The Dalai Lama is turning 82 this July, and he may be the last in his line. The religious and political ramifications of this are often lost on the general public, because we are not actively taught it in school.
Many people in largely Christian Australia don't know the significance of a Mikveh in Judaism, can't explain why the Buddhist Middle Path is so important, or recite what the Five Pillars of Islam are. There are as many diverse interpretations of Hinduism as there are for Christianity, and there are as many insightful Buddhist stories as there are in the Bible.
I attended an Anglican school with a typical religious education course that revolved around the Anglican Church, but there was one year when we studied a bit of everything; how the three major monotheistic religions originated on Arab soil, the archeology of Mecca, the spread of Buddhism through East Asia.
We visited a mosque, a synagogue, and a Chinese Buddhist temple on a day trip within the city. It was the most inclusive year I ever had in religious education, which they really should have called Bible Studies if the school was being honest.
I found I knew more about other religions than my friends by way of reading graphic novels, which was absurd. How had comics been more informative about grieving mothers and mustard seeds, or the architecture in Andalucia, than the monolithic entity that was (and is) the national education system?
The conundrum is this: said education system has its roots in the Christian church, and is principally West-centric. Setting aside the fact that most schools do not have much control over their curriculum, it is in a school's own interest to promote the doctrine endorsed by its founders, its graduates, and the parents and government that grant the funds that continue its existence.
That is not to say that this is inherently wrong; teaching children the moral foundations of our forebears and extrapolating on their ideologies can be seen as noble work.
However, according to census data, Christianity is losing traction. In the 2011 census the percentage of people who are of other religions has risen to just under half the population, and in 2017 it may be that 'no religion' will win out entirely.
"There are so many parts of the world that have seen social and physical conflict in the name of religion. How can Australians contribute to the international discourse regarding