Religious Education
'Children to study atheism in school' declared the front-page of last Sunday's Observer. 'Official plans,' it said, 'are being drawn up to reflect the decline in church-going in Britain.'
Never mind that only one in 10 people claim not to believe in God, according to a recent survey. That's not many atheists in anyone's book.
The Institute for Public Policy Research has published a report on religious education which is being taken seriously by the powers that be. Children, they argue, should study atheism so that they can approach the subject of religion more critically.
Penny Thompson, in The Gospel and Our Culture, points out that in the 1970s, when syllabuses were first expanding to include non-religious philosophies, Lesslie Newbigin issued a pertinent warning which clatters down the school-corridors of history to us today:
'If the capacity to believe,' he said, 'is not developed along with the capacity to criticise, the result can only be fanaticism or nihilism.'
His words offer an alternative perspective to a debate which will otherwise polarise into the same old battle between secularist reformers and religious defenders of the faith.
Christians, who assert that it's good and right for children to grow up knowing the Bible and appreciating its huge influence on our culture, must reflect on our own capacity to believe. Do we allow space for ourselves to grow into more inclusive, creative, fully human beings? Or do we obsess about winning arguments, defending our historical privilege in society and not giving ground?
Do we provide a compelling example for our own children of how to believe - not just what to believe?
On the other hand, progressive liberal secularists must concede that they, in their own way, adhere to a faith, too - and allow others to nurture the capacity for belief without presuming that the majority think like them.
Can we all offer our children the critical faculties to approach matters of faith, without denying in them the expectation of growing spiritually, as well as mentally? It's a big responsibility, especially in the light of Jesus' command to 'Let the little children come to me.'
We're all, in our own way, teachers, whether inside the classroom or out. Yet we're pupils, too, with much still to learn from each other about the art of believing. Remembering this, from time to time, would be a religious education.
Brian Draper
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