DECLARATION ON RELIGIOUS DIVERSITY AND UNDERSTANDING

Meeting at the Islamic Cultural Centre, the Religious Education Council of England and Wales has made the following declaration of solidarity with all faith communities in facing the challenges to their safety from whatever quarter:

• We reaffirm the priority of achieving mutuality of understanding between all the faiths comprised in the membership of the RE Council as fundamental to good Religious Education for all pupils and students in our schools
• We recognise that each of the global religious traditions which flourish in this country call their followers to pursue justice, peace and service of the common good
• We acknowledge that all religious belief and practice is open to distortion that can be destructive of human relationships.
• In the light of the destructive impact which it has on children and young people in and out of school, we deplore all inaccurate and insensitive representation and reporting relating to faith communities, most especially as it contributes to verbal and physical violence against, or between, groups and individuals from different religious backgrounds.
• We recommend that, in any future review of their professional codes of practice, all government organisations, public agencies and commercial companies should seek to emulate the commitment to religious understanding and the sensitivity to religious diversity embodied in the proposed new National Framework for RE.