Hong Kong, a key Asian and global city, is academically recognized for its distinctive sociocultural and religious composition. Its entrenched religious education—apparent yet ambivalent, "Asian" yet "Western"—exemplifies this distinctiveness. "Ethics and Religious Studies" (ERS) is an elective subject in the three-year senior secondary curriculum. In its design, ERS comprises three parts: compulsory "Ethics," elective "Religious Traditions," which includes five specific modules (Buddhism, Christianity, Confucianism, Islam, Taoism), and elective "Faiths in Action," consisting of two options, "Learning to serve and serving to learn," and "Learning from religious practices."
Three editions of the ERS guideline (2007, 2014, 2019) were examined to evaluate and interpret the curriculum, prioritizing the latest version. The study reveals "Ethics and Religious Studies" as an inherently secular subject, while numerous secular narratives permeate the reviewed documents. For example, there is a limited application of entire religious systems (specifically, Islam) despite its inclusion in the framework.