Impact of the Academic Study of Religion on Interreligious Preferences
The Evidence from Australia
Keywords:
Education, Inter ReligiousAbstract
Religions are sometimes classified into major and minor religions, where Christianity would represent a major religion and Zoroastrianism, for instance, a minor one. From the point of view of this paper, however, a more vital distinction may be drawn between some religious traditions, specially those commonly called "major" or "higher" which have "developed, in addition to ritual, myths and forms of organization, distinctive systems of thought or worldviews" (Burke: 1978 : 704)Ñ Thus in "consequence departments of religion construct courses on Christian thought, Jewish thought, and Islamic thought, on Buddhist and Hindu thought, on Taoist and Confucian thought" (704).
References
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Helen M. Walker and Joseph Lev, Arts Handbook, (Sydney : The University of Sydney, 1980).
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Eric Francis Osborn, Religious Studies in Australia since 1958 (Sydney: Sydney University Press, 1979).
