The European Convention on Human Rights guarantees freedom of education, including the opportunities to create and operate faith-based schools. However, as European societies become more religiously diverse and 'less religious' at the same time, the role of faith-based schools is increasingly being contested. Serious tensions have emerged between those who ardently support religious schools in their various forms, and those who oppose them. Given that faith-based schools enjoy basic constitutional guarantees in Europe, the controversy around them often surrounds issues of public financing, degrees of organisational and pedagogical autonomy, and educational practices and management. This volume is about the controversies surrounding religious schools in a number of Western European countries. The introductory chapter briefly analyses the structural pressures that affect the position of religious schools, outlining the relevant institutional arrangements in countries such as Denmark, Germany, France, Ireland, the Netherlands, and Scotland. The following chapters provide a detailed analysis of the discussions and controversies surrounding faith-based schools in each country. Finally, the two concluding chapters aim to provide a bigger, comparative picture with regard to these debates about religious education in liberal democratic states and culturally pluralist societies. This book was originally published as a special issue of Comparative Education.

The European Convention on Human Rights guarantees freedom of education, including the opportunities to create and operate faith-based schools. However, as European societies become more religiously diverse and 'less religious' at the same time, the role of faith-based schools is increasingly being contested. Serious tensions have emerged between those who ardently support religious schools in their various forms, and those who oppose them. Given that faith-based schools enjoy basic constitutional guarantees in Europe, the controversy around them often surrounds issues of public financing, degrees of organisational and pedagogical autonomy, and educational practices and management. This volume is about the controversies surrounding religious schools in a number of Western European countries. The introductory chapter briefly analyses the structural pressures that affect the position of religious schools, outlining the relevant institutional arrangements in countries such as Denmark, Germany, France, Ireland, the Netherlands, and Scotland. The following chapters provide a detailed analysis of the discussions and controversies surrounding faith-based schools in each country. Finally, the two concluding chapters aim to provide a bigger, comparative picture with regard to these debates about religious education in liberal democratic states and culturally pluralist societies. This book was originally published as a special issue of Comparative Education.

In January of 1671 the pirate Henry Morgan captured and sacked Panama City. Morgan took considerable booty Panama but missed the fabled Golden Altar, a priceless artifact which a local priest had painted with creosote to avoid detection. This story tells of Morgan's rage when he discovered what he had overlooked. Continuing, it relates how a descendant, Major Henry Morgan, a British Army officer who passed through Panama after the Falkland's War, returns in 1985 to steal the altar. Descriptions of Morgan's raid in 1671 and of the City of Panama in 1985 are accurate. However, the unviolated Golden Altar still resides today in the church of San Jose, close to where General Manuel Antonio Noriega's infamous Defense Forces headquarters stood until 1989, when the U.S. invasion destroyed the complex, and life in Panama changed forever.

En enero de 1671 el pirata Henry Morgan capturo y saqueo la Ciudad de Panama. En un sorprendente hecho de armas cruzo el Istmo de Panama y ataco la ciudad desde el este, algo que los estrategas militares en la actualidad consideran imposible. Morgan tomo un botin importante de Panama pero le falto el fabuloso Altar Dorado, un artefacto invalorable que los curas habian pintado con creosota para evitar que lo descubrieran. Esta obra cuenta en detalle la invasion de Morgan y su ira al descubrir lo que el y su banda de bucaneros habian dejado escapar. Prosigue relatando como un descendiente, el Mayor Henry Morgan, un oficial de la Armada Britanica que habia pasado por Panama en su regreso de las guerra de las islas Faulklands, vuelve en 1985 para robarse el altar. Los sorprendentes detalles de sus preparativos para el robo, la fundicion del oro y su posterior venta se explican minuciosamente en este libro. Las descripciones del ataque de Morgan en 1671 y de la Ciudad de Panama en 1985 son precisas. Sin embargo, el inmaculado altar dorado permanece hoy en la iglesia de San Jose en la parte antigua de la ciudad. No esta lejos del lugar donde se erigia el infame cuartel general de las Fuerzas de Defensa del General Manuel Antonio Noriega hasta 1989, fecha en que la invasion estadounidense destruyo el complejo y cambio la vida de Panama para siempre.

En enero de 1671 el pirata Henry Morgan capturo y saqueo la Ciudad de Panama. En un sorprendente hecho de armas cruzo el Istmo de Panama y ataco la ciudad desde el este, algo que los estrategas militares en la actualidad consideran imposible. Morgan tomo un botin importante de Panama pero le falto el fabuloso Altar Dorado, un artefacto invalorable que los curas habian pintado con creosota para evitar que lo descubrieran. Esta obra cuenta en detalle la invasion de Morgan y su ira al descubrir lo que el y su banda de bucaneros habian dejado escapar. Prosigue relatando como un descendiente, el Mayor Henry Morgan, un oficial de la Armada Britanica que habia pasado por Panama en su regreso de las guerra de las islas Faulklands, vuelve en 1985 para robarse el altar. Los sorprendentes detalles de sus preparativos para el robo, la fundicion del oro y su posterior venta se explican minuciosamente en este libro. Las descripciones del ataque de Morgan en 1671 y de la Ciudad de Panama en 1985 son precisas. Sin embargo, el inmaculado altar dorado permanece hoy en la iglesia de San Jose en la parte antigua de la ciudad. No esta lejos del lugar donde se erigia el infame cuartel general de las Fuerzas de Defensa del General Manuel Antonio Noriega hasta 1989, fecha en que la invasion estadounidense destruyo el complejo y cambio la vida de Panama para siempre.