Responding to pluralism and globalization in Religious Education: Implications for curriculum and pedagogy

[Extract] I grew up in North India in the early years of independence from colonial rule. In those early years of Independence, there were many Indian families that maintained the Anglo/European cultural trappings that their ancestors had so carefully cultivated over the previous 400 years. My family was one of them. Characteristics of this culture included belonging to a Christian faith tradition, having the English language as one's mother-tongue and being educated in private schools run by European Religious Orders. Most of these schools preserved the structure and traditions from that earlier era of colonial rule so that children grew up with a sound knowledge of western literature, music and the arts as well as with Christian principles which influenced how one viewed the world. This was the distinct cultural environment that contextualized the lives of Anglo-Indians and anglicized Indians so that they became displaced people, separated from the culture of their country.