There is a Crack in Everything—Education and Religion in a Secular Age

There are two constants in academic and theological discourse throughout history, they are the debate around secularization and the dialogue concerning the intersection of religion and education. Each age has had its debate about modernizing forces that drive concerns of impending secularization. In this publication this theme is approached from perspectives of teachers, of students, of policy makers and situated in a politico-historical context. Aware of the fact that in today’s plural societies one sacred canopy is non-existent anymore, cracks of the sacred canopy/canopies are described, as well as ‘the light that gets in’, the possible and challenging ways out are roughly sketched. We expect that each of the contributions of scholars of the East and the West, of the North and the South, and their presented examples and case studies, will stimulate the ongoing exploration and elaboration on the relationship between education and religion in todays’ and the coming world – work-in-progress for coming generations

Introduction to the Special Issue “There is a Crack in Everything—Education and Religion in a Secular Age”

The seemingly paradoxical contrast between an expected decline of religion in the public domain and an increase of the importance of religiosity and spirituality in people’s lives, led Peter Berger to revisit his prophecy about secularisation [...

Islam and Sex Education in The Netherlands: Reflection on an Example of Teaching Material for Islamic Primary Schools

This contribution is situated in the discussion on sex education in the Netherlands, in relation to “Islamic Pedagogy,” in particular “Islam and Pedagogy,” on the one side, and (religious) identity development on the other side. Islamic Pedagogy seems to be the theoretical framework of an example of developed teaching materials for sex education designed for Islamic primary schools in the Netherlands. Sex education is a compulsory yet sensitive subject in Dutch primary schools, usually included in the subject of Citizenship Education; in Islamic primary schools, it is included in the subject of Islamic Religious Education. After a short introduction to the Dutch education system, including the compulsory nature of sex education as a subject, this contribution offers a description of an example of developed teaching material, followed by a reflection from the point of view of pupils’ (religious) identity development as future citizens of Dutch pluralist society. For future teachers who are responsible for sex education, reflection is recommended—on their cognitive and affective relational positioning regarding Islam and concerning sex education. It is expected that deep reflection will stimulate the development of normative professionalism of sex educators in Dutch Islamic primary education

Epilogue—“There is a Crack in Everything …”

In the contributions to this Special Issue, a wealth of context-related approaches and reflections on the relationship between education and religion have been brought together [...

Risk stratification for inhibitor development at first treatment for severe hemophilia A: a tool for clinical practice

Background: Replacement therapy in severe hemophilia A patients is complicated by formation of inhibitory antibodies against factor VIII (inhibitors) in around 25% of children. Management of bleeds and eradicating inhibitors is complicated, costly and not always successful. Objective: To develop a simple score that stratifies untreated patients with severe hemophilia according to their risk of developing inhibitory antibodies. Methods: The study population consisted of 332 children, with severe hemophilia A, selected from a retrospective multicentre cohort (the CANAL study). The score was based on risk factors available at the first treatment episode. The score was validated in an external population. Results: A total of 87 patients (25%) developed inhibitory antibodies. The selected risk score comprised positive family history (two points), high risk factor VIII gene mutations (two points), and intensive treatment at initial treatment (three points). Inhibitor incidence was 6% (six of 95) in patients without risk factor, 23% (38 of 170) in those with two points, and 57% (38 of 67) in patients with three points or more. The discriminative ability of the score was good (area under the receiver operating curve 0.74). The score performed equally well in the external validation population. Conclusion: These findings suggest that the development of inhibitory antibodies in untreated patients with severe hemophilia A can validly be predicted with the presented risk stratification score