Should you be concerned about Religious Education becoming part of the National Curriculum?

Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour. 1 Peter 5:8

Without knowing more, and thinking (reasonably) that RE is good and a national curriculum seems good, a Christian might learn of the Government’s recent plans to incorporate Religious Education into the national curriculum and not consider there to be any reason to be concerned.

However, on reflection, given the celebrating being done by humanists – proclaiming ‘success!’ – there must be something about this news that isn’t good for the Christian worldview.

Currently, RE is compulsory for children in state-funded schools, yet sits outside the national curriculum. This allows decisions about what is taught to be taken locally, which can lead to much variation. The Government plans to set new mandatory requirements, to include the teaching of non-religious worldviews.

A reasonable question is: how is RE an education about the religious if it includes the non-religious? What may be taking place is a shift, to an approach based upon ‘personal worldviews’ and away from faiths. The reality is that the new curriculum will serve one primary purpose: to diminish the place of prominence of Christianity and promote the views of “a wide range of communities”, which opens the door to any number of questionable ‘faiths’.

The Christian Institute’s Head of Education, John Denning, offered a helpful perspective, acknowledging that in many schools RE is inadequate and commending reform, but pointing out that using RE as a tool – to promote ‘inclusion’, as the Government promises – undermines education. It shifts the RE focus away from competing truth claims and towards instilling ‘values’. Which begs the question – ‘what values?’, or, ‘whose values?’. The field is left wide open for any Government-approved party to promote its own agenda.

Concerns seem well-founded, as RE organisations and Christian teachers are already uneasy about preliminary discussions on the curriculum which include proposed content on paganism and witchcraft. The reaction of Humanists UK, who were involved in the drafting of the new curriculum, and hailed the changes as “a momentous step for inclusion”, only serves to validate such concerns.

Those raising concerns, including the Association of Christian Teachers, are not opposed to pupils learning about different beliefs and perspectives. However, a worldviews approach, based around a sociological rather than theological approach, varies from this, and from RE retaining any academic integrity. Children ought to come to understand the theological substance and truth claims of faiths, including a fair treatment of the UK’s undeniably Christian heritage.

As ACT astutely points out, these proposals also do not exist in isolation. The process of development of the draft curriculum has seen advocacy for the abolition of Christian collective worship and a more secular understanding of religion’s place in schools.

Christian parents and teachers should be concerned about the Government’s proposals and need to be aware that September is due to see the formal publishing of a draft National Curriculum for RE.

Then said he unto the disciples, It is impossible but that offences will come: but woe unto him, through whom they come! Luke 17:1

The vigilance demanded of Christians with children attending can often seem overwhelming, but the believer cannot retire from the battle and CViE encourages our supporters to respond when the public consultation opens in September. CViE hopes to alert our supporters to resources to brief them on how to respond when the consultation is published.

Resources relied on

RE to be incorporated into England’s national curriculum