I REALLY enjoyed RE when I was at school, but I have to admit that my lasting memory is of a strict teacher (also a minister) who had the unnerving habit of twisting boys’ sideboards if he thought they were not concentrating or if they dared to talk when they should have been writing an essay.

Memories like this flashed across my mind when I came across several news stories recently suggesting that the current shortage of religious studies teachers is worsening despite the demand for the subject. Religious studies it would appear is very popular. Out of the 58 GCSE subjects it is the seventh most widely taken in England and the ninth in Wales, the Chair of the Religious Education Council has been quoted saying that she has never seen such a demand from school leaders for religious education’.

Given these statistics it was disturbing to read that the number of teachers in England possessing a relevant post A-level qualification has only grown by a little over 100 in the past ten years so that the current workforce of specialist RE teachers is at a similar level to 2014-2015. It’s also been noted that many of those who currently teach RS at GCSE do so as a secondary subject, and in the worst cases it is taught in a “tokenistic” manner due to the lack of available specialists.

All this makes it difficult to understand the decision to cut the training bursary after two years given reports that its introduction had led to a growing number of applications, thereby reversing the decade long drift in recruitment.

But as we all know it’s one thing to be popular it’s quite another to be relevant, and this begs the question “Should religious studies figure prominently in the curriculum?”

As you might guess, I would answer that questions with a hearty ‘Yes’, but I would suggest, with good reason. RE/RS gives children the opportunity to learn about the various religious world views that have influenced and continue to influence the lives and values of millions of people not least our own. As one educational authority puts it, Religious Studies gives pupils a chance to explore the whole question of what it means to be a human being, and to focus on questions of meaning and purpose in a multi-faith, often confusing and sometimes threatening world.

This doesn’t mean pupils should be indoctrinated of course, but they do need be taught to evaluate the many faiths that have emerged over the centuries and to reach their own conclusions in the light of their history and their basic beliefs.

They shouldn’t be prevented from questioning the existence of God either.

Given the absurdity of the claim that given plenty of time and a bit of luck ‘nothing created everything’ they will soon come to see that atheism is nothing but a bankrupt philosophy.