BBC NEWS | Education | Overhaul for religious teaching
The QCA (a UK government agency which supports the English National Curriculum) has developed a new national framework for Religious Education. A key component is of course Church of England (protestant) beliefs whilst other religions such as Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, Judaism and Sikhism are covered. Interestingly and a point of contention for a number of groups are that atheism (and agnosticism and Humanism) are not covered at all and worse than that not mentioned.
I'll admit to some bias here in that I tend to lean towards atheism, however I also believe children should be given the opportunity to make up their own mind on certain things. I also belive education is about open minds and presenting options and alternatives.
I actually believe that moral or perhaps better put belief education is extremely important but why this should be done without recourse to wider views is beyond me.
This isn't a compulsory part of the National Curriculum and local areas will undoubtably put otgehter their own gudiance however I think it is quite irresponsible to ignore these views.
The article has given me a bit of education too. I didn't realise that there was such a group as the National Secular Society or what Humanism actually meant.
And to quote from a IPPR report (also on the BBC)
Senior research fellow Ben Rogers said: "Now that only seven per cent of Britons attend a weekly religious service, many are arguing for the abolition of RE as a compulsory subject - we disagree.Posted by Paul Goodison at October 28, 2004 01:36 PM | TrackBack"RE has an important place in the curriculum - but only if it's brought up to date."
'Bias'
It was important people learned to converse with those of different faiths and think critically about their own, they said.
The institute said: "Dropping religion from the syllabus, or banning the expression of religious beliefs from schools, as in France, won't make religious strife go away - if anything it will exacerbate it.
"Religious education can play an important part in combating prejudices."
But too often it had "a pro-religious and in some cases anti-science bias".