We explore how religious education can take both religion and education seriously (Biesta & Hannam 2021) through an existential proposal that suggests that religious education can and should be for everyone. We aim to contribute to discussions about justification of religious education in school curriculum, offering implications for ‘pedagogy’ (in Continental language:‘didactics’) and curricular content. Confessional approaches can claim to take religion seriously, but risk seeing education as a recruitment strategy. Anthropological, knowledge-focused, literacy and worldview approaches are more educational, offering solutions to confessionalism, but struggle with taking religion seriously, either because religion only appears as phenomenon to be studied, become knowledgeable or literate about, or because religion is one worldview amongst others. All approaches could argue religious education should be for everyone. Confessional approaches, aim to induct everyone into a particular religion. Anthropological approaches could argue everyone should study and make sense of the phenomenon of religion, knowledge-focused approaches that everyone should have knowledge, literacy approaches that everyone should be literate about religion, whilst worldview approaches maintain everyone has a worldview. We suggest approaching religion in existential terms, as a possible way of leading one’s life, individually and collectively, or, more modestly, as a dimension or ‘quality’ of attentiveness (Hannam 2019) brought to one’s own life. Such an approach does not move ‘outside’ religion, making it an object of study. Rather the religious life, as attentiveness, is its point of departure, arguing the religious way of life is an option open to everyone. It follows, that education has the task – and even duty – to provide new generations with access to this ‘existential possibility’ (Biesta 2015) recognising ultimately children and young people must come to discernment about what the religious way of life may have to offer. Such a justification for religious education is not fundamentally different from, justification for music or sport. It would be odd to ‘allow’ children and young people to study music and sport as socio-cultural phenomena, to become knowledgeable and literate in both areas, but never allow them to try an instrument or play sports. We explore what this implies for religious education pedagogy, for curricular content and how to keep the question of discernment about the religious way of life central. The ‘bigger’ question we touch upon is whether an existential approach has something to offer the democratic public sphere, rather than the public sphere needing protection from it.

Biesta, G. (2015). Freeing teaching from learning: Opening up existential possibilities in educational relationships. Studies in Philosophy and Education 34(3), 229-243. Biesta, G. & Hannam, P. (Eds)(2021). Religion and education: The forgotten dimensions of religious education? Leiden/Boston: Brill | Sense. Hannam, P. (2019). Religious education and the public sphere. London: Routledge.