Reviewing the place of Humanism in religious education

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this article is to review the place of Humanism in religious education in England and Wales and to initiate a debate on the importance currently accorded to it. Our discussion begins with a short account of historical efforts to include the study of Humanism in religious education, followed by an equally short account of more recent educational policy documents and reports supporting the inclusion of Humanism. Our enquiry considers the issue of how many (self-identifying) humanists there are, for it is in terms of adherents and supporters that humanists often frame their case for inclusion. The relationship between those who identify as humanist and those who identify as non-religious is then considered. This is followed by a review of the place of Humanism in a small sample of agreed syllabuses. The conclusion is reached that there is a case for a reassessment of the degree of focus on Humanism in religious education. This conclusion raises challenges for religious educators going forward, two of which are considered and positive policies are proposed.

KEYWORDS:

• 2021 census
• agreed syllabuses
• Humanism
• non-religious

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. See https://humanists.uk/campaigns/schools-and-education/school-curriculum/religious-education/.

2. https://humanists.uk/2022/12/06/setting-the-record-straight-on-census-2021/#:~:text=as%20%E2%80%9CChristian%E2%80%9D.-’,,of%20all%20marriages%20are%20humanist; and recently reiterated by Northern Ireland humanists, 2023: 2.

3. https://www.ipsos.com/en-uk/humanist-beliefs.

4. https://humanists.uk/2006/11/24/news-155/.

5. https://humanists.uk/campaigns/religion-and-belief-some-surveys-and-statistics/census-2011-results/.

6. https://understandinghumanism.org.uk/what-is-humanism/how-many-humanists-are-there/#:~:text=However%2C%20many%20more%20demonstrate%20humanist,20%25%20of%20the%20population.

7. The syllabuses chosen for discussion were those listed on the first webpage of a Google search under ‘agreed syllabus’.

8. The conclusions reached here are believed to be consistent with case law established by R (Fox and others) v Secretary of State for Education (2015), which accords a legal requirement for ‘non-religious views, including those of humanism’ to be included in the provision of religious education.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

L. Philip Barnes

Dr L. Philip Barnes is Emeritus Reader in Religious and Theological Education at King’s College London and Visiting Scholar in the Institute of Irish Studies at Queen’s University Belfast, UK. He has recently written Crisis, Controversy and the Future of Religious Education (2020), edited Debates in Religious Education, 2^nd ed. (2023) and Religion and Worldviews: The triumph of the secular in religious education (2022) and contributed essays on ‘Religion and Education in Northern Ireland’ to The Oxford Handbook of Religion in Modern Ireland and ‘Religion and the Northern Ireland Conflict’ to A Companion to Northern Ireland Politics and Society; other recent essays and articles have focused on the 2021 UK Census, ‘Hume’s Criticism of the Argument from (to) Design and a worldviews approach to religious education.