Due to societal upheavals in the old federal states and the political turnaround in the former GDR, the question of the justification and design of school religious education has increasingly attracted public interest since the 1990s. In this context, the so-called substitute subjects established by the state in schools have also come into sharper focus. The question of the relationship and collaboration between state-responsible philosophy and ethics education and the various offerings of religious education necessitates the development of school organizational and didactic perspectives. This study contributes to the design of religious and value-oriented learning processes in schools.