This article explores Scottish and Danish young male offenders’ experiences of incarceration, prison chaplaincy, religion and spirituality. The findings from in‐depth face‐to‐face semi‐structured interviews (n = 15) suggest that although Scotland and Denmark are increasingly secular countries, the prison environment (deprivation of liberty, vulnerability and feelings of guilt) seems to engender pro‐religious/spiritual attitudes and an interest in prison chaplaincy services. Working with interfaith chaplains enabled the young inmates to take small steps towards managing the social strains that led them into offending, and the ‘painful’ experiences they encountered during imprisonment. The holistic chaplaincy services that they were offered helped to nurture some initial turning points that stimulated identity and behaviour change linked to transitional masculinity, and in some cases to an increased commitment towards criminal desistance.

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This article draws data from two complementary studies in sub-Saharan Africa to highlight the problem of religious misrepresentation in (multi-faith) Religious Education (RE) at school in Malawi and Ghana. Employing Michael Apples' conception of selective tradition, the article is critical of the confrontational disputation inherent in the RE in the two countries. The misrepresentation is analysed under themes related to classroom discourse and the nature of religion. It argues that RE could actually be counter-productive and thus end up misrepresenting religions instead of promoting them. Unless there is a radical shift in the areas identified, the subject will continue to present a distorted picture of religion and thus fail in its civic responsibility as a curriculum area that is perhaps best placed to inculcate pro-social values towards citizenship in a world of religious diversity.

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Through the lens of an anticolonial (as opposed to postcolonial) analytical framework, this conceptual paper examines decolonising efforts (and failures) in Religious Education (RE) as a school subject in post independent sub-Saharan Africa. It critics the missionary/European epistemological hegemony that continues to render RE a colonial rather than a postcolonial project. Beyond rhetoric of the impact of colonialism, the paper laments the perversity of a 'colonial caged mentality' affecting the conceptualisation of RE in what is supposed to be a postcolonial milieu in which Africans should design school curricula that suit their particular needs. It calls for the re-conceptualisation of RE de-linked from colonial/Eurocentric thought patterns and presents an 'envisioned' decolonised RE (post-confessional, inclusive and multifaith) that speaks to the political and socio-cultural reality of a postcolonial environment in sub-Saharan Africa. The argument in this paper is that sub-Saharan Africa should yearn for a paradigm shift not only to ensure the decolonisation of the RE curriculum, but also crucially to challenge embedded colonial residues inherent in stakeholders 'manning the gates' ensuring that decolonised RE is supported and implemented effectively in the curriculum and schools.