Predicting religion

This article examines arguments and research that claims that much current practice and theory of RE is not critical. A review of aspects of RE including; Ofsted reports, recent research, analysis of text books, exam papers and pedagogies is used to assess the claim that current RE teaching does not support a critical engagement with religion. Throughout the article the teaching of Islam in RE is used to illustrate and discuss these points. It finds that criticality in some areas of RE is absent or limited but that in key areas criticality is evident if not always deeply embedded. It considers the possible contribution of questions taken from sociology, especially around the notion of engagement and prediction that would embed a critical approach to the study of religion in RE.