Extinction of RE?

Religious education in schools is under threat, faith leaders have warned.

The BBC reports that "Leaders representing Christians, Sikhs, Hindus, Muslims and Buddhists said they were "gravely concerned" about the "negative impact" that current government policies were having."

In a letter to the Daily Telegraph they called for RE to be included in the new English Baccalaureate. In response, the Department for Education (DfE) claimed that the English Baccalaureate "does not stop any school offering RE GCSEs".

Obviously religious leaders will be the first to shout about the loss of their cultural histories from the curriculum.

I come at it from a different angle. As a non-subscriber to religion, I still don't endorse this move at all.

Religious education was some of the only real grounding I ever got in the customs, beliefs and history of other cultures.

The languages (and thus to an extent cultures) on the curriculums of most schools are mostly Western, Christian ones. The history syllabus is similarly Western in outlook. Geography, whilst it might open some doors to different cultures, inevitably does so in a different way that suits some learners but not others. RE, for me, was a way into understanding a little more about other religions, countries and ideas.

Surely education and information are essential ways to provide links between communities, encourage open discussion about cultural differences and to promote understanding about faith.

Having RE squeezed out of the curriculum seems to fight against the Big Society that this government is trying to create, and narrows rather than widens our perceptions of society and culture.