Religious Toleration as a Subject for World Education? Past and Present Perspectives for Students the World Over Based on Literary-Historical Material

Abstract

This study reexamines the meaning of education in global terms as the foundation of all open and democratic societies both in the past and the present. Literary studies create useful mirrors taking the learner into the past where parallel cases of human problems and conflicts existed. The learning experience then allows the individual to carry the new insights back to the own presence and to apply them to current situations. This process can and must be applied particularly to the principle of tolerance, one of the highest ideals in all of education. In order to illustrate this concept, this study examines Boccaccio’s Decameron and Gotthold Ephraim Lessing’s Nathan the Wise as model cases for global education leading to a more peaceful and mutually respectful world. With all due respect for religion, hating and murdering other people for religious reasons betrays the very principles of that religion whatever denomination or creed it might be. Ignorance and lack of education make it possible for fanatics or zelots to whip the masses into violent actions against those who adhere to another faith. One of the major tasks by educators is to introduce rationality, mutual respect, honor, and dignity, which is all possible through an intensive study of well-chosen literary texts for class discussions addressing world religions.