Religious Education is outdated, unpopular and opens the door to proselytising.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 But we don't think our schools need a dedicated subject to do this – especially a subject as out-of-date and as irrelevant as Religious Education (RE).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
Parliamentary RE group 'turning into a religious sect'
Posted: Wed, 6 Apr 2016 15:41
The founding chairman of the All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on religious education has warned that the group has been taken-over by religious "fundamentalists".
Stephen Lloyd, the former MP who founded the APPG on religious education in 2012, wrote for Politics.co.uk that the "The APPG is in danger of turning into a religious sect."
Mr Lloyd said that non-religious world views were being excluded by the APPG and that its remit "has been changed to specifically exclude the teaching of values of people with no faith."
"In the previous parliament it was absolutely core to the APPG's view, and remains so to that of the RE Council and the majority of RE teachers, that a key part of good RE teaching in schools should be to educate our children about all different faiths and about people with none."
He added: "In today's ever more polarised world, where there is a woeful level of ignorance about people's different beliefs, it was essential to me that the APPG support and encourage a gold standard of broad, informed debate across the different religions and non-religious worldviews."
Now however, the former chair says that the group is "in danger of turning into a religious sect overwhelmingly directed by the fundamentalist Christian wing of the Conservative parliamentary party, which I think is utterly deplorable."
Since the 2015 General Election, the APPG has been chaired by Fiona Bruce MP, who has said that "Being a Christian in Parliament means I focus on issues that I believe matter to Christ". Bruce also chairs the pro-life All-Party Parliamentary Group.
The RE Council criticised the manner of her appointment, and wrote that while a process was underway to reform the group in the aftermath of the election, "Fiona Bruce MP decided to hold an AGM for the group, securing her own election as Chair, without notifying the REC of the event until after it had occurred. She also did not notify some of the other officers of the fact that they had been elected alongside her."
Lloyd said the RE Council was "highly respected" as an "umbrella body for those who teach or have an interest in RE" and that he was "profoundly disappointed" by Bruce's takeover of the APPG and her unilateral decision to remove the RE Council as the secretariat for the group.
The former MP said that the moves were a "shocking sign of things to come".
One of the current vice chairs of the APPG is David Burrowes MP, also a trustee of the Conservative Christian Fellowship. Lloyd reported that in 2012 Burrowes tried to "pressure" him into "dropping a colleague from the new executive of the APPG because he was an agnostic." When Lloyd refused, Burrowes resigned from the executive.
Burrowes recently called for religious organisations to refuse to cooperate with plans to regulate supplementary schools – despite widespread reports of educational failure and risks to children's safety – and said "I will not let inspectors into my youth camp".
The other vice chair of the group is Mary Glindon, one of the few Labour MPs to vote against same-sex marriage.
Stephen Evans, Campaigns Director of the National Secular Society, said: "Religious education is a contested area and it's not helpful that teaching and learning in this area is so heavily influenced by groups with a vested interest.
"There is a growing consensus behind the need to reform religion and belief education to ensure that all children receive impartial education about religious and non-religious worldviews. It is therefore very disappointing to see these MPs using the APPG to further their own narrow, ideological interests at the expense of promoting good quality education."
Call to overhaul RE teaching and rename the subject
Posted: Fri, 27 Nov 2015 12:15
A review into Religious Education has called for fundamental reform of the subject, so that teaching reflects "the real religious landscape" of the UK – with content including a "broad range" of religious and non-religious views.
RE for Real, a report produced by the Religious Literacy Programme at Goldsmiths, University of London, has said there is a "policy muddle" around RE teaching and warned that "changes in the real religious landscape have far outpaced changes in education".
Academics have described the current approach to Religious Education as a "mid-20th century settlement for an early 21st century reality" that fails to acknowledge the nature of religion and belief in the modern United Kingdom.
Professor Adam Dinham, co-author of the report, said "We think non-believers and those with informal beliefs need to be treated more seriously as a growing part of the picture."
The report makes a raft of recommendations to overhaul what they say is the "piecemeal" amendment of policies dating back from 1944, with suggested changes to teaching, as well as a recommendation to rename the subject and include much broader content – including many more religious traditions and non-religious worldviews.
There is an "urgent need" to review the role of Standing Advisory Councils on Religious Education (SACREs) and for the appointment of "a national panel to develop the framework" of RE teaching, the report argues.
The academics raised concerns about the fact that Free Schools and academies are "not required to follow locally agreed syllabuses" resulting in a "diversity of approaches" to content and teaching, and the writers ask if RE is "up to the challenge" of meeting these significant "structural changes".
The National Framework which the report proposes should consider the purpose, content and structures of RE teaching and learning, and should also review the subject name of teaching about religion and belief. The Welsh government recently announced plants to rebrand RE as "religion, philosophy and ethics" as part of a package of reforms warmly welcomed by the National Secular Society.
The report is the result of interviews with 331 students, teachers, parents and employers and it found from the responses that many students are "uncomfortable" calling the subject RE.
Employers, teachers and students all stressed the importance of knowledge about "lived" religion to engage with a diverse society and with people from a multitude of religious and non-religious beliefs.
Ten employers interviewed for the study, which were "chosen to represent a range of public and private settings in a variety of sectors", said that RE should "give young people an understanding of what are acceptable manifestations of religion and belief within the work place and what are not."
"GCSE Religious Studies should remain as an optional subject," the report recommends, but there should a clear boundary "between academic study of the real religious landscape, and other religion and belief learning associated with SMSC (spiritual, moral, social and cultural development) outside of the GCSE."
NSS campaigns manager Stephen Evans commented: "Comprehensive reform of religious education is long overdue and we're pleased to see this report recognising that. We look forward to contributing to the ongoing debate over the way in which religion and belief is approached in schools and ensuring that any reforms reflect the needs of young people and society, rather than the priorities of religious leaders.
"In today's pluralistic society there is a need to move away from the concept of religious education entirely and recognise that the in-depth teaching of specific faiths is a parental responsibility, for those that want it, and not the role of state education.
"Young people would be much better served by religious education being replaced with a new and inclusive subject for all pupils covering the fascinating history of human ideas encompassing religious, non-religious and secular worldviews."
