Religious education lessons 'dying out' in schools His paper is due to be presented at a major debate in London focusing on religion in schools. Prof Richard Dawkins, the scientist and atheist campaigner, and the Bishop of Oxford, the Rt Rev John Pritchard, the head of the Church of England's board of education, are also due to address the Westminster Faith Debates on Wednesday. Prof Conroy's three-year study - based on an in-depth analysis of 24 schools - found that the best teachers used RE to form close bonds with the local community and provide pupils with the meanings behind different rituals and social practices. In one example, a teacher failed to shy away from pupils" desire to discuss Islamic terrorism, the study said, teaching different interpretations of "jihad" and allowed them to explore the claims made by extremists to find out how far they were truly theological. But in poor RE classes, teachers simply introduce students to the "surface phenomena of religion," the report warned. The problem goes much deeper than individual teachers or schools. It is symptomatic of a crippling ambivalence about RE which runs through British society, and infects educational policy," said the study. Prof Conroy said: "Even where RE is taught magnificently, it is so against the odds. RE in Britain is under-resourced, torn between competing aims, and has become overburdened by having to include other subjects (from sex to citizenship). Whilst governments insist on RE's importance in theory, they marginalise it in practice - as Michael Gove [the Education Secretary] has recently done by refusing to treat it as a core subject and excluding it from the English Baccalaureate. His report warns that religious education "matters as never before." "As religious and secular diversity increases, students need to be able to articulate their own beliefs, and engage seriously with those of others, as never before," he said. Respect and social harmony depend upon it. What is happening to RE in our schools is a scandal for which we will have to pay a high price in years to come. Terry Sanderson, president National Secular Society said last night: "Religious Education is already mandatory in every school in the country and increasingly it is being abused as a means of evangelisation. We are receiving complaints on an almost daily basis from parents who are telling us that their children are being subjected to lessons that are not aimed simply at giving them information about religion, but on teaching them how to observe that religion and practise it. To be truly objective, education about religion should be spread across the curriculum, through history and geography and literature where its influence can be explored academically. "Once you specify a subject called "Religious Education" it an rapidly morph into Religious Instruction. In faith schools that instruction is inevitably skewed in a sectarian direction. Prof Conroy's complaints are self-serving and reek of vested interest.