Religious education and the supreme court: Implications for Northern Ireland and beyond

The Supreme Court decision in JR87, Re Application for Judicial Review attracted considerable media interest and has been used by groups such as Humanists UK and the National Secular Society to call for reform of the laws on religious education and worship in schools not only in Northern Ireland, where the school in the case was based, but in the other nations of the UK. This article explores what the Supreme Court judgment actually said. It is undoubtedly an important decision. However, it is somewhat narrower and more technical than it might appear from the headlines. The judgment confirms that that where the teaching of religion is not objective, critical and pluralistic then this amounts to indoctrination that is contrary to human rights law and that the existence of a right to opt out of such learning would not necessarily justify this. This decision will have serious ramifications in Northern Ireland and beyond but mostly where (a) religious teaching is not objective, critical and pluralistic and (b) reliance is currently placed on parental opt outs to ensure that this is compatible with human rights laws. This calls into question, in particular, laws on collective worship in all schools and laws on religious education in schools with a religious character.