ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book focuses on explicit responses to the contemporary crisis in religious education. It considers the Humanist case for the inclusion of Humanism in the curriculum, appeals to justice and to inclusion and toleration. The book examines David Aldridge’s case for the inclusion of worldviews in religious education. It explores the more philosophical and intellectual portrait of religious education and its travail provided by Liam Gearon. The book identifies the weaknesses in theory and practice that account for the contemporary crisis in English religious education. It provides a further broad theme that has been increasingly prominent in the writing of religious educators, namely that rights or a human rights framework ought to set the agenda in the future.
