ABSTRACT
Schools are intended to provide education, and to justify its presence in them any activity must show it is contributing to the educational process. Religious education, which has often been confused with evangelism and indoctrination, has perhaps more than any other subject at present, to show that it is a worthwhile, and even necessary educational activity. This chapter shows that a teacher in a secular and pluralist society can see his work in that way. If what has been describes accurately the existing climate of thought, what criteria can a religious education teacher use in selecting between the various aims he sets himself? If the community has an agreed religious position this is easy, but in the present pluralistic society it is difficult to know what it will accept – hence the active debate about what may be taught of religion in schools.
