ABSTRACT
The situation of RE in Switzerland is very diverse due to the country's federal structure, with a clear divide between German- and French-speaking regions. At the local level, a couple of individual initiatives have been able to implement IRE since 2002 in some German-speaking cantons, but IRE has not yet been established on a broader scale. The chapter examines the role several factors may have played in leading to this situation. Among these factors are the long-term trend of many cantons to replace traditional confessional religious instruction with religious studies, the lack of IRE textbooks during the earlier years, the continuing lack of an IRE training institution, and the strong discouraging effect of the general discourse on Islam. New developments relevant for future initiatives are the establishment of an academic centre for Islamic-theological self-reflection in the Swiss context as well as initiatives and projects in the field of interreligious learning and general teacher's training.
