New Representations of Religion & Belief in Schools

Discussions around the future of Religious Education in England have focused on the need to address the diversity religion and belief in contemporary society. Issues of the representation of religion and belief in Religious Education are central to the future of the subject. This paper draws on participants’ views and aspirations for RE to map an alternative representation of religion and belief to that found in existing approaches that universalize, sanitize and privatize religion. The data reveals a thirst for the study of a broader range and a more nuanced understanding of religion and belief. This incorporates a focus on religion and belief as identity as well as tradition, the study of the role of religion in global affairs as well as the controversies and challenges it can pose for individuals and the exploration of religion and belief as fluid and contested categories. What may be described as a ‘sociological turn’ moves beyond the existing binaries of religious/secular, public/private, good/bad, fluid/static that shape much existing representation towards a representation of the ‘real religion and belief landscape’ in all its complexity.