THE government’s first attempt to tell schools how they should teach religious education will spark controversy by recommending that children should be taught atheism as well as Christianity.

The Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA), which regulates what is taught in schools, is drawing up new guidelines on the teaching of religious education.

It intends to recommend a wider curriculum, including the teaching of agnosticism, humanism and atheism alongside Christianity, Islam and Hinduism.

“It is very much the intention that young people in the context of religious education should be studying non- religious beliefs,” a spokesman for the QCA said.

“There are many children in England who have no religious affiliation and their beliefs and ideas, whatever they are, should be taken seriously.”

The guidelines will be circulated for consultation in the summer, but Christianity will remain the main subject of RE, protected by law.

The QCA intends to leave the final choice to schools and the proposal to teach atheism and agnosticism will not be compulsory, leaving church schools the freedom to teach religion.

But heads will be told that the new guidelines should be regarded as best practice, and are therefore likely to be taken up in most schools around the country.

The QCA’s proposals come as a left-wing think tank publishes a report tomorrow, calling for RE to be renamed “spiritual education” with less time spent on the life of Jesus and the Ten Commandments.

The Institute for Public Policy Research’s paper What Is Religious Education for? says children should also be taught about religions such as the Baha’i faith, favoured by government scientist Dr David Kelly.

Paganism and environmentalism should also be added to the school curriculum, it says, although a heavy emphasis would be given to teaching Islam to try and curb what it sees as a growing phobia in schools towards Muslims.

The think tank believes children as young as five should be told that there are people in the world who do not believe in God, that there are alternatives to marriage and that those children with strong religious beliefs could be urged to question them and look at the reasons for their faith. Instead of referring to God they should be taught that there is a “divine being whose moral judgments are significantly more reliable than ours”.

Explore UK News

• Crime News

• Education News

• Health News

• Scotland News

Times Recommends

• Fern Britton: 'I still can't see that I was wrong'
• Extreme cooking
• Easy French: Tarte Tatin