This article explores the influence of religious factors and values held by local societies, when Muslims develop their personal attitudes and perceived religious norms regarding spousal roles and wife-beating. It is based on qualitative interviews with 59 Muslims in Indonesia (N = 35) and Norway (N = 24). In addition, relevant Indonesian and Norwegian Muslim literature and web pages are examined. According to most Indonesian respondents, Islamic norms prescribe male leadership and allow the husband to beat a disobedient wife. This was regarded as crucial for the wife's destiny after death. According to most Norwegian respondents, Islamic norms promote gender equality and oppose wife-beating. The sharp contrast between the perceived religious norms of Indonesian and Norwegian respondents may be caused by dissimilar cultural values in the two countries -values that influenced personal attitudes and thus the horizon of understanding where religion and authoritative text were interpreted. The reasoning of the respondents also sheds light on the importance of specific sacred texts when religious norms were developed individually. From a psychological point of view, the implementation of the egalitarian attitudes represented by numerous respondents may have positive effects for Muslim women living in patriarchal societies. ARTICLE HISTORY

Artikkelen drøfter to perspektivspenn knyttet til religions- og livssyns-undervisning: innenfra kontra utenfra og faglig kontra personlig. På bakgrunn av religionsvitenskapelige og religionsdidaktiske diskusjoner argumenteres det for et faglig perspektivmangfold i undervisningen. Det faglige innenfraperspektivet fremmer elevenes toleranse og kognitive empati med annerledes tenkende, samt at det gir mulighet for gjenkjennelse av eget livssyn. Det faglige utenfraperspektivet fremmer evnen til objektiv og kritisk vitenskapelig tenkning. Begge fremmer faglig innsikt. Selv om læreren kan være åpen om eget livssyn, skal dette ikke påvirke undervisningen. Elevenes individuelle livssynssammensetninger legger føringer for hvordan de fortolker lærestoffet. Dette vil igjen påvirke deres egen livssynsutvikling.Nøkkelord: Perspektiver i religions- og livssynsundervisning, emic, etic, insider, outsider, reduksjonisme, anti-reduksjonisme, KRLE, Religion og etikk.The article discusses two spans of perspectives regarding Religious Education: inside versus outside and academic versus personal. Diversity of academic perspectives within Religious Education is advocated based on discussions within Comparative Religion and Religious Education. The academic inside perspective promotes the pupils' tolerance and cognitive empathy with adherents of other world views, as well as providing opportunity of recognition of their own belief. The academic outside perspective promotes the ability of reflecting objectively and scientifically. Both promote academic insight. Although the teacher may self-disclose her own world view, it should not affect her teaching. The pupils' individual world views affect how they interpret the educational content. This will in turn affect the development of their own world views.Keywords: Perspectives in Religious Education, emic, etic, insider, outsider, reductionism, anti-reductionism.

Each individual constructs his own private worldview using elements from established worldview traditions. The biographical character of this formation makes this the individual’s “Unique Worldview Construction” (UWC). The purpose of this theoretical study is to analyse the dynamic relationship between the individual and her own UWC. It describes more how than what he believes in or denies. The variation is exceedingly complex. To make it accessible, the complexity is crystallized into seven dimensions: (1) The authority structure deals with the individual’s perception of herself as being superordinate/subordinate to her own UWC. (2) The importance dimension analyses the span from indifference to involvement among a variety of religious/nonreligious, age, and gender cohorts. (3) The certainty dimension explores doubt versus confidence, using theories like confirmation bias, naïve realism, and cognitive dissonance. (4) The dimension of one’s relationship to rejected beliefs describes different ways of being inclusive/exclusive. (5) The emotional dimension depicts the individual’s weak/strong and negative/positive feelings towards different elements of her UWC. (6) The openness dimension sheds light on the respective traits of being introverted/extroverted regarding one’s private worldview. (7) The continuity dimension explores different development patterns, along with complex pre/post-conversion and deconversion processes. The different dimensions partly correlate to each other.

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This article is based on qualitative interviews with 20 heterosexual and 4 lgbt Norwegian Muslims, aged between 18 and 32 years. It explores how the respondents correlate divine revelation and human reasoning in reflecting about questions such as: Did God create homosexuality? Is homosexuality a test from God? Is homosexuality a problem for society? Will non-hetero sexuality be punished in the afterlife? Is it possible to interpret the Quran in a lgbt-friendly way? The various kinds of correlation between divine revelation and human reasoning is analysed using a two-dimensional typology specifically designed for this purpose: double set of consequences (a), afterlife consequences (b), progressive interpretation (c) and eclecticism (d). This typology is empirically-grounded, based on coding of the interviews. The typology contributed to clarifying the internal differentiations within respectively restrictive and affirmative attitudes concerning homosexuality. A minority regarded homosexuality to be a problem – both for this life and life after death. The majority regarded afterlife consequences for lgbts to be the sole problem. Two lgbts interpreted the Quran progressively, and experienced harmony between their religious and sexual identity. Two other lgbts read the Quran restrictively, partly disagreeing with – and not implementing – the perceived Quranic rules.