Northern Ireland’s Education Minister has emphasised that the Christian ethos of schools will not be swept aside.
In light of last week’s Supreme Court’s ruling that Christian content in RE and assemblies must be objective and pluralistic, Paul Givan highlighted the Court’s statement that “the greater part” of RE can be Christianity-focused.
Givan reported that he will issue guidance to schools in coming weeks, “ensuring that our Christian ethos in our schools is maintained”.
‘Main religion’
The Minister stated: “Both religious education and collective worship can, and legally is required to, continue in schools. Indeed there is a legal obligation that they must continue”.
He noted that “historically and today, Christianity is the main religion in Northern Ireland”, and the “court has explained that it is within the department’s margin of appreciation in planning and setting the curriculum for the greater part of religious education to focus on knowledge of Christianity”.
In addition, he reassured parents: “Nativity plays can continue to take place within our schools”.
Christianity
The ruling followed a legal challenge on behalf of a seven-year-old girl and her father against the NI Department of Education. The father described the family as non-religious, and was concerned Christian teaching in school would lead to their daughter adopting these beliefs.
The Court agreed that the right of withdrawal from collective worship and RE lessons was not enough to avoid the girl being “stigmatised”, as she would be the only girl in the class not taking part.
The Supreme Court judgment does not remove Christianity from the classroom. Instead, it requires that Christian content is taught in a way that fairly and objectively presents other viewpoints and in a way that does not assume everyone views Christian beliefs as fact.
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