So there’s been a significant development in Northern Ireland this week: The Supreme Court has effectively said that our current model of RE and compulsory worship in schools simply doesn’t meet modern standards of fairness or plurality.
Predictably, mainstream church bodies have reacted with disappointment or concern. Statements from Church of Ireland representatives, Presbyterian leaders and various Christian advocacy groups suggest that this is a worrying “erosion of our Christian ethos.”
Meanwhile, the rest of us are thinking, “Isn’t this exactly what needed to happen?”
Because here’s a fairly obvious truth: If our faith depends on a statutory framework propping it up, then the salt has already lost its saltiness. And good Christians will know what to do with that.
An authentic Christian faith should never need to be enforced, protected by default or handed out through compulsory assemblies. If the message of Jesus carries any weight, it will stand in an open, pluralistic space without needing to be ring-fenced by legislation.
Young people are perceptive, and “mandatory worship” was only ever producing compliance; it was never going to seed an actual living faith.
The truth is, the RE syllabus we’ve been operating with hasn’t represented authentic Christianity in any meaningful sense for a long time.
It reflects only a very narrow, dated expression of the tradition while missing whole swathes of Christian thought: contemplative, liberal, mystical, Celtic, liberationist, ecological, philosophical. Never mind the rich and diverse landscape of other world faiths, philosophies and non-religious worldviews that children actually encounter in real life.
So, no, this ruling is not an attack on Christianity. It is, however, a long-overdue reality check for the church.
If authentic Christianity has anything life-giving to say (which it does) then it will not need default privilege to say it. And, let’s be honest, it’s the privilege, not the gospel, that many religious leaders are afraid of losing.
Meanwhile the rest of us understand that nobody, not a single person with a genuine faith, wants to see it imposed on others. Because the second it’s mandated, it stops being faith altogether.
So, as Christians, we welcome religious education that reflects the world we live in, that doesn’t pretend Christianity is the only voice in the room, and which trusts truth to sing without needing to be timetabled.
If the Christian story is as rich and hopeful as we claim it is, it will shine just fine without the scaffolding of enforced religious privilege.
And, progressive Christians also know that as we trust young people to draw back the curtains on other faith traditions, they’re going to be inspired by the One Light coming back at them.
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