The UK Supreme Court has ruled that the Christian-focused religious education and collective worship in Northern Ireland’s state-funded primary schools is “unlawful.” This is a direct assault on the Christian foundations of the education system, but has been coming for some time. It is a stark warning of what happens when a nation abandons truth for relativism in its schools.
The ruling claims that the current RE curriculum fails to be “objective, critical and pluralistic.” But what does that really mean? It could mean that Christianity will be treated as just one option among many and given less priority, stripped of its rightful place as the moral and spiritual bedrock of our culture, where Christ was once the focus of children’s worship. It will mean that Christian teachers in Northern Ireland, even where there are a majority of Christian pupils, will not be able to teach biblical truth as truth, but only as one perspective among countless others.
Human Rights
To rely on ‘Human Rights’ is to relativise Christianity. This decision was made on the basis of human rights law. But when human rights become the main lens through which education is judged by a nation, they inevitably relativise all values. They elevate individual autonomy above communal tradition, and devalue the Christian heritage that has shaped our laws, schools, and the national identity.
Human rights, originally sourced from a biblical foundation, is now becoming a tool for erasing moral absolutes and advancing a secular worldview, which may be a desired outcome for the atheists who brought the case. Laws based on human rights, and not on biblical law, cannot protect truth. They have been used to protect the right to reject it, and silence it, in state funded schools. In this case, they have been used to undermine the right of Christian parents and communities to pass on their faith through the state education system. Many Christians would disagree with Peter Lynas of the Evangelical Alliance who asserts, “Nothing in this ruling diminishes the freedom of Christians to articulate, celebrate and pass on their faith.”
Erosion
The Court’s claim that withdrawal from RE or worship is “not an adequate safeguard” is deeply troubling. It implies that Christian teaching itself is harmful for those pupils who do not believe, unless it is substantially diluted or even avoided. Do not be fooled by the propaganda. This is not about inclusion, it is about exclusion of Christianity from schools and the increasingly secular public square. Effective biblical teaching will always make sure that all children feel included, no matter the background. This is what has persisted for decades in Northern Ireland.
Both Northern Ireland’s school curriculum and daily worship, have long reflected the Christian values that underpin its society. This ruling exposes the continued hollowing out of Christian influence in state schools. If the long tradition of Christian Religious Education in Northern Ireland can now be seen as unlawful, then what remains is a secular sanitisation of RE, where Jesus Christ is less and less welcome. We must remember his words, “Let the children come to me, and do not hinder them”. (Mat 19:14)
As Humanists UK explain, “The UK Government must urgently review the RE and collective worship laws in England and move to replace them with inclusive assemblies”
We already know where this will lead. As Melanie McDonagh in the Times explains, “What the justices seem to have missed is that children will now not be taught Christian truth; they will be taught a different kind of truth.” “They will still be indoctrinated, but with a humanist indoctrination which holds that God probably doesn’t exist and if he does there is no difference between one sort of belief or another.”
Moral Freefall
The call for curriculum revision may sound reasonable and is already being accepted by Christian commentators, but it demonstrates another stage in the capitulation to secular ideology. The idea that Christianity should remain in state schools, but only in a pluralistic and non-committal form, is a significant departure from the gospel and Jesus Christ’s Great Commission teaching mandate. It is a surrender to the belief that no faith can claim truth, and that all must be reduced to mere opinions protected to be expressed or taught by human rights based relativism. Jesus Christ claims to be the Truth.
This is not progress, it is moral freefall. It is the fruit of a society that has replaced God’s Word with the shifting sands of human rights jurisprudence in its decision making.
Stephen Daisley’s excellent article in the Spectator explains, “The inevitable consequence of this judgment will be the weakening of Christian instruction and worship in Northern Ireland schools. By its very nature, Christianity is an absolute truth claim: Jesus of Nazareth was the Son of God who died for our sins. To teach Christianity is to teach the objective and eternal truth of salvation through Christ; to teach that this is merely one of many religious viewpoints is to teach about Christianity. The former is religious education in the true sense: the cultivation of a Christian soul through doctrinal instruction, spiritual reflection, and a wider school ethos. The latter is a mere academic exercise in comparative religious studies.”
Silence?
This ruling demands a response. Christian parents, teachers, governors, and church leaders must speak out. We must refuse to accept the lie that Christianity is too biased to be taught, too exclusive to be celebrated, and too dangerous to be believed. Dangers remain with the potential changes coming into force across other parts of the UK through the recent curriculum review by Professor Francis.
We have long warned of this trajectory. The progressive removal of Christian worship and teaching is not an isolated event, it is part of a broader campaign to secularise state education, and silence the gospel.
This is not the immediate death of Christian worship in schools unless we allow it to be. Praise God that many Christians are active in our schools, and making a positive difference, sensitively leading children to the truth. To Jesus Christ. The Supreme Court may have ruled, but the Church must now decide whether it will retreat or resist with bold and courageous action in his name.
