Lifespan Religious Education

Education: the development of a person’s full capacities.

Religion: practices for bringing life into accord with The Ultimate, individually and on a communal basis.

Religious Education, then: the process of developing the full capacity of individuals and communities for living in accord with The Ultimate.

I am drawn to these definitions outlined in a sermon by Rev. Mark Gallagher in 2001.  They nicely outline and highlight the place where education and religion intersect.  They also make clear that religious education is not education about religion.  Rather, religious education is education in how to live religiously.  Defined this way, religious education has to be a life-long process.  The religious issues we face are different at each stage of our lives.  Young people struggle with their relationships with family, their peers and their community.  They ponder their place in the world and what they will do with their lives.  As we get older, we add thoughts of our own mortality, our legacy, and maybe our relation to the Ultimate.  Then, of course, at every stage of life we consider where we stand on political, ethical and moral issues.  All of these questions are, for Unitarian Universalists, religious questions.  Lifespan Religious Education at First Church in Boston aims to provide a place for questions, for support and for spiritual and religious growth.

Ruth Owen
Director of Religious Education

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