Religious Education is outdated, unpopular and opens the door to proselytising.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 But we don't think our schools need a dedicated subject to do this – especially a subject as out-of-date and as irrelevant as Religious Education (RE).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
Survey reveals RE as least useful subject on the curriculum
Posted: Fri, 9 Aug 2013 07:45
A new survey on life at school has revealed that RE is regarded as the least useful subject to learn.
The survey by Opinium Research asked more than 1,800 adults who attended UK secondary schools which subject they thought was the least beneficial to their education. Just over one in five (21%) said religious education. This was followed by art (chosen by 16%) and PE (10%).
Stephen Evans, campaigns manager at the National Secular Society, said: "These results are unsurprising. For too long RE has been allowed to carry on with no clear educational purpose.
"It's time religious education was replaced with a new programme of study under the heading of philosophy and ethics. A reformed subject would still include education about religion, but without the inherent bias that results from the syllabus being left in the hands of vested interests intent on promoting their beliefs in schools."
Is this a true history of religious education or a rewriting of the facts?
Posted: Wed, 3 Apr 2013 17:41
Secularists and humanists in the 1960s and 1970s played a critical role in stopping religious education in schools being used for proselytising. That's the claim being made in new research from the University of Exeter.
A report by academics claims that secularist groups had a profound influence on how religious education developed against pressures from faith groups and educators.
Researchers at the university with partners from the University of Worcester discovered that the National Secular Society and the BHA allegedly attempted to marginalise Christianity from the life and curriculum of state-maintained schools. The report also outlined how Christians and religious educators of the time apparently actively cooperated with these groups and invited discussions with secularists.
Lead author Dr Rob Freathy said: "Our research does not simply portray an ideological war between competing groups struggling to control children's minds. Instead, we've unearthed a much more complicated story characterised as much by compromise and conciliation as it is by contestation and conflict."
During the 1960s and 1970s, the term "religious studies" became more commonplace. At this time the secularist movement was focussing on abolishing or reforming the daily act of worship – a move that has popular support.
Although the groups failed to change the 1944 Education Act, they managed to alter the aim of religious education away from trying to convert people and more towards recognising other religions and no religion as legitimate fields of study.
Researchers found that Christians and secularists entered into discussions about how the subject could be developed to make it suitable for pupils and teachers regardless of their beliefs.
Dr Freathy admitted he was surprised by the extent of the collaboration between Christians and secularists as he was by the non-religious lobbying.
He said: "Many Christians and secularists worked together both informally and through official processes to develop multi-faith forms of religious education which would be suitable for all pupils and teachers regardless of their religious or secular backgrounds. Through such collaborative efforts humanists had a direct influence on the development of the form of religious education we see in schools today."
In the 1950s, the majority of the population were nominally affiliated to one of the Christian denominations, while the Church remained a highly influential institution in national and social life.
By the end of the 1960s the Church faced severe difficulties in the recruitment and retention of clergy, alongside a significant fall in the number of people calling themselves Christian and a big shift from the Christian identity of the country.
Bill McIlroy, who was secretary of the NSS during this period, observed: "The authors deal specifically, but not exclusively, with campaigns organised by the National Secular Society in the early 1960s. It was an uphill struggle. The Society had for long been in a state of decline. It was too lethargic even to take advantage of Margaret Knight's two broadcasts on "Morals Without Religion", which had engendered considerable interest.
"The tide turned in 1963 when David Tribe was elected President. Significantly, he announced that the issue of secular education was number one priority because the entire school system had become a vehicle for Christian indoctrination. So instead of open-air meetings at Hyde Park and Tower Hill, the NSS started using press releases, letters to newspapers, articles and a wide range of leaflets on social questions, written mainly by David Tribe. Public figures, including Members of parliament, openly supported and endorsed the Society's campaigns."
Terry Sanderson, President of the National Secular Society at the moment, said: "I think this report probably overstates the influence that secular and humanist groups had on the process of change. The public and political mood at that time was in our favour, and it was a period of general societal reform. In some ways we now seem to be going backwards as religious schools proliferate and become increasingly evangelical in nature. Religious Education is becoming once more just a platform for proselytising in so many schools. And even now, nearly seventy years after the Education Act came into effect, forced worship is still the law in every school in the land."
Mr Sanderson said that "perhaps the academics should now undertake research into the way that Religious Education is reverting to religious instruction with, apparently, the consent of the Government."
