You can tell it's a good idea because religious leaders are scared of it. Consider this quote from the Partnership for Jewish Schools:
"The introduction of an additional religion in RS GCSE is like incorporating Spanish into the German GCSE and our teachers feel that GCSE examinations are not the right medium to promote a Government’s agenda."This is so nonsensical and illogical you can tell they're scared. They don't have a good argument to use in its place.
German GCSE is specifically the study of German. Spanish would be out of place. It would not be out of place in a "Modern Languages" GCSE.
Equally, multiple religions are surely a key part of "Religious Studies". If you want a GCSE to teach only your own branch of Yahweh worship and not any of the other branches (Islam, Christianity), then don't call it Religious Studies.
Of course, the reason they're scared and the reason it is such a good move is that when people understand that Judaism, Islam and Christianity are all branches of the same thing then they start to notice that the differences are pretty arbitrary. Then they start to ask questions, especially kids of 15 or 16, whose inquisitive minds are typically in full flow.
And questions are religion's Kryptonite.
It can only be a good thing if we raise a generation of children who ask difficult questions about the arbitrary, nonsensical distinctions made by their parents and grandparents, especially when those distinctions are the cause of so much pointless bloodshed around the world.
