Religious Ideas, Feelings and Their Interrelationship: Research Into the Effects of Religious Education in Parables on 10- to 12-year-olds

Religious education seeks to help students acquire religious ideas by interpreting religious and other stories in accordance with their life world. Schools pursue this goal by organising religious learning activities. The question is whether the acquisition of religious ideas is possible for young students, considering the difficulties such as the complex and not readily understandable religious stories, and social developments as de-institutionalisation, de-traditionalisation and pluralisation? What are the possibilities for primary schools of teaching their students knowledge about religious ideas? What is the influence of feelings on the acquisition? What possibilities in the form of learning arrangements can be created for primary school students, with their diverse religious backgrounds, to acquire religious ideas optimally? That is the cardinal problem explored in this study.