The Supreme Court has finished two days of hearing a legal case challenging the fact that RE and collective worship in Northern Ireland are Christian in nature. The case, taken by a parent and child challenging this fact, is known as JR87. The family won at the Northern Ireland High Court but then lost at the Court of Appeal. The Supreme Court has now reserved judgment on the current appeal, and may not rule for weeks or months. Northern Ireland Humanists supports the family’s case and intervened in support at the Court of Appeal.
RE in Northern Ireland follows a curriculum that was written by the four biggest churches. It is entirely Christian, apart from one post-primary school module focused on ‘world faiths’. There is no inclusion of humanism, despite the growing population of non-religious people, particularly younger people. Northern Ireland Humanists has argued that the RE curriculum must reflect the diverse beliefs of the population, both religious and humanist. Meanwhile, collective worship is exclusively Christian in nature – just like in the rest of the UK. Parents can withdraw their children from RE and collective worship but this can be stigmatising for the child and no meaningful alternative of equal educational worth has to be offered.
History of the case
The case was brought by a Belfast-based non-religious father and his child who argue the exclusively Christian RE curriculum and collective worship requirements in Northern Ireland breach their rights under Article 2 of the First Protocol to the European Convention of Human Rights (ECHR), namely that ‘the State shall respect the right of parents to ensure… [that in state schools] education and teaching [are] in conformity with their own religious and philosophical convictions’.
In the High Court of Northern Ireland in 2022 the judge ruled that ‘religious education and collective worship are not conveyed in an objective, critical or pluralist manner in Northern Ireland [schools].’ The exclusively Christian curriculum and collective worship requirement were therefore ruled to be discriminatory.
However, the Northern Ireland Department of Education appealed to the Court of Appeal last October. It ruled that while it agreed with the High Court that the RE curriculum was not objective, critical, or pluralistic, this was not sufficient to conclude there had been a breach of human rights law as the parent had not – in this case – taken up the right to withdraw his child from RE. The provision of what it deemed to be a potentially non-discriminatory exemption that could accommodate the wishes of the parents exists in Northern Irish law, and so it concluded there was insufficient evidence that the child had been subject to a faith-based education against the will of their parent without remedy. Northern Ireland Humanists intervened in the case.
The Supreme Court appeal
The family in the case appealed the ruling to the Supreme Court. The appeal was based on the argument that the right to withdraw is not sufficient to ensure children receive education that respects the religious and philosophical beliefs of their parents, as there is no considerable alternative to the teaching of religion from the exclusively Christian curriculum requirements in Northern Ireland. It was argued that it should not be the case that parents have to withdraw their children as the problem, as identified by the High Court, was that there is no objective, critical, or pluralistic expectation of RE in Northern Ireland.
Northern Ireland Humanists Coordinator Boyd Sleator commented:
‘We await the judgment of the Supreme Court on this case. The RE curriculum and assemblies in Northern Ireland are unobjective, uncritical, and non-pluralistic. But a large and growing share of Northern Ireland’s population is not Christian. Students deserve an education that reflects the diverse religious and humanist beliefs of our modern nation but currently they are denied it.’
by lexymac11
11 comments
The hearing was fascinating. I listened to it and the basic argument of the dept of education is that it’s not their “aim” to indoctrinate kids into Christianity, and because you can opt your kids out, then that’s fine. And that there’s no evidence that opting out is flawed, and would cause the child or their family any stigmatisation, othering or negative consequences.
Good on them. RE I’m England is not taught that way, why should it be any different here. My wife had islamic, Chinese and Hindi kids in her class. All the kids learned a bit about each other’s cultures in a non-partisan way. At the age of 4, they had more cultural understanding and awareness than half the troglodytes in this shit heap will ever have
Education should be secular, IMO. School assemblies can get in the fucking bin, or at least be opt-in at the very least. Are schools going to offer ceremonies for other religions too? I don’t think so.
And if RE is not teaching kids about ***all*** religions (or beliefs like humanisn or atheism) then it’s not fit for purpose and needs radically overhauled.
Good to see, too many of the primary schools here are run like an extension of church.
State instruction or exploration of Judeo-Christianity is usually such a peripheral, blink-and-you’ll-miss-it affair it’s practically wallpaper.
Even if the respective young person is staunchly irreligious from the pram..
Isn’t there still a value in learning about the things that shaped or heavily influenced the formation of the cultural world around us ?
Think of it as social anthropology for beginners, a peek behind the curtain at the slightly bonkers, often brutal, but undeniably foundational belief system that basically hammered together the Western world. Our society, with all its quirks and supposed glories, didn’t just spring fully formed from a focus group, did it?
To deprive younger people of the toolkit to understand where our laws, our morals (shaky as they often are), our art, our great gobfuls of literature actually came from is just peak idiocy. It’s like sending them into a library blindfolded and expecting them to write a dissertation. These Judeo-Christian ethics and values, whether you fancy them or not, are the bedrock. Pretending they aren’t there is just condemning the next generation to an even greater ignorance than what the less charitable claim currently afflicts the world.
Frankly, not entirely sure where I stand on the whole God business myself –. But even I can admit that stumbling through the stories and the history of it all was fascinating. So, stopping younger people learning (however, peripherally) something that actually shaped the metaphorical landscape beneath their trainers. Some would argue it’s basic cultural literacy,
Expanding the syllabus to cover other beliefs is something to think about, especially considering the increasingly diverse make up of society. Our society was founded upon concepts of judeo Christian beliefs though, learning about them Even intellectually without any compunction to practice any formal faith is fascinating and enriching to a degree some would argue .
Mechanisms of parental choice are key though. leaving matters of that type to their respective individual discretion is completely fair and already thankfully enshrined into law via an opt-out.
RE should be something that ends the conflict, learn about other faiths and be tolerant of them
Why Christian in nature why not catholic worship as well why just targeting Christians this is a crying shame, its funny even businesses these days have prayer rooms for all faiths
Miserable redditors and atheism, name a more iconic duo.
Last I checked NI was almost entirely Christian. And a society built on Christianity. Nobody cares about humanism – humanism is only good for weddings where you want a 5 min ceremony so you can get on the beers asap.
School should be secular but if children are studying RE as an academic subject then it should include all major religions or a selection eg there are say 5 modules – Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism and they have to study 3.
Regardless of people’s feelings on religion, education, immigration etc., we are a Christian Country and this heritage is deeply interwoven with the fabric of Northern Irish society. As someone from Northern Ireland, I feel strongly about retaining the traditions we have.
The constant push for ‘alternative thinking’ and the dismantling of established practices is not always beneficial. We are a Christian country, and it’s vital to uphold the values that have shaped our community for generations. Just because some individuals do not practice Christianity or identify as atheist does not mean they speak for the silent majority who value these traditions.
This tendency to over-accommodate the views of a vocal minority at the expense of deeply held, widespread cultural and religious norms needs to be re-evaluated. We should not be expected to cleanse our traditions and historical views to satisfy a narrow ideological agenda.
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