Reflecting on the link between religion and religious tradition(s) on the one
hand and school and education on the other, and reflecting on the reasoning
strategy to make sense of this link, people seem to tend strongly to think,
argue and reflect in a deductive mode (this point is elaborated in par. 3). This
part of the argument is followed by considering the religious claims people
make concerning the impact of religion on the day-to-day educational
practice, it is, empirically speaking. It is apparently wrong to take this
deductive reasoning serious as a road to undisputable and unambiguous links
between claims and practices (this point is elaborated in par. 4). Having
identified deductive reasoning as wishful thinking or as a supposed but
inadequate religious legitimatization of educational practices, which is
demonstrated by the empirical educational praxis itself, the final part of the
article deals with the question that arises again and anew, viz. how
educational practices could be understood in their connection to religious
beliefs (see par. 5). Here a paradigm-shift is needed.
