PROJECT AREA
Veganism in Religious Education
Spirited Arts Competition 2024
An incredible 450,000+ entrants have joined in the Spirited Arts Competition since its beginnings in 2004. 2024 marked NATRE’s 20ᵗʰ Anniversary of the competition, with hundreds of UK schools getting involved while capturing global attention from countries including Australia, Bahrain, China, Thailand and USA.
Following 2023’s successful theme ‘All God’s Creatures’, Veganism in Education (VinE) and the Animal Interfaith Alliance (AIA) sponsored another animal theme ‘Why do Animals Matter’ inviting children to critically think about our relationship with animals and explore our RE resources.
Veganism In Religious Education
We’ll be collaborating with the Animal Interfaith Alliance to provide young people with engaging opportunities to explore ethical veganism as a worldview/philosophical conviction in RE. We endeavour to work nationwide across the UK and beyond. It is notable that in Scotland the equivalent of Religious Education is Religious and Moral Education, and in Wales the subject will soon be called Religion, Values and Ethics.
The AIA is a highly regarded organisation which brings together diverse faith-based animal advocacy organisations to be a united voice for animals. Its Founder and CEO, Barbara Gardner, is author of The Compassionate Animal: an Interfaith Guide to the Extended Circle of Compassion (Animal Books & Media). Among AIA’s esteemed members and Patrons, is its President, Dr Richard D. Ryder (Ethicist). He became a key figure in the animal rights revival of the 1970’s, coining the word ‘speciesism’ and playing a leading role in its rise to international and political recognition.
VinE is delighted to play a part in achieving AIA’s Vision of ‘a peaceful world where people of all faiths and none work together to treat animals with respect and compassion.’
As one of our first core initiatives, we worked with RE Today in producing learning resources for inclusion in RE. Thanks to survey participants for helping to shape this.
The new guidance and legislative summary published for Religion, Values and Ethics in Wales specifically mentions veganism as a recognised philosophical conviction. VinE will be advocating for the right of vegans to sit on Standing Advisory Councils and will be involved in encouraging and recruiting vegan representatives.
VinE has been working with AIA to support RE Today in creating materials for spiritual and moral education as part of the school curriculum, encouraging children to be compassionate towards animals.
Veganism in Education (VinE) has commissioned RE Today to do this work.
The Materials: highlight how all the main religions teach us to be compassionate towards animals – to practice ahimsa (non-harming) and extend the Golden Rule to them (to do to others as we would wish others to do to us).
The materials explore Ethical Veganism as a worldview and a philosophical conviction. In the UK, veganism is a protected characteristic and a protected philosophical belief under the Equality Act 2010, so we believe that vegan children should have their beliefs included in the education system and not feel excluded. Religious Education is required to critically explore worldviews as well as traditional religions.
The RE teaching resources were launched in January 2023 and are freely available on our website.
If you are an RE teacher or RE lead interested in trying out our innovative resources, participate in a survey being conducted by Dr Heather Marshall, senior lecturer and RE PGCE course leader, Edge Hill University. Thanks for considering this opportunity.
