Religious Education (RE) is an entitlement for all pupils in state-funded schools in England and Wales. The parental right of withdrawal is rarely invoked. Given the multi-faith nature of British society, inter-faith RE is normative in most (non-religious) Community Schools, and is a significant feature of many Faith Schools. Although RE is compulsory, it does not form part of the National Curriculum. This is because curricula for RE are determined locally. The local determination of RE has produced a range of different approaches to the subject, resulting in significant variation in the quality of subject provision across England and Wales. Consequently, in 2004 the British Government's Department for Education and Skills, together with the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority, published the non-statutory Framework for Religious Education (DES/QCA 2004). The Framework was designed to support local providers of RE by identifying the knowledge, skills, and understanding pupils should be entitled to receive. It is not itself a syllabus; rather, it provides guidelines for the construction of local syllabi. The document was drafted by a Writing Group made up of educationalists representing various professional organizations, whose drafts were presented for discussion and approval to a Steering Group. This latter group consisted of representatives of various faith and belief communities, together with teachers, academics, school inspectors, and advisors representing a range of professional organizations. The author's own involvement in this process, in his capacity as chair of the Association of University Lecturers in Religion and Education (AULRE), was as a member of the Writing Group. Any document produced by committee is likely to be open to a range of different interpretations, and the National Framework is no exception. In this article, the author presents his own personal reading of the educational potential of the Framework.