Life and Humanity – Allan Hayes

The following is taken from the RE Council RE Subject Review, England, Phase 1 Expert Panel Report,

www.religiouseducationcouncil.org/content/view/272/100/

A consistent feature in many of the submissions that the Expert Panel received was a strong perception that, despite the considerable amount written on the nature, purpose and aims of RE in all kinds of documentation, many people still don’t ‘get it’. That this was often linked to a sense of persistent frustration on the part of members of the RE community was demonstrated well in the document reporting a meeting of key members of the RE community that took place in late 2011: ‘A lack of consensus on the rationale and purpose of RE, and a failure to find a simple accessible way of explaining RE to the public, media and government, struck many present as the most serious weakness’.

Recognition of the lack of a clear purpose runs through the document.

This is serious: it is not good for the subject, or the teachers, or the students, and we are not getting a clear picture of an essential component of education:  a strand devoted to helping young people and fitting them for life – for enjoying living together as full members of our society, for meeting responsibilities and for protesting, being awkward and whistle-blowing when necessary. We need a strand that shows them what the human family is and fits them to be full members of it. In a world where people increasingly count less than profit, and competition and choice are supposed to solve everything we need to nurture and empower regard for humanity. Let’s, provisionally, call it Life and Humanity Studies (LHS).

I am writing this article, not on the spur of the moment, but after considerable thought and experience.  It is the outcome of a lifetime’s search, beginning as an Anglican choirboy, moving through atheism to humanism and, during my later years (I have just turned eighty), maturing into a on-going concern to bring people together, helped by those in  the many  groups that I am involved with[1] in one of the country’s most diverse cities[2].

Reading what the Non-Statutory National Framework (http://bit.ly/YXBxKE) says under ‘The importance of religious education’ (p.7) might suggest that RE is moving the direction of LHS; and knowing what is being taught in some classrooms might support this – for example, Philosophy for Children is coming into primary schools, and I have just participated in discussions in RE lessons on the existence of God, on sexual ethics, and on poverty and inequality in the world. I have been impressed, but we have some way to go.

I appreciate that there will be concern at a movement towards LHS – the subject would no longer be RE. However religions would clearly play a significant role (they treat important aspects of life seriously, are part of our heritage, and are important to many people), but this would be as contributors not as providing the basis. And in looking for a way forward we have to take into account the environment in which we will be working.

First, the students: we know that most of our young people do not belong to a religion.  John Sentamu, Archbishop of York, in his foreword to Making sense of Generation Y, the world view of 15-25-year-olds, acknowledges that the research described in the book “reveals the ‘large mismatch’ between the world view of those aged 15-25 and the Church”, that they “have no felt need for a ‘transcendent something else’, and that they regard the Church as boring and irrelevant”.

Second, the general population:  we have the census figures and we know that there is widespread disillusionment with institutional religion – the problems of the Catholic and Anglican churches, leading to calls for reform and reorganisation and their loss of moral authority are obvious examples, and there are similar calls for reform and re-examination in other religions. Moral concern also stretches to politics and business, with calls for institutional and personal responsibility and protection for whistleblowers. Morality and ethics are becoming the concern of us all, and this is something that we should welcome and prepare our students to handle.

Third, we have the explosion in interpersonal communication and the dissemination of ideas and information. No-one today can fail to be aware of what is going on in the world. Everyone can join with others and make their voice heard.  We are flooded with information about subjects like sex technique, evolution and the history of religions.

Fourth, and related to the above, education expectation: if we are to succeed in education we must be fair and open with our students, not limiting what we deal with, and we must be ready to discuss any issue.  I felt it was totally wrong when Michael Reiss had to resign his job as Director of Education for the Royal Society because he suggested that science teachers should take a student’s concerns about creationism seriously.

And so we have arrived at the elephant not in the room: an up-to-date view of humanity.  We know how we have evolved –  the work of dedicated scientists and other scholars, both religious and non-religious,  has elucidated not only our biological origins but also the evolution of our psychological and social abilities and the creation of civil societies and the contributions of religions[3]. Looking at the information and communication environment in which students move, much of this is common knowledge.  We must include this in our course, not only because it is, as I think, well-founded knowledge for all, but also to provide respect and a secure basis for non-religious students, and because we must help those who feel threatened by it.  More widely, we must bring science and religion together – they are both parts of our common search.

Lastly, politics: it has to be recognised that the administrative set-up of the present subject is not designed for HLS, indeed it suggests a deal with religious bodies to push religion on us. Consider for example the make up SACREs and the Religious Education Council, government directives, the pattern of ‘learning about religion’ followed by ‘learning from religion’, and the scant regard paid to non-religious beliefs in the Non-Statutory National Framework.  We must try to avoid  a religious / non-religious divide. Addressing this is important if we are seeking funding and democratic legitimacy.

I have come to recognise that nurturing the art of living together with goodwill whatever our personal backgrounds and beliefs is crucial; and that helping to create and maintain a society that makes this possible is a vital task to be shared.

A year or so ago I was reading a book by a prominent Muslim who used the familiar picture of all religions climbing the same mountain to reach the one peak – God.  I used this in a talk to a Christian/Muslim group, but somewhat changed: we have all been climbing the same mountain but we have come out onto a plateau, recognised one another, and found that  we now have to build higher together.

Simply stated: I want our purpose to be to help our students be good and capable human beings and to be proud of it – that, surely, is a purpose we can all “get”.

Finally, It is also something we can put to the all the country as deserving support.

Bibliography

One of the things that I have learned is that teachers are very busy and that, being retired, I am fortunate to be able to read a lot – perhaps too much and to the detriment of actually doing something. I have kept the references in the text down to a minimum. I list below some of the books that have influenced me and that may be of interest to others.

Ali, A. H. (2010) Nomad: a personal journey through the clash of civilisations.

Appiah, K. A. (2010) The Honour Code: how moral revolutions happen.

Ashley, M. (2008) Taking Liberties: the struggle for Britain’s freedoms and rights.

Baron-Cohen, S. (2011) Zero Degrees of Empathy, a new theory of human cruelty:

Bellah, R. N. (2011) Religion in Human Evolution: from the paleolithic to the axial age.

Boehm, C. (2012) Moral Origins: the Evolution of Virtue, Altruism and Shame.

Borg, M. (2012) Evolution of the Word: the New Testament in the order the books were written.

Botton, de, A. (2012) Religion for Atheists: a non-believer’s guide to the uses of religion.

Boulton, D. (2002) The Trouble with God, religious humanism and the Republic of Heaven.

Boulton, D. editor (2006) Godless for God’s Sake, nontheism in contemporary Quakerism, by 27 Quaker nontheists.

Cantle, T. (2012) Interculturalism: the new era of cohesion and diversity.

Cupitt, D. (1984) The Sea of Faith.

Cupitt, D. (2009) Jesus and Philosophy.

Dalai Lama, His Holiness the, (2011) Beyond Religion: ethics for the whole world.

Diamond, J. (2012) The World Until Yesterday: what can we learn from traditional societies.

Epstein, G. M. (2009) Good without God, what a billion non-religious people do believe.

Freeman, C. (2002)The Closing of the Western Mind: the rise of faith and the fall of reason:

Geering, L. (2002) Christianity without God.

Hinde, R. (2009) Why Gods Persist: a scientific approach to religion.

Hinde, R. (2011) Changing How We Live: society from the bottom up.

Hinde, R. (2012) Why Good is Good: The sources of morality.

Holland, T. (2012) In the Shadow of the Sword: the battle for global empire and the end of the ancient world.

Holloway, R. (1999) Godless Morality, keeping religion our of ethics.

Kirkland, P. (2011) Braintrust: what neuroscience tells us about morality.

Lewis,  D. L. (2008) God’s Crucible: Islam and the making of Europe, 570-1215.

Mithen, S. (1996) The Prehistory of the Mind: a search for the prehistory of art, religion and science.

Pagel, M. (2012) Wired for Culture: the natural history of human cooperation.

Patel, E. (2007) Acts of Faith: the story of an American Muslim and the Struggle for the soul of a generation.

Patel, E. (2012) Sacred Ground: pluralism, prejudice, and the promise of America.

Sacks, J. (2002)  The Dignity of Difference: how to avoid the clash of civilizations.

Sagan, C. (1980) Cosmos: the story of cosmic evolution, science and civilisation.

Sagan, C. (2006) The Varieties of Scientific Experience: a personal view of the search for God.

Sardar, Z.  (2004) Desperately Seeking Paradise: journeys of a sceptical Muslim.

Savage, S.  et al. (2006) Making Sense of Generation Y, the world view of 15-25 year olds.

Sen,  A. (2006) Identity and Violence: the illusion of destiny.

Sen, A. (2011) Peace and Democratic Society.

Sennett, R. (2012) Together: the rituals, pleasures and politics of cooperation.

Shaha, A. (2012) The Young Atheist’s Handbook, lessons for living a good life without God.

Spong, J. S. (2011) Reclaiming the Bible for a Non-Religious World.

Spong, J. S. (2008) Jesus for the Non-Religious.

Stedman, C. (2012) Faithheist: how an atheist found common ground with the religious.

Steichen, E. (1956) The Family of Man.

Wilson, E. O. (2012) The Social Conquest of Earth.

Wright, R. (2009) The Evolution of Go:, the origins of our belief.

Waal de, F. (2009) The Age of Empathy: nature’s lessons for a kinder society.

Waal, de, F. (2013) The Bonobo and the Atheist: in search of Humanism among the primates.

Zuckerman, P. (2008) Society Without God: what the least religious nations can tell us about contentment.