Teaching worldviews could enhance Religious Education in Schools – my thoughts on the proposed changes to RE in England and Wales in The Conversation.
Building a Church Without Walls
Teaching worldviews could enhance Religious Education in Schools – my thoughts on the proposed changes to RE in England and Wales in The Conversation.
What is needed is a subject called, perhaps, ‘Theories of existence’ which would consider all theories whether religious, secular, scientific, institutional and personal. Common themes would no doubt be found and new interpretations made. A broader common understanding would result. For example, some Christian beliefs such as ‘trans-substantiation’, ‘Son of God’, ‘one in substance with the father’, ‘begotten, not made’, can be interpreted in down-to-earth terms without the need for mystical magic.
It is historically obvious that religions evolved from time to time and from place to place as cultures met and interacted, and social needs changed. Institutionalized religions which resist change become trapped in an irrelevant time warp. Whatever their original purposes it is questionable whether they are meeting those purposes. Like any institution, religion needs to reassess its purpose from time to time. As observed and scientifically tested knowledge increases, untested theological theories need to change.