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Language: en

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I find religion fascinating. So even
though I'm not religious myself,

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I think it's possibly the most
interesting thing that you can learn

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about, think critically about, and
understand. I enjoy teaching the sort of

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broad spectrum of the variety of
religious faith that exists and has

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existed in the world but also the
different perspectives that you can

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study those beliefs from, so the
theologies and the philosophies and the

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ethics of various religions but equally
the histories and how those histories

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have shaped our ways of thinking today
in the modern world and also,

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sociologically, how religious diversity
and the different religious narratives

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that exist across the world today, how
they impact on global politics and people's lives.

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I think, whether you are religious or not,
understanding religion is vital to be a

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good citizen in the 21st century. If we
look at what's going on in the world at

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the moment in terms of conflict in the
Middle East or climate change or

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whatever the pressing issues might be,
there are religious elements to all of

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those, all of those issues. And I think if
you want to be a fully functioning,

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successful member of society, a global
citizen, then you need to understand religion.

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I think from from a humanist perspective
good RE would be pluralistic, it would be

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critical, it would be dialogical, in that
it would ask questions and it would

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discuss the responses to those questions.
There are some facts that we that we

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have to teach; there are certain events
that have happened in history that

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are factual. But a lot of the content
that we study is surrounding belief, and

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I think some kind of dialogue that
allows those beliefs to be explored

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critically is what makes good RE.
I think the steps that we need to take

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to make sure that RE is sort of fit for
purpose in the in the 21st century, that

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is going to send young people out into
the world as sort of global citizens who

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are religiously literate, is an RE that
is pluralistic - that gives them knowledge -

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but also allows them to engage
critically with the knowledge that they

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have, that allows them to not just learn
the RE that their local community decide

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thanks to the vagaries of the of the law
that governs the subjects, but a law that

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we can as experts and teachers agree
upon that is national and that is

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outward looking in terms of its global
face and therefore would allow those

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young people to go out and live and
interact with people in the world and

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understands the plurality and the
diversity of belief in the world.

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I think humanism certainly has a place
with within RE, I think the humanist

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sort of definition that this is a
positive philosophy, a positive way of

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life and finding meaning in the universe
without the need for the supernatural,

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without a need for for god. I think, if we
look at the recent social attitudes data

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that's come out recently I think it's 74% of
17 to 24 year-olds identify as being

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non-religious. And to help those students
who might not understand where their

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ideas have come from or who has shaped
those sort of non-theistic ideas that

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they might be having, we need to have an
education that gives them the mental

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historical, philosophical framework to
position themselves.

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I think those people who claim that
religion has no place in schools and

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that religion shouldn't be taught in
schools are really not understanding the

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argument. Now there might be valid
arguments to say that we shouldn't have

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compulsory Christian collective worship
in schools, for instance, and I would probably agree

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with that. But I think religion, to be
studied critically, to be studied

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academically, alongside history, geography
and art, and English, is a subject that

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enriches students lives, it enriches
students understanding. Teachers do not

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take a a proselytising approach. Good
RE teachers will take a critical and an

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objective approach to the teaching of
the subject. And that's why, I said, I

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would say to that person who's cynical about it: 
'Come and see good RE being taught in schools.'