Religion in Education - Outline for Discussion - UK 2008
"Schools are for teaching not preaching"
The purpose of a school is education and social development - not partisan indoctrination of supernatural belief.

Links and information on all subjects and organisations on Campaign for Secular Education website - www.c.s.e.freeuk.com

1) Faith Schools

Just as comprehensive schools cannot be comprehensive when whole groups of children are selected out, inclusively secular schools cannot exist when some groups of children are selected out on the basis or parental religion.

Discussions: Costs of segregation - social, environmental  and financial.

2) State Schools

  • Assembly & Worship - should be communal and inclusive. No place for 'worship of the supernatural'

  • Religious teaching in state schools (community schools) - RE vs RI - definitions below

As a Rights Issue: 

  • For Children - objective, honest teaching does not include teaching opinion as fact,

  • Teachers - discrimination, employment issues, ethos

  • Parents - ditto + environmental/transport & family considerations

  • The Wider Community - minorities & divisiveness issues

As an Educational Issue

What is Education- indoctrination, for commerce  and social control or objective teaching to develop knowledge, the intellect, and a critical faculty to enable children to think rationally and assess information and ideas in all areas of life?

The Curriculum & Syllabus

RI (Religious Instruction) - the partisan teaching of one or more religions as 'true' - Unacceptable as 'education'.

RE (Religious Education or Comparative Religion) teaching about religions - Desirable if it is honest, objective and includes NRPs but not it is just RI by another name. Aspects - history, philosophy, literature, psychology, sociology, ethics.

SACREs* - if justified at all  must include Non Religious Perspectives (NRP) Atheism, Secularism & Humanism - definitions, differences & comparisons, history of, relationships etc.

INFANTS - It must be questionable to say the least, whether young children could or should be taught a subject the implications of which they are not mature enough  to understand and assess.

OPT-OUT - the government get-out on the teaching of RI/RE in schools is that parents can opt children out, and 6th formers can opt themselves out - that is an indication of bias. It is not satisfactory that any child should need to be opted out of objective discussion,  particularly when, as up to now, no useful alternative is provided.

Sources:

BHA educational policy, largely uncontroversial with the exception of seriously mistaken 'accommodations' policy.

NSS - less defined content. Against  religion in schools & SACREs see website www.secularism.freeuk.com

CSE - independent collection of a wide range of NRP material, opinions & sources.

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