Sustainability Values in Religious Education

Aim. The aim of the article is to identify opportunities for religious education in the field of promoting the values of sustainable development. By identifying key concepts, define options for future strategies in the implementation of sustainable development values in school teaching of religious education. Methods . The starting point is the analysis of the current religious education curriculum, which governs the teaching of religious education and is approved by both state and church authority. Based on the analysis, identify strengths and weak - nesses and define potential areas within the curriculum where sustainability values can be applied. Results . The values of sustainable development and Christian values are based on a common anthropological platform, which is based on the dignity of the human person. Religious education should also be based on this platform. Conclusion . In order to apply the values of sustainable development, it is nec - essary to adjust the current curriculum in terms of content and scope of topics. At the same time, it is necessary to innovate in the way of training future teachers. The goal of innovations is the internalization of sustainability values within the value orientation of both teachers and students. Cognitive value. Christian values and the values of sustainable development are not in conflict. The content of the religious education curriculum has the poten - tial to innovate its content to meet the current requirements of the United Nations (UN) agenda as well as the teachings of the Magisterium.


Introduction
I n our study, we start with a reflection on the specific environment of religious education. Due to the agreement between the Slovak Republic and the Holy See, the subject of religious education is part of the educational programme in primary and secondary schools. Religious education is an alternative to ethical education in the state education system; it is not graded and is only evaluated verbally. The subject is designated in the state education system as upbringing and not education. The effect of educational subjects is generally expected to be a change in behaviour; the child will acquire certain skills and competences for behaviour in certain life situations. In addition, the effect of socialisation is expected from upbringing, the raised child adopts social norms and regulates his behaviour according to these norms. A person who does not respect social norms is then referred to as "ill-mannered," using this term as a derogatory term .
Religious education in Slovakia is part of the state education system and must therefore respect the rules that this system generally sets. The inclusion of religious education in the education system was justified by the fact that the majority of the inhabitants of Slovakia are Christians and religious norms designed to regulate behaviour do not differ from generally accepted and valid social norms. In the beginning, there was a presumption that religious education would ultimately educate morally mature personalities who would respect both religious and social norms. The development of society brought new social themes, and the social consensus on the universality of religious education gradually weakened just as the number of believing Christians continued to decline. The aim of our study is to find out if religious education has the potential to respond to topics that resonate in society and what possibilities there are in this area.

Objectives of Religious Education and Upbringing in the State Educational Programme
The objectives of religious education are defined in several documents. Within the framework of the state educational program, religious education is included in the field of "man and values". The aim of this educational area is to develop and cultivate the mental, spiritual, and social dimensions of young people (NIVAM, 2020). As we have already mentioned, one of the goals of education is for young people to become part of society (Browne, 2017). That is, to respect social norms and follow socially accepted rules.
The aim of the subjects that are classified in the field of man and value is, in a general sense, to shape the value orientation of a young person so that they are beneficial to the entire human community. The task of religious education, as one of the subjects that belong to the group "man and values", is the upbringing of a young person who will benefit the whole of society, not just the religious community or the church . Among the primary requirements that are placed on subjects in the field of man and values is to educate the young person so that he has an authentic value orientation that is based on his own identity. Part of the identity of a young person is respect for other people and nature, cooperation, prosocial behaviour, and national values. As the state educational programme points out, educational subjects are not only about providing information about what moral principles apply in society, but also about using different ways and didactic methods to adopt these values and principles so that they become part of the decision-making mechanism of the educator. Decision-making based on adopted norms leads to behaviour, which is the basis of harmonious and stable relationships in the family, in the workplace, between social groups, in the nation, and between nations (NIVAM, 2020). The state educational programme assumes that there is a common path where a person realises his metaphysical essence (Binetti et al., 2021).
The starting points of the state educational programme indicate that religious education should not be distinguished in some specific way from other subjects. The norms and rules set by the National Institute of Education and Youth are valid for all types of schools, that is, for private schools and schools that are founded by churches. Religious education is the responsibility of individual churches, which create their own curricula and must be approved by a designated church authority. Thus, individual churches not only influence the content of the curriculum of religious education, but also decide on its objectives. Curriculum approved by the relevant church authorities is no longer subject to state control, and compliance with these curricula is controlled by catechetical authorities, which are established at the level of individual dioceses within the Catholic Church. Church-approved curricula must respect the legislation that is in force in the Slovak Republic.
In the introduction to the curriculum for the Catholic religion, we will meet with starting points that are very similar to the state educational programme and declare that the objectives of religious education and the state educational programme are similar.
Since man is naturally a religious being from a psychological and sociological point of view, he has a need to move toward what transcends him. Religion and religious education thus play a legitimate role in the overall concept of school education. The subject allows pupils to formulate questions about basic life values, attitudes, and actions; to confront them with scientifically and religiously (Christianly) formulated views of the world, they seek their own life value orientation. (NIVAM, 2015, p. 1) The values of sustainable development are the subject of our examination. In order to assess the realistic setting of the curriculum towards sustainability values, we need to analyse in more depth the different content Ethics parts of the curriculum and look for those that match our criteria. At the same time, we must be aware that there is a real disproportion between the theory and practise of teaching in schools. That is, between what school teaching should look like according to the state educational program and what it looks like in everyday practice (Tkáčová et al., 2022). The cited authors point to a fundamental problem that arises in education in the form of high demands on the qualification of a teacher. The teacher must have a degree in a certain area -a combination of subjects that he can teach. As a rule, these are two subjects of instruction.
In order for the teacher to find the ideal job, he would have to find a school that would look for a teacher exactly like his application. What is unusual is that, in general, selection procedures are oriented toward one specific subject; schools must cover mathematics, English, or Slovak. Other subjects, unless they are vocational schools with specific subjects, are covered by different alternations. The alternations consist of the fact that the subjects are taught by unqualified teachers who need to supplement the lessons in order to be able to be employed full-time and not have to look for yet another school to supplement their weekly working hours.  The importance of individual subjects is defined by whether these subjects are necessary for admission to a secondary or higher education institution, whether they count towards the average of the student's results, or whether they are part of the baccalaureate. Other subjects, specifically educational subjects, are perceived as secondary and are not considered important. These subjects are not infrequently taught by unqualified teachers. not because there are not enough graduates in the labour market for educational subjects. The problem is the aforementioned approbation combinatorics. Another problem is the age structure of teachers. Young teachers are discouraged not only by the poor salary conditions in the Slovak education system, but also by the difficult application process due to the previously mentioned strongly and weakly subsidised hourly subjects. Therefore, the distinctive feature of the school system in Slovakia is the high age of teachers and the number of active teachers who should already be retired. Many of these teachers are proud of their didactic training, even from the time of the totalitarian regime, and make no secret of the fact that they consider the Bolshevik methods of upbringing to be practical and leading to an educational goal (Kralik, 2017).
The problem is the same in both cases: the unqualified teachers. After all, anyone who raises children, that is, every teacher, can teach ethical education. Religious education can be taught by anyone who believes and goes to church. Physical education can be taught by anyone who has sufficient physical condition. Anyone who can read and dictate notes to students in a notebook can teach history. Technical education can be taught by anyone who knows how to saw wood. However, individual subjects and their didactics are constantly evolving. Not only are the teaching methods changing, but the content is also changing, just as the relevant topics to which pupils need to know the answers are changing across society. The teacher is not a civil servant in order to tell students his or her own theories about the origin of the world, about what is good and bad, to offer them his or her own interpretations of historical events, or to teach them his or her own and unacceptable solutions to mathematical equations or spelling rules (Rychnová et al. 2022).
Each subject's curriculum specifies specific content that teachers must provide to students in order for them to get the most out of it and use it effectively. The problem is if the teacher does not know the content of the curriculum. Based on the above, this is not a rare case. In this case, the teacher offers his own opinions and interpretations, not infrequently based on various conspiracy reports and sources . The consequence of this is a misinterpretation and misunderstanding of fundamental concepts such as democracy, freedom and freedom of expression, conscientious objection, the right of the other, environmental responsibility, and the sustainability of development (Kralik, Roubalová, Judak et al., 2022).
The state educational programme states that the goal of education is to produce a pupil who is capable of social cooperation, is prosocial, and helps others. In simple terms, it is guided by moral values. Practice in schools shows that pathological manifestations that are related to the absence of moral value orientation are present in schools and their number does not decrease (Jarmoch et al., 2022). It is worth asking yourself what the cause of this condition is. There must be a problem somewhere, since the subjects of the educational focus aim to lead pupils to tolerance and respect and to prosociality as a tool for joint communication and cooperation. But at the same time, manifestations of racism, intolerance, and denial of responsibility for the other as well as for the environment appear unchanged or growing (Kralik Roubalova, Hlad, et al., 2022).

The Content of the Curriculum of Religious Education
The condition described above may have a cause in the incompetence of teachers who do not know the content of what they are supposed to teach.
Or they refuse to teach what the curriculum prescribes for them. Our aim is not to examine this line of the problem. To do this, we would need to know the opinions and attitudes of teachers, which would require a different methodological approach. We are interested in whether there are topics in the curriculum of religious education that are directly linked to sustainable development, and how these topics are presented to pupils. As we indicated above, the basic documents that establish the nature of religious education refer to the fact that it will be devoted to such topics. We have several studies available that show that the problem of sustainability is Ethics becoming an object of lifelong learning and cannot be ignored (Kobylarek, Błaszczyński et al., 2022). The issue of nature conservation is included in the curriculum for pupils in the 5th grade of primary school, which in practise means that the pupils are aged 11. The theme of the whole year is cognition through dialogue. The theme is included at the beginning of the book, in which the Christian is to open up to a doctrine other than that of the church. The student begins to confront the opinions of others with opinions that are different and, at the same time, learns to respect these opinions, discuss them, and look for common solutions. The symbol of this year's edition is the house, a building built of different materials in which diverse people with different opinions live. People live in this house together and without conflicts. Religion should also lead to a peaceful life. Man's relationship with nature is classified as an existential competency. The student appreciates the importance of nature in a person's life and contributes to its protection. For 11-year-olds, that's it. As part of prayer, they are to develop the ability to appreciate the importance of nature in human life and therefore to protect it. Although the relationship to the year's theme is there, there is no connection to the content of the year, communication with others, etc. In addition, the topic of nature conservation is included in the group of opinions on the other side, that is, opinions that seem not to be part of the thinking of a Christian.
For the second time, the topic of nature conservation appears in the next 6th grade, for pupils aged about 12 years. This year's theme is learning the truth, and the goal is for students to be able to orient their lives according to the truth and practise living in the truth according to the voice of conscience. In the overall focus of the curriculum, the authors want pupils to learn to define themselves against the opinions of others and to steadfastly uphold the truth that teachers have helped them discover in their conscience ( \Martin et al., 2022). The aim is not to understand that we can have different views on nature but to look for a common solution to protect it. Rather, the goal is that we should be able to defend our views on nature as correct and meaningful. At the end of the educational process, the pupil does not understand that we should protect nature together. All he knows is that even Christians are able to talk about nature conservation.
The most important competence that a student gains is social competence, which allows him to create a simple project aimed at helping polluted nature. In addition, he can perceive the value of nature as well as responsibility for the created world. The theme of the search for truth about the world, in which competence is incorporated, has an hourly subsidy of 5 hours. This means five meetings with pupils. One session lasts 45 minutes, and it is a classic lesson with an adequate format. Part of the lesson is devoted to formal activities, there are about 20 minutes left for the actual interpretation and work with the content.
Students are asked to evaluate the veracity of the biblical creation story's figurative language and compare it to a scientific perspective over the course of five sessions to compare ancient myths about the origin of the world with the message of the biblical text. They are to gain knowledge of how to perceive the veracity of figurative speech and learn to value the beauty of the created world. This is a similar situation to that of 11-yearolds. The main goal is to understand the content of the Christian message and image of the creation of the world and to communicate or identify with this opinion. It is more about the competence to defend one's own truth than the ability to work together for the common good. A similar situation arises in the case of the following topic, the goal of which is to know the truth about oneself. Here, too, the pupil should learn to perceive man as part of nature. A positive attitude towards nature is also reflected in the way we express ourselves, in our cultured and thoughtful self-presentation, and, most importantly, in our respect for other people.
We can conclude that within the curriculum for religious education, the topic of sustainable development appears only very sporadically. The theme of sustainable values is linked to nature conservation. A Christian has his own worldview, and in this worldview, both man and nature are created by God. The need to protect nature is based on the fact that God gave man the world and that man is responsible for it. This starting point is very important, but sustainable development is much more complex and also contains deeper moral consequences that should be emphasised in education (Roubalová, Judák et al., 2021). There is a complete lack of understanding of responsibility for one's neighbour, global responsibility, and other anthropological moments that are intrinsically linked to the values of sustainable development and, at the same time, are at the heart of Christian teaching.

Sustainability Objectives
Sustainable development is not only about eliminating the consequences of our past actions. In order to find a workable solution, we must look to the future and create a paradigm that will protect us from future problems. This is not only possible through technical processes; it also requires a change in the way of thinking, in value priorities, in the approach to communication, and in the understanding of the world as a global space. The change should be paradigmatic, with a focus on a holistic approach .
At the heart of all sustainable development, there is a moral problem of responsibility at all levels. Responsibility for oneself, for one's neighbour, even though it is different, for the environment, and all this is perceived in a global or all-weather context. In this sense, it is necessary to change the perception and interpretation of some basic starting points of the current paradigm. First of all, it is the understanding of otherness and difference. Others and otherness are viewed negatively in our civilizational paradigm (Martin et al., 2021). In the modernity paradigm, otherness is interpreted as a danger and threat rather than a call to dynamic cooperation. Difference is a reason for misunderstanding and, at the same time, it is a challenge to struggle with . A modern society built on the principle of the nation state, at least in our civilizational context, places great emphasis on difference. National identity is determined by the diversity of national culture; each nation and each state want to emphasise what makes it original and unique. In sports, we have national teams, there are national cuisines with trademarks for specific dishes. Nations blame and ridicule each other, whether because of language or cultural differences.
A significant change in thinking focused on sustainable development is a new understanding of quality of life (Murgaš et al., 2022). The metaphysical paradigm is based on a linear understanding of time that is linked to religion, both Christianity and Islam in a way of thinking. The linearity of time is tied to the great story that Lyotard tells in the context of postmodernism. History has a beginning, significant events, and a culmination in the Last Judgment. Past events are definitive, and there is nothing we can do about them. Everything is disposable, including the life of an individual. Therefore, the goal of life is to get as much pleasure as possible and enjoy life. There are several moral attitudes that reject this way of life, and generally accepted morality speaks of the fact that man is a neighbour and is not the means but the goal of our actions (Kralik & Torok, 2016). If this moral principle also worked in social practice, it would not be possible for colonies, slavery, exploitation, or segregation of any type to arise (Lešková & Haburajová Ilavská, 2021). On the other hand, there is always another one that has less value and must be brought to knowledge, to reason. The world is divided by different boundaries that we do not want to eliminate (Pavlikova, 2021).
The issue of sustainable development is at the heart of the agenda of significant institutions, which have a significant impact on where education in general will go and where religious education will go. Both the United Nations and the Magisterium of the Catholic Church point out that active engagement in the field of sustainable development is a necessary activity today. The United Nations has 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) on its agenda, most of which are based on the formulation of fundamental human rights. The way in which sustainability goals are defined shows that the whole effort is no longer about maintaining a threshold beyond which the poor, hungry, oppressed, and otherwise disadvantaged will remain (Tkáčová et al., 2022). The UN clearly shows that poverty is not just a problem for the poor; it is also our problem. The same applies to all other problems, whether we are talking about hunger, healthcare, gender equality, or other forms of scarcity. An important paradigm shift is that there is no longer a limit where our responsibility ends (Lešková et al., 2022). Every-one is responsible for the current state of the planet and how other people live at its opposite end.
Sustainability is conceived in three basic categories, which form the three basic pillars of sustainability. It has an economic, social, and environmental base. In the very centre there is an economic base, without which it is impossible to advance to the other two. If there is no economic stability and no social stability, it is not possible to eradicate poverty. If there is no economic stability, people are unable to think in terms of sustainable development because they want to survive. They do not care whether they are destroying the forest, decimating the animal population, or contaminating the river. They want to survive, and they have every right to do so. To do so, they shall use the means at their disposal. The different sustainability strands are interconnected and cannot be separated from each other. At the very heart of the idea of sustainable development, however, is a fundamental Christian message in which we are called upon to love our neighbour as ourselves (Kralik & Mahrik, 2019).
The current Pope Francis, who represents the official teachings of the Catholic Church on the issue of sustainable development, has published the encyclical Laudato si, where he talks about the shared responsibility of all, regardless of any boundaries. As he literally writes, "In this encyclical, I intend to establish a dialogue with everyone concerning our common home" (Francis I, 2015, 3). The basic starting point for achieving a minimal shift in the debate on sustainability is the removal of borders. It is not a utopian notion in the form of an idealistic vision of world citizenship and equality, to which the Enlightenment and Marxism looked up. The revolutionary eradication of poverty and inequality has never produced the desired effect. Equality cannot be achieved by robbing another of his property and distributing it to others (Judak, Mahrik et al., 2022). Rather, it is essential to understand that one person cannot control mineral reserves and use them to blackmail others. Large wealth differences can only be achieved through unfair exploitation, which is contrary to both the objectives of the UN and the ideas of the Pope.
Francis invites us to take care of our common home, and this is only possible if we work together, if we see each other as partners, as brothers and sisters, and not as potential sources of profit. He also talks about the problem of mutual belonging and responsibility in his next encyclical, Fratelli tutti (2020), where he talks about a universal brotherhood within which no form of injustice, slavery, or exploitation of poverty is acceptable. The challenge ahead of us lies in caring for our common home, because nothing in this world is indifferent to us (Francis I, 2020, 2) and no one can refuse his neighbour. Both fear and aggressive nationalism are obstacles to this cooperation and mutual concern for each other and the environment in which we live. The above-mentioned paradigm of fear of otherness leads to closing in on one's own world, rejecting other opinions, a different colour, but also other problems. Fear sees only himself and his worries, does not see the problems and worries of others. This limited perspective, which combines fear and hatred, makes it difficult to find solutions to issues such as gender equality, slavery, unemployment, racism, poverty, and environmental and economic problems (Kralik, 2017).
We can say that the teachings of the church in the main documents, as well as the UN agenda, pursue the same goal. Their goal lies in a change of interpretation and paradigm, in a new understanding of what a person is, in the dignity of a person, and in responsibility for another. These challenges should be implemented not only in education in state schools but also in religious education, which we pay attention to in our research.

Absence of Critical Discourse
At the beginning of our study, we presented an analysis of the curriculum of religious education, looking for key places related to sustainability issues. In our investigation, we found a certain disproportion. The encyclical Fratelli tutti was published in 2020, so it will still take some time to incorporate it into school curricula. The encyclical Laudato si was published in 2015. Since 2020, a new curriculum for religious education has been in the process of being verified. We could assume that the issue from the encyclical Laudato si will also be included in these new curricula. After more detailed investigation, it became clear that the concept of ecology is mentioned only once in the new curriculum, in connection with the biblical story of creation, where the text of creation is identified in the book of Genesis as a text suitable for the biblical foundations of ecology. However, in the next text of the curriculum, we will no longer encounter the concept of the biblical foundations of ecology or the basics of ecology. Likewise, we will not encounter the concept of sustainability or sustainable development throughout the text.
The issue of environmental protection is briefly inserted into the 3rd grade of secondary schools. This is where the theme of the content is last: Protecting creation and assuming responsibility for the environment. Cultivate and guard: the biblical foundations of ecology (Gen. 2:8-15). Climate change and the treatment of resources. Leaving aside the fact that the volume of the topic is small and insufficient, it is also an important fact that in the 3rd grade in secondary schools there is no longer religious education, only in church schools. So most pupils do not even get to the questions of environmental protection. Responsibility for one's neighbour is also part of sustainable development. Even in this case, the new curriculum did not go beyond the shadow of the previous curriculum of religious education. He does not emphasise that every person is a neighbor. (NIVAM, 2015) It only emphasises that we must perform acts of love for our neighbour. Namely: The disciple: he knows how to enumerate acts of carnal and spiritual mercy, reproduces biblical texts in which Jesus gives examples of mercy, gives concrete examples of service and expression of love to neighbors, confronts his life with the lives of people who have performed acts of mercy, performs a specific act of mercy, and serves his neighbour (visiting a nursing home, holding a charity fundraiser, giving out food, meeting the poor). (KPKC, 2020, p. 59) Acts of mercy are locally oriented; throughout the text of the new curriculum, there is no question of global responsibility, not only for ecological problems but also for economic and social problems.
Not once in the new draught of the curriculum is there any mention of inequality; only the injustice in connection with the Babylonian captivity is mentioned. The new curriculum creates the impression that everything is in order or as if the problems that exist in the world are not problems for Christians in Slovakia. The new curriculum does not reflect Pope Francis' call for universal brotherhood and concern for others, eliminating boundaries and differences. When reading the draught of the new curriculum, we tend to get the impression that we are fine. We must protect our own faith from others, and we must take care of ourselves, our own poor, our old, and our sick.
The inability to go beyond the limits of one's self, whether in an individual or group dimension, is a very common phenomenon that does not only concern Slovakia or the countries of Central Europe. (Tkáčová, Al-Absiová et al., 2021) In the discussions, it is claimed that the sustainability agenda is an ideology through which the UN seeks to establish in the world the possibility of gender reassignment and the introduction of new gender categories. This statement reduces the whole issue of sustainable development to a topic that is not even part of the sustainability agenda in the first place. With this incompetent approach to the problem, Christians and other nationalist-minded citizens are closing the door on a possible solution.
On April 28, 2022, we organised a workshop for students of religious education at Constantine the Philosopher University in Nitra on the topic of Youth in a media-saturated society. One of the topics was the position of women in the media. Students of religious education generally agreed that there are many formal declarations that talk about equality between men and women, and it is also a topic within the curriculum of religious education. But in practice, in a traditionally Christian and nationally set environment, these are just words. As part of the workshop, the students identified education as a problem. School religious instruction, family education, and parish catechesis are still set up in such a way that a man and a woman are equal, but Adam was the first, as expressed in the words of the students. This first and stronger Adam must still dominate the company. The new curriculum shows that it still agrees with this position (Roubalová, Králik et al., 2021).
The orientation toward national and own values creates an environment of isolation that is a suitable space for manipulation and prone to totalitarianism. The history of Slovakia shows that nationally oriented movements tended to emphasise the importance of borders and their difference and otherness . Others were divided into friends and enemies, and they also used friends to make a profit. This modern model of local absolute reason persists in the social paradigm and is, in our opinion, the biggest obstacle to being able to not only develop but also apply the ideas of sustainability in practice.

Conclusion
The ideas and values of sustainable development are gaining more and more space on the political agenda, reaching the media, and becoming the subject of debate at various levels. We have shown that the problem of sustainable values is both a political and academic issue, but it has not escaped the religious environment . However, the urgency of the situation and the importance of sustainability values are in stark contrast to the way in which these values are approached. In our study, we demonstrated the absence of sustainability values in our analysis of the religious education curriculum. At the same time, we have shown that these values do not conflict with the teachings of the church but are part of them. The new curriculum has not made a shift towards sustainability values; on the contrary, it remains in the old paradigm of modernity. In this paradigm, Christianity must prove its uniqueness; in others, it sees a threat to its own authenticity and does not understand a distant person as a neighbour. Instead of cooperating, maintaining borders, building defensive walls, finding the enemy, and fighting for one's rights, values and wellbeing are still present in this paradigm.
Changing the curriculum is a difficult thing; it takes a lot of time. The current innovative curriculum is already at the verification stage, and it is almost certain that it will be approved in this form. The possibility of finding a solution is shown in the preparation of future teachers of religion. The dynamics of their thinking, as shown, for example, in the aforementioned workshop, allow them to accept the challenges coming from the old and, at the same time, new values of sustainability. Students, future teachers of religious education, realise that sustainable development is not the naive desire of the generation of love in the last century. On the contrary, it is a necessary step that we must take if we want to maintain the quality of life on the planet, if we want to preserve the existence of people we consider to be neighbours, and if we want all our fellow human beings to have a dignified life.