On the ‘religionen-entdecken.de’ website, children aged between 8 and 13 can ask questions about everyday life and beliefs within different religions: experts from the respective religious communities answer these questions. This ensures that the texts are factually accurate and reflect the lived reality of a religious community in Germany. In this way, children learn about religious beliefs and practices, can break down prejudices and gain knowledge about the world’s religions. The knowledge database has now grown to include more than 2,000 encyclopaedia entries and answers to over 8,000 questions from children.

Over time, the editorial team has also expanded this free service to include games and quizzes, audio clips and 360° videos, a world map of holy sites, teaching materials for the classroom and the interfaith calendar ‘HolyDays’. The latest addition to the children’s section of religionen-entdecken.de is a conversational AI system called ‘Auxie’: with this first – and to date only – child-friendly chatbot in the German-speaking world, children can explore personal questions of faith both in and out of school and compare their views with other cultural and religious perspectives.

A project of the Gemeinschaftswerk der Evangelischen Publizistik gGmbH.