ABSTRACT
Religious education (RE) has struggled with its roots in Christian education. Even today, with multifaith approaches demanded by the Education Reform Act (1988) political misapprehensions keep the waters muddied and some schools still provide Christian nurture under the guise of religious education. Although there are many state-funded church schools, permission has not been granted for public sector Muslim, Sikh or Hindu schools. Although the last two decades appear to show great success in developing a multifaith philosophy for RE, there is much in the current situation which is superficial, tokenistic and methodologically confused. Much work has still to be done if RE is to address in any depth issues such as social justice and spirituality. As a means of building a foundation for global social, political and development issues, RE is not well placed to become a major influence in the twenty-first century.
