A recently published report suggests that religious education in schools should no longer be limited to Christianity but should instead provide information on a wide range of religions and philosophies from around the world. According to the report, which represents the agreed findings of a working party of the Religious Education Council of England and Wales, the terminology of "religious education" may be outdated in light of Britain’s increasingly multicultural and multi-faith society.
The report recommends the creation of guidelines for religious education by a National Advisory Council overseen by the Secretary of State. These guidelines should cover an array of world religions, such as Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Judaism, Islam, and Sikhism. Additionally, they could potentially extend to the study of life-stances based on the belief in supernatural forces, including Confucianism, Shinto, Zoroastrianism, astrology, and occultism.
Although religious education syllabuses have traditionally safeguarded the interests of specific denominations, the working party now suggests that it is the responsibility of religious institutions to teach their respective faiths and doctrine, instead of expecting schools to do so. The report advocates that secular schools should focus on providing pupils with a broader understanding of the religious landscape and the role of faith in society as a whole.
The working party believes that the current agreed syllabus for religious education is obsolete and argues for its replacement by a National Advisory Council. Local working parties of teachers could then use the national guidelines to interpret the syllabus and make it more relevant to their respective areas. While these recommendations are representative of the council’s inter-faith membership, and can be expected to meet with some resistance among some quarters of the Christian community, the report maintains that it is vital to reflect both the range of religious affiliations in Britain and new theories concerning the nature and function of religion in contemporary society.
