Learning About Druids in School
The Telegraph reports on new religious General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) courses being introduced in the UK. What’s unique about these classes is that they strive to paint a portrait of an increasingly secular and multi-religious Britain, and include new religious movements as a key part of that education.
“In one key area, lessons will focus on the influence of minority religious movements, such as Falun Gong, the banned Chinese spiritual group, and the Order of Bards, Ovates and Druids, which believe in the spirituality of nature. As part of a topic on Rastafarianism, students are asked to look at the influence of Bob Marley in the 1970s.”
These courses (which are voluntary, and are available after mandatory education, but before A-levels) also explore the rise of atheism, and discusses various “hot-button” issues like gay marriage and gender equality. While it must be refreshing for adherents of minority faiths to be taken seriously as part of Britain’s religious landscape, various Christians and members of the Church of England say the courses “snub” them, and aren’t really a “serious” religious education.
“I have no objection to the presence of disbelief in the curriculum, because it provides important context to a study of theology. But when I took A levels we did Divinity and went on to university to read Theology. The groundwork was principally the study of Christianity, though I seem to remember there was a comparative religion option that would have included the other two Abrahamic faiths. I think OCR might find considerable take-up for such a course. It could still run its Religious Studies alternative, with all its Druidism, Rastafarianism and embarrassed avoidance of ancient scriptures, and indeed could do so more freely, while those who wanted to study serious theology could do so. But maybe that wouldn’t be sufficiently right-on. And a lot of the rising numbers of students who opt for Religious Studies might go for it, which might present a problem for ‘equality and diversity’.”
Because exploring anything but Christian (or possibly Jewish or Islamic) theology just isn’t very “serious” I suppose (maybe it’s our funny names). I also think it’s interesting how this CoE priest (and religion editor for The Telegraph) thinks the high demand for GCSE courses on religion (24,000 to 171,000 in the last two years) means they yearn to study Christianity. Hadn’t he heard about the startling news concerning 50,000 UK women leaving Christian churches every year? I doubt they left because they weren’t offered “serious” GCSE courses on Christian theology.
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