Conference in Dresden: Trust as a key in a complex society!

Conference in Dresden: Trust as a key in a complex society!

On October 30, 2025, around 50 religious teachers will gather in the cathedral house in Dresden for the annual meeting of the Dresden-Meißen diocese. Under the motto “Trust – learning and teaching”, the focus of the event is on strengthening trust in a complex, plural society. The conference is organized by the Schools and Universities Department in the diocese together with the State Office for Schools and Education and the Institute for Catholic Theology at the Technical University of Dresden.

The keynote speech will be given by Dr. Sarah Rosenhauer, who deals intensively with trust as an essential basic category in various areas of life. She emphasizes that trust is often based on ignorance, but can be strengthened through personal experience and familiarity. In her remarks she also highlights different “styles of trust” and their influence on social reality.

Workshops and exchange

The conference offers participants not only lectures, but also the opportunity to deepen their knowledge through workshops. These include “Masters of Trust” with Sarah Rosenhauer, exercises on self-trust and trust in God, led by Maria Degkwitz, and the workshop “Trust as a foundation of lively religious education,” which is moderated by Simon Neubert. Another workshop is dedicated to the analysis of the undermining of trust through new right-wing strategies, led by Dr. Jan Niklas Collet. These events create space for meetings and exchanges between teachers and are intended to encourage how trust can be promoted in the classroom.

The event ends with a joint plenary session and a travel blessing. Such conferences are essential because religious education is legally anchored as a regular subject in public schools, apart from non-denominational schools, and has been enshrined in the Basic Law. A quick look at developments shows that fewer and fewer students belong to one of the major churches and the religious landscape is becoming increasingly plural, so that new religious communities are also fighting for their place in the classroom.

Future of religious education

In this context, Arnulf von Scheliha and Hinnerk Wißmann have written an essay about the future of religious education, in which they deal with cultural, legal and political aspects. They propose various models for a sustainable design of religious education, including a rotating system between denominational and religious studies instruction as well as “religious education for all” that takes religious plurality into account.

These considerations are particularly relevant against the background of increasing skepticism towards religious education, which is characterized by secularization and the weakening of individual religious commitment. Despite these challenges, diversity in the student body requires an approach to shaping religious policy that does justice to both believers and non-believers.

In summary, the events and discussions show that it is not just about maintaining existing religious education, but also developing it further and adapting it to the needs of a changing society. There are already different approaches to this in the federal states, while in some states special regulations for Islamic religious education have been implemented. But even within this diversity, it is becoming apparent that mono-denominational teaching is increasingly seen as outdated. An interreligious opening could offer the urgently needed help for questions of meaning and ethics in school lessons.

For the participants at the conference it is clear: the topic of trust remains central – be it in lessons or in how religious communities interact with one another.