Introduction

Debate about the role of religion in operations has been widespread and visible. A conversation about religion and belief in teaching and learning is also starting to emerge, and some disciplines appear to engage with this more than others. In some subjects, of course, religion is simply a topic of relevance, as in history and in religious studies itself. In others, it is a cultural legacy to be decoded and understood, as revealed in the growing tendency to teach ‘Introduction to the Bible’ to students of English literature so that they can manage Milton or Donne. In others again, it embodies the opposite of the rational, scientific method that predominates in higher education, and in relation to which practically all other disciplines have cut their teeth. As such, it is an utter irrelevance, as in Richard Dawkins's (2010) disparaging contrast of theology as being like astrology in relation to astronomy. In some cases, this produces hostility against all religious ideas. This is likely to feel painful for some students, who can feel uncomfortable when hearing lecturers be rude or offensive about their beliefs or about belief in general. In the social sciences, unlike race, gender or sexual orientation, religion has rarely been a variable.

The professional subjects like social work and education studies seem to have a somewhat better understanding that many of their stakeholders are religious and that they need to equip professionals to handle this. Others remain entirely uninterested, or even dismissive. This reflects a contention in the rest of society about the re-emergence of religion and belief as a public category. Are society and its institutions secular or sacred, or complexly both? To what extent should religion be private or public? Can we leave religious identity at the university door? If so, which door: the canteen, the chapel, the quiet room, the students’ union or the lecture hall (see Dinham, 2015a, cited in Day and Lovheim, 2015)?

The question of the place of religion and belief in university disciplines was explored in the project Reimagining Religion and Belief for Policy and Practice (Baker and Dinham, 2017).