The RE Podcast

Please send The RE Podcast a Text Message! One thing we love is the messiness of RE!  In the current worldviews approach we embrace this messiness and strive to accurately the diversity within worldviews.  In this episode I speak to Dr Lois Lee, senior lecturer at the University of Kent.  We look at the diversity of belief within the Nones - an area which called fall prey to simplifications if we...

Please send The RE Podcast a Text Message! https://iifl.org.uk/ Faith's transformative power takes center stage as we welcome Dr. Jake Scott, Director of the Institute for the Impact of Faith in Life. Join us for an enlightening conversation on how faith is not only surviving but thriving amid growing secularism and religious diversity in the UK. Discover how historical influences and modern...

Please send The RE Podcast a Text Message! What happens at the intersection of faith and mental health.  Can a personal faith support you through this or create an extra layer to navigate as you try to reconcile your experience with a loving God. In this honest, authentic and hopeful conversation, I ask Claire Gough about her lived experience of being a Christian with depression, anxiety and disor...

Please send The RE Podcast a Text Message! One of the things I love doing this podcast is it introduces me to things I didn't know were a thing but love learning about.  This chat with Rev Pippa White is so significant for many reasons.  For Christians, this is a real challenge to them for whether they are inhabiting the spaces of the younger generation. Jesus used the common communication to...

Please send The RE Podcast a Text Message! This is one of my favurite episodes because of how powerful, emotional and authentic it was. I chat with former Islamist - Sohail Ahmed. His story is true, honest and relatable as he tells us what led him to become an extremist and what eventually led him to leave that life behind.  It's linked to identity, sexuality, atonement, purpose and belonging...

Please send The RE Podcast a Text Message! In rememberance of LGBTQIA History Month, we remember this GLORIOUS chat with Rev. Andy Fitchet, we look at the damage that traditional and literal interpretations of Genesis have had on women and LGBTQIA Christians. Andy talks openly about his own difficult journey and the dangerous practices of the Church to heal people of 'gayness'.  We discu...

Please send The RE Podcast a Text Message! To continue with the 4th Anniversary celebrations of the RE Podcast, I want to reincarnate some of my favourite episodes. To start here are the chats with the Reverend Steve Chalke from season 2, and the one on restorative justice from season 7. Not only is Steve one of my childgood heroes, I love what he says about love and salvation and homosexuality an...

Please send The RE Podcast a Text Message! In this episode I look back over the first 4 years of The RE Podcast using questions from you lot. And it's an occupational habit that RE teachers ask great questions!   Giles Gough - What for you, is the best and worst part of podcasting? Karen Steele - What’s been your favourite RE podcast? Also, what inspired you to start; where did you find the c...

Please send The RE Podcast a Text Message! This is my very special summary of season 12 which started with a timely episode about how to revise, a deep dive into sources of authority in Islam, humanist funerals, a chat with Mary myatt, one about the REC and the handbook, sentientism, fostering curiosity, fallacies in arguments, veganism, re resources, miracles, and gay marriage.  My thanks to all...

Please send The RE Podcast a Text Message! This is my very special summary of season 11 of The RE Podcast which started with a mini series on the sermon on the mount, then a deep dive into the REQM, an episode about the Veda’s, one about Quakerism, a lovely chat with Lat Blaylock, another with the people at NATRE, a look at the national content standard, one about social Catholic teachings, a chat...

Please send The RE Podcast a Text Message! This is my very special summary of Season 10 of The RE Podcast, where I went to Israel, looked at assessment in primary RE, talked to Dawn Cox about her book ‘Every RE lesson counts’ then did two mini series: one on losing and finding religion and another on the parables of Jesus. I ended the season looking at paganism. So this has been another incredible...

Please send The RE Podcast a Text Message! Many of your will know the cross bench peer, Lord Bilimoria.  With his Zoroastrian parsi background, his passion for RE and his success in business, I knew this would be a fantastic episode and it did not disppoint.  Lord Bilimoria was open and generous and explained why RE is such an important subject to make our students work ready, not only in terms of...

Please send The RE Podcast a Text Message! This is certainly not a comprehensive account of Sikhi, but what I hope this is is a brief overview to help you feel more confident in teaching this beautiful way of thinking. If you are new to teaching Sikhi and want a starting point, or you are a new RE teacher, or someone embarking on training to be an RE teacher, then this may be a good jumping off po...

Please send The RE Podcast a Text Message! In the wake of the far right riots that are happening across the country in August 2024, I talk to Theos Director, author, broadcaster and Canon Chine McDonald about her upbringing, Christian faith and why we need a book to remind us that God us not a white man, or even a man. This is about reframing our unconscious bias to create a better tomorrow and ho...

Please send The RE Podcast a Text Message! I wrote and recorded this episode in August 2024 when everytime I caught the news there was warnings of another far right riot.  While my initial reaction was one of anger and fear, the RE teacher in me took a step backwards.  Those are the same emotions which fuel the far right. So why am I allowed to be angry if they are not?  Why are they wrong and I a...

Please send The RE Podcast a Text Message! In 2021, the Methodist Church voted 692-51 in favour of gay marriages.  Two years later, the first gay marriage was performed in a Methodist Church - I think they were expecting more of a rush!  In this episode I chat to Rev John Squares who performed the ceremony between John and Les.  https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/videos/cqll85zq5v0o We discuss how gay mar...

Please send The RE Podcast a Text Message! What are miracles? Do they happen? Are there any other explanations for them? Does believing in miracles open you up to being manipulated by faith healers? Do the presence of miracles in different religions cancel each other out? I look into miracles. We look at Hume, Aquinas, Flew, RF Holland and Swinburne to help me do this. I make reference to Miracles...

Please send The RE Podcast a Text Message! Karenza Passmore has been a valued member of the RE Community for well over 30 years.  In her role in the North East Religious Resources Centre, she has emersed herself in RE resources so she is here so offer some of her insights. Karenza is a passionate advocate for RE combining experience with Neuroscience to offer inspiration to all of us classroom tea...

Please send The RE Podcast a Text Message! In this episode I talk to former CPS Barrister Michelle St John from VinE, and Heather Marshal from Edgehill University in Birmingham about Veganism as a worldview and how we can teach it in the classroom. We discuss; What veganism is and why it is an important topic to discuss in the 21st century, why and how we should teach it, including how it is a uni...

Please send The RE Podcast a Text Message! I think one of the trump cards of RE is our ability to teach critical thinking.  In the wake of a general election, with the diverse voices and opinions our young people are exposed to, and as they embark on relationships, it feels that an ability to spot flaws in people's arguments is vital.  In this episode, I explain what I mean by 'flaw&apos...

Please send The RE Podcast a Text Message! I have been thinking a lot recently about the Science of Learning and what that looks like in the RE classroom.  I think we have a lot to learn from educational research.  But what I am noticing is that children don't seem to LOVE learning, in fact some seem to resent it.  I have been trying to work out why.  Like many things, I think it is multiface...

Please send The RE Podcast a Text Message! Back in February, Jamie and I discussed doing an episode together!  And three months later it happened!  And it was a delightful chat. We dicuss so many things including the worldview approach to RE, what sentientism is and what it means in terms of how we treat living things, as well as the the importance of evdience and reason in working out what's...

Please send The RE Podcast a Text Message! On 2nd May The RE Council has published its Draft Handbook for the Religion and Worldviews in the Classroom: developing a Worldviews Approach project. This is an historic day for the RE community.  But, what is the RE Council (REC) and what is this handbook? Who is it for? And how is it different from the National Content Standard? I discuss all this and...

Please send The RE Podcast a Text Message! The wonder woman of the RE world! This incredible advocate of RE has worked tierlessly to champion RE, from her own teaching, to leading, training and supporting, advising, inspecting, writing and speaking. She now teaches and advises about leadership, school improvement and the curriculum on a whole school level, but this interview highlights the passion...

Please send The RE Podcast a Text Message! Have you heard of Ed Finch? You may know him from BrewEd or as a Primary Head Teacher?  Well, he now is training to become a Humanist Celebrant.  Following the death of his wife, he was introduced to the wonderful concept of a humanist funeral.  Ed tells us all about the training he is recieving to be able to support others through grief in the way he was...