While we’re kicking religion out of schools let’s get rid of other religious ideas in state as well, like Easter and Christmas and, oh I don’t know, maybe even the Queen. After all she’s not only a head of state, she’s also the head of church.

Before we do so, however, maybe we should stop for a moment and look at the potential value of religious education.

If the census data is anything to go by, a majority of Australian’s believe in and value religion. Whether you are a believer or not, it’s likely that you will come across religion or a religious person at some point in your life.

Religious education doesn’t mean that children are indoctrinated into a set of beliefs and ideas that are necessarily in conflict with those taught in subjects that comprise a ‘regular’, secular education.

Likewise a secular education should not deny children the opportunity to learn about what is a fact of life not only in Australia but the world; that religion is an important part of many people’s lives.

Amongst my thirteen years of education, I grappled with Einstein’s theory of relativity, calculated molar masses, identified genetic mutations in fruit flies, struggled with calculus and quadratic equations, read the works of William Shakespeare, Tennessee Williams and Harper Lee, analysed the art of Caravaggio and even learnt how to put a condom on a banana.

But I also read the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, learnt about Vatican II, participated in compulsory and voluntary community service, analysed the nihilistic tendencies of Heath Ledger’s character of The Joker in The Dark Knight, meditated in a Tibetan Buddhist Monastery, took a tour of the Jewish Museum in St Kilda and compared the similarities and differences of Islam with Catholicism.

I was not taught that those who did not believe in God would go to hell, or that a lack of faith meant you were an intrinsically bad person; and despite Catholic/Christian teaching being dominant in my religious education, I was not limited to learning about a single faith or indoctrinated to believe that the Catholic way was the only way.

In contrast, my younger brothers attend high school at our local state school. They have not had any religious education classes but I don’t think that they would be in any way disadvantaged by learning about religion at school. In fact I think it would be beneficial for them to gain a better understanding of why their Iranian friend prays multiple times a day and why their next door neighbour’s parents give fruit offerings to a statue.

In short, there is more to teaching religion in school than mindless indoctrination. Religion can – and should – be taught as a sociological phenomenon – and one that is found in every human culture.

No doubt some of the practices that pass for religious education need to be examined. And no doubt some of the practices that pass for religious education in some of our state schools are questionable.

But that should not mean that these classes ought to be scrapped completely. If the education provided in these classes provides balance to different forms of religious expression, allows children to understand the practices of their peers and avoids indoctrinating children into a particular faith, then there should be no more harm in teaching children about religion than there is in teaching them philosophy or history.

This article first appeared on The Punch