This article reviews the influence of liberal ideas on the capacity for Religious Education (RE) to consider religions critically in a climate of increasing government intervention in education. It finds that criticality in some areas of RE is absent or limited but that in key areas criticality is evident if not always deeply embedded. It considers the possible contribution of questions taken from sociology, especially around the notion of engagement and prediction that would embed a critical approach to the study of religion in RE. Throughout the article the teaching of Islam in RE is used to illustrate and discuss these issues.