1. Answer the following questions.

1) Where do people profess Islam? What is the main difference of Islam compared to other religions?

2) What does the word Islam mean?

3) What are the major denominations in Islam?

4) What points of Islam are covered in 5 pillars? What role do these points play in the Islamic world?

5) How did Islam change the role of women in the Islamic world?

6) What does the Korn say regarding use of force?

2. Define the following words.

convert, the Five Pillars of Islam, supplication, Hijrah, fasting, free consent before marriage, misconception

3. What do these figures refer to in this text?

one-fortieth, 87–90%, 10–13%, 20% , about 13%, 31%

6.2.2. Clarke launches guidance on religious education

Before you read. Think over the following questions.

• Do you think religious education is necessary?

• In what form should students be taught religion? What rules should be followed so as to avoid discrimination?

Mr Clarke was launching the first national guidance on religious education in schools. The 50-page booklet is being sent to all local education authorities, which set the curriculum for their schools. Every pupil up to the age of 18 must have some religious education.

School pupils should learn about the conflicts and similarities between religions as well as understand less well-known beliefs, such as Jainism and Zoroastrianism, the education secretary, Charles Clarke, announced today, saying it was "vital" for a greater understanding of the wider world.

Dozens of different faith groups have been consulted on the guidance, which recommends that every child be taught Christianity, alongside the other major religions - Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism and Sikhism - throughout their schooling.

Pupils should also have the chance to discuss other religious traditions, such as the Baha'А faith, Jainism and Zoroastrianism, as well as secular philosophies, such as humanism and atheism.

But different faiths should not be taught in isolation, said the report. "Pupils should also study how religions relate to each other, recognising both similarities and differences within and between religions. They should be encouraged to reflect on: the significance of interfaith dialogue, the important contribution religion can make to community cohesion and the combating of religious prejudice and discrimination," it said.

Pupils should be confident about expressing their own views, and be able to debate the issues with an "open-mind", the guidance says.

Religious studies is becoming increasingly popular at GCSE and A-level. The number of GCSEs awarded in the subject rose 6.6% this year, from 132,304 in 2003 to 141,037 in 2004, mirroring the trend at A-level, which was up 13.8%.

Mr Clarke said: "Children have a right, and indeed should expect, to be told about what is important to their friends who may hold different beliefs to their own.

"Faith groups must seize this opportunity to develop their own resources that enhance understanding of their faith, and their response to world issues. I support the development of materials that can be used with the framework.

"Religious education can transform pupils' assessment of themselves and others, and their understanding of the wider world. I see it as vital in widening inclusion, understanding diversity and promoting tolerance.

Ken Boston, the chief executive of the exams watchdog the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority, which produced the guidelines, added: "Religious education has a vital role to play in providing pupils with a range of experiences that enable them to develop a realistic and positive sense of their own beliefs and ideas."

Mr Clarke is to attend a conference in London this afternoon to officially launch the report with representatives from every faith group in Britain. The guidance is non-statutory, but officials believe it will be adopted in most areas.

Children to study atheism at school

Children will be taught about atheism during religious education classes under official plans being drawn up to reflect the decline in churchgoing in Britain.

Non-religious beliefs such as humanism, agnosticism and atheism would be covered alongside major faiths such as Christianity or Islam under draft guidelines being prepared by the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority, which regulates what is taught in schools in England.

Although some schools already cover non-religious beliefs, there is currently no national guidance for what is taught, even though all schools must provide religious education.

The draft plans being drawn up by the QCA will not be compulsory, allowing religious schools the freedom to keep devout parents happy. But they will be regarded as best practice for heads, and are likely to be followed across the country.

A spokesman for the QCA said its guidance would be released for consultation in the summer term, but added: 'It is very much the intention that young people in the context of religious education should be studying non-religious beliefs. There are many children in England who have no religious affiliation and their beliefs and ideas, whatever they are, should be taken very seriously.'

The plans risk sparking a conflict between evangelists, who want to strengthen faith teaching, and secularists, who argue it is becoming irrelevant to modern life.

The first shot in the debate will be fired with a controversial report to be published tomorrow calling for RE to be renamed religious, philosophical and moral education and children encouraged to debate such ethical issues as whether it is permissible to express racist views.

'The whole thing is terribly biased in favour of religion right now - it's all about encouraging an identification with religion,' said Ben Rogers, author of the report for the Institute for Public Policy Research thinktank.

'There are huge numbers of people who are atheists or whose families are atheists and who are coming into a class where their family's view is not acknowledged. You should be able to have a conversation about ethics that doesn't collapse into a conversation about religion.'

While 19 per cent of Britons attended a weekly religious service in 1980, by 1999 that had fallen to 7 per cent - prompting some to argue that RE should be scrapped as a compulsory subject. Secularists say there is little point trying to drum religion into sceptical children at school.

'We're not trying to suggest that nobody should learn anything about religion: it is part of our culture and informs our art and our literature,' said Keith Porteous Wood of the National Secular Society, which has written to Education Secretary Charles Clarke calling for atheism to be included on the syllabus.

'But if you try to teach morality through "the Bible says" or the Ten Commandments, most children won't accept it as they don't believe the religious message. It would be much better if people learned morality by looking at current examples. It's philosophy that we really want to be teaching.'

Religion in schools is a sensitive subject, with France renewing a ban on the wearing of the hijab while in Britain it emerged last week that a Luton schoolgirl had launched legal action after being sent home for wearing traditional dress.

But Rogers said that trying to keep religion out of schools would not work: 'It won't make religious strife go away - if anything it will exacerbate it. Religious education can play an important part in combating prejudices.'

If non-religious beliefs were included in classes, parents should lose their current right to withdraw pupils from RE lessons, Rogers said.