Better Religious Studies education can help battle increasing religious intolerance
Religious intolerance in today’s society is increasing every day. With current conflicts in the Middle East, an increasingly desperate refugee crisis and a rise in radical right wing parties in the West, we are seeing religious intolerance and xenophobia creeping into all levels of society.
In the UK in particular, we saw an increase in hate crime after Brexit, with the Islamic faith in particular being targeted. Similarly there was an increase in anti-Semitic hate crime in 2014 in relation to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Furthermore, an estimated 65% of teenagers in the UK do not identify with a religion and this number is steadily rising. This is reflected in education as we see the overlooking of Religious Studies in favour of more academically desirable subjects, partly due to the pressures of the new EBacc curriculum, and partly due to an increasing lack of interest from pupils.
Whilst Religious Studies is a compulsory subject in state-secondary schools, we are seeing the subject being increasingly side-lined, with many schools not even having specialist teachers for the subject and leaving it in the hands of those less experienced. Many don’t realise the importance Religious Studies has in not only educating students about the six principle religions of the world, but also teaching lessons in tolerance, understanding and respect.
I was lucky in my school as they valued the importance of Religious Studies and we always had qualified and specialist teachers leading the subject. I remember not only learning about the principles and beliefs of the six religions, but also learning about atheist and agnostic viewpoints and the debates around religion. The lessons taught me to question and argue, and the philosophical aspects brought into the classroom made the lessons more stimulating for everyone. Many pupils carried on with Religious Studies to GCSE level with fairly successful results.
I believe that with stimulating Religious Studies lessons pupils would be more interested in discussing religion and ethics, and this in turn would increase awareness and respect of other cultures. Even if children in the UK are increasingly dissociating themselves with religion, studies have shown that more than 8 in 10 people worldwide identify with a religious group, and there is no doubt that religion still has a huge impact on culture and politics around the world.
The UK is more multicultural today than ever before, and schools play a pivotal role in building mutual respect and the embracement of cultural differences. The government and schools are responsible for tackling early forms of religious intolerance and I believe this can be done with a boost to the Religious Studies curriculum. Integrating philosophy and ethics into Religious Studies will create a more stimulating subject that engages pupils in serious debates in the world today, and specialist teachers will pass on the enthusiasm that pupils need.
Children are born without knowing prejudice and schools can help maintain this along with a balanced culture of understanding and empathy in the classroom. This, in turn, will help prevent issues of xenophobia and intolerance in later life and in society, something which is increasingly important in today’s world.
