Religious Education is outdated, unpopular and opens the door to proselytising.
There are many more subjects children and young people need to learn.
It's time to replace RE with something more appropriate for 21st century students.
It is important for children and young people to learn about different religions and beliefs. But we don't think our schools need a dedicated subject to do this – especially a subject as out-of-date and as irrelevant as Religious Education (RE).
Surveys consistently show RE is one of the least popular school subjects, an indication of its increasing irrelevance.
58% of British adults think religious studies is unimportant at secondary schools. And a quarter of England's secondary schools do not offer RE.
Unlike any other compulsory subject, RE is determined at a local level in England. In each local authority the agreed syllabus for RE is determined by committees representing the Church of England and other religion and belief groups, as well as the local authority and teacher's groups.
As a result, schools not only face a local lottery regarding what their RE syllabus will contain; they will have to teach a subject under significant control from religious interest groups. These groups are strongly motivated to ensure their religion is represented in an overwhelmingly positive light. The current arrangements mean the subject lacks objectivity.
Many faith schools don't even need to follow the locally agreed syllabus and can instead teach religion from their own exclusive viewpoint.
A new nationally-determined civics and citizenship subject could encompass teaching about religious and nonreligious worldviews and allow students to consider moral and ethical issues. Religion and belief could also be explored in other relevant areas of the curriculum.
In Wales, RE has recently been replaced with Religions, Values and Ethics (RVE). While we welcome this broader and more inclusive subject, problems remain regarding the influence of religious groups and exceptions allowing faith schools to teach confessional RE.
We need a reformed subject to ensure education about religion and belief is broad, balanced and proportionate.
We've created a series of resources – Exploring Secularism – for anyone wishing to explore issues of religion, belief, ethics, and worldviews in schools. The resources aim to provide teachers with the material they need to engage with secularism in an informed way.
As British society considers how to respond to greater religious diversity and growing irreligiosity, it is become increasingly important for children and young people to develop their understanding of the interaction between religion, society, and politics. The study of secularism explores this interaction, together with questions about how we balance freedom of, and from, religion with other rights.
Take action!
1. Write to your MP
Support our campaign to ensure every pupil has the same entitlement to high quality, non-partisan education about religious and non-religious worldviews.
2. Share your story
Tell us why you support this campaign, and how you are personally affected by the issue. You can also let us know if you would like assistance with a particular issue.
3. Join us
Become a member of the National Secular Society today! Together, we can separate religion and state for greater freedom and fairness.
Latest updates
NSS: Religious Education must be reformed before ending parental opt-out
Posted: Tue, 3 May 2016 13:26
Religious education must be reformed before parents lose the option to remove their children from the subject, the NSS has said, after head teachers voted to make RE compulsory.
Concerns about some parents withdrawing their children from lessons about other religions prompted headteachers to vote at their annual conference in favour of ending the opt-out which currently allows children to be withdrawn from RE classes.
Stephen Evans, National Secular Society campaigns director, said that whist he agreed in principle that parents shouldn't be allowed to pick and choose what subjects their children learn in school, the "unique, outdated and wholly unsatisfactory arrangements" for RE mean that the current opt-out is necessary to protect religious freedom.
The motion against the parental opt-out was passed "almost unanimously", the Telegraph reported, and it asks the leadership of the NAHT "to negotiate with the Department for Education to revoke the existing legal framework which entitles parents to be able to withdraw their children from Religious Education".
All state-funded schools are currently required by law to teach religious education. Maintained schools without a religious character must follow a syllabus agreed by local committees, often heavily influenced by religious groups.
Schools with a religious character, commonly known as 'faith schools', can teach their own curriculum and are free to teach exclusively about their own religion.
But head teachers warned that the opt-out was an "extremely divisive mechanism" as some parents were using it selectively to stop their children from learning about specific religions.
Mr Evans added: "There may well be a place on the curriculum for an academic subject that enables all pupils to learn objectively about the diversity of religious and non-religious worldviews, but we're a long way off that at the moment – with many schools prioritising a particular religion and using the subject as a platform to proselytise.
"There needs to be a thorough review of RE so that it can be reformed as a subject and taught impartially before the opt-out can be ended.
"Faith schools should lose the ability to teach about religion from their own exclusive viewpoint, RE should be comprehensively reformed into a new academic subject that covers a variety of religious and non-religious worldviews, and religious representatives should not have undue influence over the subject content.
"Until this is done and all vestiges of confessionalism are removed, we'll campaign to keep the opt-out to ensure parental rights and pupils' religious freedoms are protected."
The Government has said that it will "continue to respect the right of parents to withdraw their children from religious education if they choose."
In 2012 it was reported that schools in Scotland were failing to notify parents that they had a right to withdraw their children from religious education. A YouGov poll found that only 20% said they were made aware of this right by the school.
NSS cautions against ‘moral panic’ over religious literacy
Posted: Fri, 15 Apr 2016 12:03
The National Secular Society has reiterated its support for improved religion and belief education in schools but warned that concerns over poor 'religious literacy' are being used as a Trojan horse to elevate religion's status in public life.
The warning was made in a submission to the All Party Parliamentary Group on Religious Education's enquiry into the 'importance and development of Religious Literacy'.
The APPG on RE has recently come under fire from the RE community for its decision to remove the study of non-religious worldviews from its remit – a move described by the NSS as "regressive, short-sighted and thoroughly regrettable". The former Chair of the APPG, Stephen Lloyd, has said the parliamentary group is "in danger of turning into a religious sect."
In its submission to the group's enquiry the NSS argued that non-religious worldviews, including secular and philosophical critiques are part of, not separate from, religious literacy. The Society also warned that the 'urgent need' for improved religious literacy is often overstated by those wishing to elevate the status and role of their religion in wider society.
Stephen Evans, National Secular Society Campaigns Director, commented: "The ambiguity of 'religious literacy' and the differing agendas of those promoting it render the term problematic.
"All children and young people should be entitled to a broad and balanced education about religious and non-religious worldviews. A sound knowledge of a range of beliefs and practices can only help young people to navigate their way around Britain's increasing diversity, but we reject the notion that a deep understanding of religions is a necessary pre-condition for a peaceful and tolerant society. Moral and political virtues such as civility, citizenship, tolerance and inclusivity, coupled with an awareness of and respect for human rights, will nurture a more harmonious society – and these values should be promoted throughout state education."
The NSS submission argues that one of the main drivers of good religious literacy is meaningful interaction with people of other faiths and beliefs and says the promotion of integrated and inclusive schools rather than education organised around religious identities would significantly aid the development of 'religious literacy' in children.
"The most significant step that could be taken to aid the development of religious literacy in children within the school context would be to challenge the ghettoization and religious segregation that results from state education so often being organised around religious identities," the submission argues.
The NSS also argued that the imposition of worship by law often means children worship as an act of compliance rather than as a free exercise of conscience, calling it a "wholly inappropriate" way of promoting religious literacy. The NSS has called for the APPG to recommend that this requirement is dropped.
The APPG's enquiry is assessing how Religious Literacy can be improved though a range of means including, schools, workplace training schemes, life-long learning, media and literature, sports and other leisure activities, and community forums.
Both the Chair of the APPG, Fiona Bruce MP, and education secretary Nicky Morgan are members of the Christians in Parliament group.
In Guidance issued in December 2015, Nicky Morgan said schools should teach that Britain is a Christian country and insisted schools were under no obligation to give equal air time to the teaching of religious and non-religious views and had no obligation to teach non-religious views all at Key Stage 4.
Mr Evans added; "Some people are clearly concerned about the growing indifference to Christianity in Britain and perhaps see efforts to improve religious literacy as a way of addressing that. Increasing religious diversity coupled with an overall decline in religiosity may be inducing moral panic amongst some, but that's rarely a good basis for policy making.
"Living together successfully may well require a degree of religious knowledge, but attempts to facilitate effective community engagement and social cohesion need not always be tackled through a religious prism."
