Frequently Asked Questions

Why do we need another organisation? 

The RE Network is different: our aim is to link providers organisations, academics, teachers, governors, SACRE members and others committed to the welfare of RE in schools. The website is to be a portal for their many events, so that those looking for courses and conferences need only look here, and as an association of equals we have no authoritarian hierarchy, no paid officers, but are here to co-operate. Our constitution defines what we are about and how organised, and provided  an organisation or individual can agree with our aims (see the Home page for these) we are open to a wide variety of contributors.

If I support you, what do I get out of it?

Well, that depends a little on who you are! We have good contact in Parliament and increasingly with religious bodies, with the Nationals Association of SACREs, with university departments, with course providers and with schools. As we aim to support, encourage and endorse the many centres of excellence of RE in the country, and to popularise just what it is that makes these successful, we are looking to a solid future for the subject; we support all efforts to persuade Government to improve the support given to RE in all respects. By joining us, and contributing your own expertise, you will know you have others around you who support you.

What do you think of ‘Religion and Worldviews’ as the future for the subject?

To be honest, we are not impressed and believe it to be a blind alley, neither addressing the main issues for the subject, nor is it open to the diversity of current initiatives which work well in so many schools. In particular, whilst we all know religions have one or more worldviews (as do most people), we do not think religions are merely worldviews, so to frame the subject as an exploration worldviews, religious and non-religious, is a fundamental misunderstanding. We also share reservations about encouraging pupils to ‘develop their own worldview’, as if this can be done from a smorgasbord of available choices combined with their own experience: the potential for conflict with home, family, tradition and culture is plain. Our aim is to educate, rather than to indoctrinate with a secular understanding of religion.