The UK Supreme Court has ruled that Christian focused religious education taught in schools in Northern Ireland is unlawful.
In a judgment delivered yesterday, it said that the teaching was not conveyed in “an objective, critical, and pluralistic manner”, and this amounted to indoctrination.
The case was brought by a girl and her father, after she came home to a family meal and said grace, which she had been taught at school.
The father and daughter challenged the legality of the teaching of RE and the practice of collective worship in her state primary school. The court ruled that withdrawing her from lessons would have left her “stigmatised”, which would breach her human rights.
The RE curriculum in Northern Ireland was created by four main Christian denominations in 2007 and includes a study of the Christian church and topics such as “Who is Jesus?”.
The court case has been ongoing and appealed for six years, but the judgment leaves open what happens next.
There are parallel discussions in Northern Ireland on the future of RE. An independent review, commissioned by the Assembly, said the Northern Ireland Department of Education needs to re-think the Christian centric approach.
And two academics at Queen’s University Belfast, have been funded by Culham St Gabriel’s Trust this year, to lead the “Religion and Worldviews for All project”, to understand attitudes and explore possible change.
So far, there is no clear path. A survey suggested one third of the population is satisfied with Christian centric approach, 38 per cent are dissatisfied and 25 per cent are neutral. But there was majority support for helping children understand different religious and non-religious world views. The survey’s findings will be explained at a meeting on 4 December.
Northern Ireland has the highest rate of religious affiliation than any other part of the UK. The 2021 Northern Ireland census showed that 79.7 per cent are Christian, and 17.4 per cent are non-religious.
The court judgment made clear that “no one is suggesting that RE should not be provided in schools in Northern Ireland”. But that’s not how it has been received.
The National Secular Society has launched a letter writing campaign calling for an end to collective worship laws across the UK, saying: “It’s time for a secular and inclusive approach to education that finally ends the use of publicly funded schools as a vehicle for imposing religious doctrine or teachings.” Humanists UK is asking the government to urgently review the RE and collective worship laws in state schools in England.
The DUP’s leaders said the decision was deeply disappointing and they would “continue to stand up for the Christian ethos of our schools”. The Protestant Transferor Representatives’ Council is seeking a meeting with the Department of Education to protect religious teaching in controlled schools.
The Bishop of Derry, Donal McKeown, told the BBC he was open to “seeing where this goes”. He said: “I wouldn’t want it to be seen as some sort of statement that religion should be banned from schools. I think the religious perspective is being rediscovered by many of our young people.”
BBC live reporting here
