Citation

Durka G. Relig. Educ. 2000; 95(4): 442.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2000, Informa - Taylor and Francis Group)

DOI

10.1080/0034408000950406

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

We live in a world that is at once violent and beautiful. Childhood and adolescence ideally are times of safety, security, and imaginative explorations into an ever widening world. But for too many young people, the world is a dangerous place. As religious educators, how can we transform the socially toxic environments of home and neighborhood into places of “caring community"? Drawing on more than a decade of empirical research on domestic and sexual violence, as well as critiques of the broader social environment, I describe the threat social violence and abuse pose to young people s psychological and religious development. I point to the power that we as religious educators have to reverse the violence by offering specific suggestions aimed at restoring young peoples, as well as our own, sense of safety and hope.