation, but also its role in the creation of innovative contemporary pedagogical strategies that can equip individuals and communities for transformative social engagement.
The association welcomes proposals for research papers, colloquia, and workshops that address such questions as:
How can religious education prepare communities and individuals to engage in the struggle for a more humane and just society while deepening spiritual growth?
In what ways do contemplation and engaged social action intersect in the world?
How does spirituality function amid violent movements? How might religious education facilitate more transformative, holistic, and life-giving responses?
How might religious education address issues of gender, race, ethnicity, nationality, religious background, sexual orientation, poverty, or political ideology in light of freedom/protest movements?
How do ecological dimension such as sustainability, natural disasters, and wide-spread devastation impact the quest for social justice, liberation, and civil/human rights?
What are the political implications for shaping prophetic and transformative models of religious education?
What role has the media, social networking, twitter, and other technological advances played in contemporary social justice movements?