West Suffolk College launches new religion and ethics course

West Suffolk College is inviting students to sign up for its fascinating new Religious Studies and Ethics course - led by author and druid Robin Herne.

Robin, who has taught history, psychology, English and maths at the college for the past six years, heads up the new course which seeks to delve into a wide range of world religions as well as non religion and atheism.

“The religious studies side of the course is not a theology course, we are not training up clergy,” he said. “It teaches about Judaism, Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam, Christianity - a broad range of beliefs from all over the religious world.

“We also look into the non-religion and atheism, at the work of Richard Dawkins and so on.

“We look at living with religion and living without it.

“The ethics side of the course touches on a variety of areas such as the rights of animals, vivisection, internet ethics, mas media, privacy as well as legal ethics - theoretically what laws are trying to achieve.”

Robin said the course can be taken up alongside other college courses such as history or law and would be useful for anyone considering a career as a teacher, a journalist, ethicist or think tank researcher.

He said: “Ethics grounds students in major philosophies of life and looks at all manner of ethical issues including organ donation, animal rights, internet censorship, the refugee crisis, capital punishment and prison reform.

“Both religious studies and ethics can help you find a moral compass in life, and give an understanding of both why other people think and act as they do, and an overview of our place in the cosmos.

“They are excellent ways of developing your ability to argue your case and analyse other people’s points of views.”

Robin is a druid himself, a religious pluralist who believes there is no single truth to life.

He has written books on druidism and has penned numerous articles for Pagan and interfaith magazines and journals as well as fiction novels.

He said: “Pluralism is about all religions being true. “It is drawing on the idea that the world is a manifestation of the spirit world.

“It is about looking at the spiritual in the trees, the rivers and in other human beings. It is about celebrating the seasons and all the big events in nature.

“Rather than celebrate one single person it is about the celebration of nature itself and understanding the importance of the world we live in.”

For more information about the course email robin.herne@wsc.ac.uk or visit www.ucs.ac.uk/courses