"We're Ill-equipped!" - Considering the Role of Critical Religious Literacy in Canadian Teacher Education Programs

Book excerpt: "The role of religious literacy as an educational aim has received increasing attention among educational scholars in recent decades. However, research into religious literacy's role in equipping preservice educators with the skills and knowledge needed in their task of educating for a critical, social justice-oriented citizenship is still lacking. My empirical case study of faculty and preservice teachers in one Canadian Prairie university allowed me to investigate how these participants both engaged with religious diversity in their classroom and how they viewed what I call critical religious literacy (CRL) as an educational aim. As a methodological bricoleur, I blended an empirical exploratory case study approach with philosophical analysis, using a normative case study approach. Empirically, findings demonstrate that while divided on questions of implementation, participants largely agree on the urgent need for CRL as an educational aim in teacher education. Philosophically, analyzing the findings through the mobilization of concepts of epistemic injustice and White Christian privilege highlights the complex ways religious illiteracy among educators may serve to perpetuate discrimination and epistemic harm. Thus, this dissertation argues that the strongest justification for including CRL in teacher education programs is one that links CRL to critical democratic aims inherent in a social justice-oriented model of citizenship in order to reduce or eliminate discrimination and potential epistemic injustices related to intersectional religious identities"--