Teaching worldviews could enhance Religious Education in schools
What’s the purpose of Religious Education (RE) in a country where a majority of people have “no religion”? The new report of the independent Commission on Religious Education in England and Wales provides a clear answer: the rise of “no religion” doesn’t mean that religion isn’t important. Rather, the report makes a strong case that it is more important than ever that young people in Britain understand and engage effectively with diverse religions and worldviews. The report proposes a radical overhaul of RE. This is most obvious in the new name it recommends for the subject: “Religion and Worldviews”. Non-religious worldviews like humanism, secularism, atheism and agnosticism would be studied alongside different traditions within Christianity, Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism and Sikhism.