ABSTRACT
The curriculum theorist must acknowledge the fact that religious people tend to become highly irritated by those who attempt to reduce their faith and beliefs to a single cognitive system. From articles and books published on religious education, and from some of the energetic conference and project work which has been undertaken, one might gain the impression that the subject had been wholly given over to an amalgam of quasi-political social studies and oriental mysticism. Most teachers would distinguish between ‘encourage willingness to’ and ‘indoctrinate’, because to teach at all is to influence in some degree, and curriculum theorists do not hesitate to define teaching in terms of behavioural and attitudinal change. Many of the books and articles which have been influential in religious education have been written in such a vein, suggesting or assuming that the teacher should be essentially a guide, comforter and friend to the child’s spiritual and personal development.
