The Agreed Syllabus requires teaching about a non-theist view of life at all key stages - but this is not as straightforward as it seems for a number of reasons:
Humanists would ask you to start in the same way you would approach any other subject on the curriculum and perhaps these headings may help - or at least provide food for thought:
- Honesty
All teachers recognise that "a straight answer to a straight question" is essential not matter what subject is being taught. One of the difficulties with RE is that different groups of people may answer the same question in totally different ways - so where does the teacher stand?
The objective answer "some people say this, others say that" tends to crop up a lot when answering questions about RE. The difficulty comes when a student asks "but which one is true?" Such a question is at the heart of Philosophy and teachers need to be prepared to answer it honestly - after all, there cannot be multiple truths - or can there?
You might like to consider how you would respond to this question:
"Islam says that Jesus was a man like other men, Christianity says that Jesus was divine, part of god, the son of god. Which is true?"
(Please see our page on Moral relativism for the difficulties this type of question poses and the long-term problems the wrong answer can create.)
Is truth absolute or is it relative? Does "truth" mean anything different than "faith" when different groups of people believe that different things are "true". Is "truth" when applied to religion the same as "truth" when applied to scientific facts or mathematical proofs?
- Openness
Some teachers feel happy being open about their own beliefs, others prefer not expose their own beliefs when teaching RE.
Obviously teachers are not permitted to proselytise during RE, to promote one religion over others, to promote belief over non-belief or to promote non-belief over belief, but the fact is that students have a nasty habit of quickly guessing what an individual teacher believes - so hiding one's beliefs may be felt desirable but may prove impossible in practice.
- Language
Humanists are very keen on the accurate use of language - especially the meaning for words.
Young people frequently believe that a word means what it says in the dictionary - unfortunately as one gets older one realises that this may or may not be the case and a dictionary merely reflects how a word is used by different people. A word may mean one thing to some people and quite another to others.
A simple example is the word at the heart of RE: "religion". We all think we know what it means, but we would all have difficulty writing down a clear definition that everyone else would be willing to accept.
At the heart of many religions is the word "god" - but what does it mean? Is the "god" of one religion the same as the "god" of another?
Humanists would argue that the word "god" should never be used alone and unqualified, one should always say "the Christian god", "the god of Islam", "a god". "his god", "her god", "their god", "the god described here" etc.
We have tried to help by providing a glossary of words used in RE. We don't claim that it is perfect but we feel it is a useful starting point and we welcome comments and suggestions for improving it - especially in relation to the use of these words in the classroom.
- Assumptions
The most common criticism humanists make about religion in schools (worship and RE) is "the god assumption."
"The god assumption" says "there is a god but different people view it in different ways." This contains a double assumption: that there is a god and that there is only one of them.
Even worse would be: "there is a god but different people view him in different ways." - this adds a third assumption - that this "god" is male.
Humanists support Religious Education - as long as it is informative, does not make assumptions and is fairly balanced between religions and between belief and non-belief.
Humanists can never support worship in schools - because of the obvious assumption it makes. Worship is legally defined as an act of reverence or devotion to a divine being or power. One cannot have worship without assuming a god.
- Assertions
Humanists are very keen on Philosophy - in fact they would feel more comfortable if religions were taught as part of Philosophy and Ethics to place them more fairly in the context of the development of human thought.
"Belief" is frequently based on assertions and assertions are not "truths."
"I believe this because it says so in the holy book of my religion" is perfectly fair - it is simply a statement of personal belief.
"This must be true because it says so in my holy book" is an assertion - not a truth.
"The world is held in space balanced on the tip of the nose of an invisible dancing pink hippopotamus" is an assertion - not a truth.
Philosophers love assertions as starting points for discussion - they call them "postulates" - propositions such as the one about The Pink Hippo. However, Philosophers then say "well, why did you find it necessary to postulate the existence of The Pink Hippo and what evidence do you have for such an entity?"
Humanists take the same line as Philosophers, they are freethinkers and sceptics - they like to see need and evidence before accepting any proposition.
