ABSTRACT
On one level Religious Education (RE) exists because there are people who think it is important and write books and campaign about it. It is interesting that the non-statutory national framework puts, not the purpose, but the importance of the subject centre stage. No subject stands in isolation and it is particularly important perhaps for RE to demonstrate this. But RE should be able to set out what it is there to teach and why such teaching is a necessary part of education. There has probably never been a golden age in RE since the 1870 Forster Act introduced publicly funded education in a systematic way. Students in training will not attend many sessions at university before being introduced to the phrases learning about and learning from religion. The framework describes learning about religion in terms of enquiry into the nature of religion. Pupils are to gain knowledge and understanding of beliefs, teachings, practices and forms of expression.
