ABSTRACT
The book begins with the changing conceptions of religious education arising from an increasingly secular context and the weakening of a religious culture within society as a whole. Special reference is made to England and Wales, but philosophical issues concerning the relation between faith and reason, raised through this context, have wider significance, exemplified significantly by reference to Ireland. This has been, and remains, an important debate, understandably as societies increasingly lack a common understanding of the place of religion within them, and without examination of a rational basis for the foundations of religious belief, and thereby for religious education and formation in schools. It is particularly relevant, given the report in England and Wales of the Commission on Religious Education, but also in Ireland, given the divestment of some schools from the Catholic sector and the creation of Educate Together Schools and Community National Schools embracing a variety of religious and world views.
