Straipsnyje pateikiama tikybos dėstymo Vokietijoje raidos istorinė apžvalga bei įstatyminis pagrindas, atkreipiant dėmesį į pastaruoju metu stiprėjančias laicistines tendencijas išstumti tikybą iš valstybinės mokyklos programos, sekant Prancūzijos pavyzdžiu. Kai kuriose šalyse Bažnyčios bendradarbiavimas švietimo ir ugdymo srityje grindžiamas įstatymais, kitose jos veikla toleruojama su išlygomis, dar kitose ji apskritai atskirta nuo valstybinės mokyklos. Vokietijoje tikybos mokymas viešojo ugdymo įstaigose yra bendras valstybės ir Bažnyčios uždavinys (rex mixta). Vadovaujantis sąžinės laisvės principu, besimokantiesiems paliekama teisė atsisakyti tikybos pamokų ir sudaroma galimybė lankyti alternatyvaus dalyko – etikos – pamokas. [...]

Abductive correlation assumes that interlacing faith and life came long before the first religion lesson was given. Considerations and insights into abductive correlation should therefore be performed before religious upbringing begins, even before it can begin. What does all that mean for teaching religion, now for all that is implied by religious upbringing in general? First, I would like to notice that each teacher of religion should be aware, that preparation for a lesson means planning of the unpredictable. Therefore, it is important to perceive, what is brought in by the learners into a certain context. The abductive mode refers to the surprising, the uncertain which is not plannable, so that the course of the lesson remains open in the end. That does not mean that good preparation, or didactic and methodological skill is no longer required, or that good theological training would be unimportant. On the contrary, it means more work on a certain, relevant subject. It is the wilful adherence to a certain way that becomes unnecessary. The subject must be orientated towards a constructive procedure which has to be taken seriously. Abductive religious pedagogy comes from interpreting life and the world emblematically, so that also the Jewish Christian tradition has its cultural place there and it is newly transformed into different connections. From an abductive viewpoint, it would not be a primary task of religious education to teach religion as a more or less strange tradition in a new way. Rather, it means to develop the competences (first of all on the side of the teachers and then on the side of the learners) of perceiving the habitual signs and the tradition available in daily practice today in order to make its critical reflection possible. Through it, the new solutions will be learned not just in oblivion; the learner will be made aware of the organic connection between tradition and experience. It means that the teachers must learn from experience and first of all from the experience stories of their students, so that they can discover the elements of trusted theological encyclopaedias and read them in a new light. This reading may not provide definitions or rules, but it will help to generate all this – in a joint process together with the learners.