Press Release:
How To Teach Atheism To 16-Year Olds & Avoid Chaos In Classrooms
‘Beliefs' by Jamie Cawley
Landmark ruling forces all non-faith schools to teach non-religious views
Tuesday 1stDecember 2015:A landmark court ruling on 25thNovember 2015found that leaving out ‘non religious world-views' from the Religious Studies (RS) GCSE curriculum broke the law. The move has sparked concerns of chaos across classrooms in non-faith English schools. Anne Heavey, education policy advisor at the Association of Teachers and Lecturers, has advised the Government needs to provide a swift response on the possible changes of the curriculum or risk ‘chaos' in schools.
The momentous judgment handed down in the High Court makes it compulsory for non-faith schools to include non-religious belief structures in their curriculum. The ruling by Mr Justice Warby came about after three families, backed by the British Humanist Society, contested that excluding non-religious views was unlawful and didn't reflect the pluralistic nature of Britain today.
But where are teachers going to find the accessible and relevant information that they need? The only book of its kind in the world is Jamie Cawley's ‘Beliefs: And the world they have created'. It was written for this exact role - to provide a foundation of facts, details and insights into the 10 most popular belief structures in the world today - both religions and non-religious beliefs.
Jamie Cawley, author of 'Beliefs: And the world they have created', says: "The idea that religion and science are opposed to each other is a mistake - mainstream western religion has had no problems with science with only two historic exceptions, Galileo and Darwin, and they are now only an issue for a few religious extremists. To call ideas that are not explicitly religious 'humanist' is like calling ideas that are not explicitly musical 'toneless'."
Jamie's book lays out the foundation of the main religious and non-religious beliefs to provide all who read it, no matter their age, a thorough understanding of all the popular belief structures.
The availability of this book is more important than ever following Nicky Morgan's (Education Minister) announcement in February 2015 that the new RS GCSE will be the way the government fulfils its obligation to provide a religious education.
This is far from the end of the story, of course, as the Department for Education has a chance to appeal the decision and even if it is upheld (and Atheism becomes part of the curriculum), there is still a big decision to be made abouthowthe subject is taught.
At this point, Jamie Cawley's book would shed plenty of light on the mechanics of teaching non-religious beliefs alongside religions. The power of the 'big 10' are introduced in ‘Beliefs': Polytheism, Judaism, Buddhism, Daoism, Confucianism, Christianity, Islam, Nationalism, Communism, and Environmentalism.
Jamie Cawley explains: "Beliefs are structures of thought, behaviour, tradition and practice, based on faith in something unprovable: religions plus ideologies in old terminology. Beliefs are different to faith, much as a corporation's culture is different to the products it makes. The Belief of Christianity used to murder its critics, now it doesn't; but the Christian faith has not changed at all. Only by presenting the main Beliefs together can they each be fully understood. You can see how Communism learned from Christianity, how Nationalism transformed Judaism from a religion into a 'Nation', etc. As the biggest killer of young people in the developed world last century, we need to understand Beliefs as thoroughly as possible - and RS GCSE is as good a place as any to start."
Jamie Cawley talks about religions and non-religious beliefs
Q. Do you think people are born without a belief?
"No. People instinctively seek reasons for the way the world works from their earliest childhood and form beliefs about the world. When something happens that cannot be explained because a person made it happen, then it is instinctive to suppose invisible spirits or gods caused it to happen. Organised beliefs like Christianity and Communism then add a structure to this instinctive way the world is understood."
Q. Is atheism a belief?
"No, it takes no conviction or faith not to believe something, but belief does not need a God. The western idea of 'God' is a Christian and Islamic idea only. Religions like Hinduism, Confucianism and Buddhism are agnostic about God, as are modern western beliefs like Nationalism and Environmentalism. Bizarrely, that means you can only be a Christian or Muslim or possibly a Jewish atheist!"
Q. There have been criticisms that humanistic ideas already dominate the rest of the curriculum - do you have an opinion on this?
"The idea that religion and science are opposed to each other is a mistake - mainstream western religion has had no problems with science with only two historic exceptions, Galileo and Darwin, and they are now only an issue for a few religious extremists. To call ideas that are not explicitly religious 'humanist' is like calling ideas that are not explicitly musical 'toneless'."
Q. How do you think non-religious beliefs should be taught to GCSE students in schools?
"The High Court ruling at last recognises that it is important to understand beliefs like Communism and Nationalism, where faith in an unprovable idea directs behaviour, just as much as any traditional religion. We need to move fast to include these as beliefs, alongside the agnostic religions like Buddhism, to escape from the blinkers put on us by focusing only on the Christian/Islamic God."
Notes to Editors
‘Beliefs' was published earlier this year (June 28th2015) and review copies, extracts and editorial pieces are available to the press upon request. Jamie's next book, The Birth of Now will be published on May 28th2016 and Jamie Cawley is available to discuss the ideas in either book via Skype or telephone as he is based in China. Jamie will be in the UK in the summer and face-to-face interviews can be pre-arranged.
For more information please do contactHelenLewis@literallypr.comorSamuelBatt@literallypr.com.