Judith Burns at the BBC reports that a recent poll in Britain supports the bête noir of teaching of Christianity in schools. Almost two thirds (64%) of adults questioned for Oxford University agreed pupils must know about Christianity to understand English history, 57% of 1,832 adults polled agreed that learning about Christianity was essential for children to understand the English way of life including major Christian festivals (56%) and how it distinguishes right from wrong (51%).
The poll is part of a project to help schools teach the faith in a more rigorous way. Researchers from Oxford’s department of education say their focus on Christianity stems from a legal requirement that English schools should reflect the fact that Christianity is the country’s main religious tradition.
Nigel Fancourt, of Oxford, said that this means Christianity “will probably be the only religion that pupils study throughout their schooling. It is treated in the same way as other religions but studied more frequently”.
Richy Thompson of the British Humanist Association read the poll differently “Christianity should be taught (but) not in any pretence that it is relevant to the developing beliefs, values and life stances of most young people, over two-thirds of whom have non-religious worldviews.”