We want to see laws requiring schools to hold acts of worship abolished.
The laws are archaic, unnecessary and breach children's freedom of religion or belief.
The United Kingdom is the only Western democracy which legally imposes worship in publicly funded schools.
The law in England and Wales provides that children at all maintained schools "shall on each school day take part in an act of collective worship". Northern Ireland and Scotland have similar laws.
Even in schools with no religious designation, the worship must be "wholly or mainly of a Christian character".
School assemblies are an important feature of school life. They foster a sense of community in schools and promote the moral and social development of pupils. But acts of worship are neither necessary nor desirable to achieve these educational goals.
Polling has found 70% of senior teachers "disagree" or "strongly disagree" with the law mandating worship, and 66% of teachers say their school does not even hold collective worship.
The majority of the public (52%) say school assemblies should be about moral issues, whereas just 26% agree that they should feature religious worship.
Many schools ignore the law, but where it is enforced it causes division and discrimination, as well as opening the door to evangelism and proselytising.
Parents have the right to withdraw children from collective worship, but many this is an unreasonable imposition on both themselves and their children. Parents should never have to withdraw their children from any part of the school day to ensure their rights to raise their child according to their own religious or philosophical convictions are respected.
Collective worship laws are outdated relics of a society unrecognisable from the diverse and pluralistic Britain of today, where citizens hold a wide variety of religious beliefs, and increasingly, no religious beliefs. The abolition of collective worship is long overdue.
Take action!
1. Write to your MP
Ask them to help end compulsory worship in schools
2. Share your story
Tell us why you support this campaign, and how you are personally affected by the issue. You can also let us know if you would like assistance with a particular issue.
3. Join us
Become a member of the National Secular Society today! Together, we can separate religion and state for greater freedom and fairness.
Latest updates
UK quizzed over collective worship law by UN
Posted: Thu, 18 Feb 2021 14:13
The UN Committee on the Rights of the Child has questioned laws which require collective worship in UK schools after the National Secular Society raised the issue.
The CRC asked what steps the UK is taking to repeal laws requiring daily acts of worship in schools, as part of its periodic examination of children's human rights in the UK.
The committee monitors the progress of member states' implementation of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.
The CRC asked the UK to describe the measures it had taken to "repeal legal provisions for compulsory attendance at collective worship in publicly funded schools", and to ensure children can "independently exercise the right to withdraw from religious observance".
The UK is the only Western democracy to legally impose worship in publicly funded schools. Parents have a right to withdraw their children from collective worship, but children cannot withdraw themselves.
The NSS highlighted the issue of collective worship in a submission to the CRC in November.
The CRC also asked what measures the UK is taking to:
- Ensure relationships and sex education is LGBT-inclusive. The NSS's submission raised concerns about inadequate access to comprehensive RSE.
- Ensure girls' access to safe abortion services in Northern Ireland. The NSS said girls in NI are "still struggling" to access abortion services, despite the decriminalisation of abortion in 2019.
- Prevent cases of female genital mutilation and "unnecessary medical or surgical treatment of intersex children". But it did not raise the issue of non-therapeutic circumcision on boys. The NSS's submission urged the CRC to "extend its scrutiny" to this area.
- Integrate human rights education into school curricula and teacher training programmes. The NSS has repeatedly called for a stronger focus on human rights in citizenship education.
NSS comment
NSS chief executive Stephen Evans said: "It's good to see the CRC defending children's right not to have religious rituals imposed on them, and their right to inclusive relationships and sex education.
"For too long, religious interference in education has undermined the rights to education, equality and freedom of religion or belief. The UK must take the CRC's requests seriously and urgently address these issues.
"But it's disappointing that the CRC has overlooked infant boys in its scrutiny of non-therapeutic genital cutting. All children, regardless of sex, should have equal rights to bodily autonomy and must be protected from painful, permanent and dangerous religious or cultural procedures done to them without their consent."
Testimonies in NSS submission
The NSS included testimonies from children and parents affected by the collective worship law in its submission.
One contributor, who was forced to pray in school, said: "Even at a young age I knew religion wasn't for me. That was my choice to make. It's not up to the state to force religion on anyone. Doing so is a breach of basic human rights."
Notes
- Every state that has ratified the convention is required to report to the CRC on how it is fulfilling its obligations. This allows the committee to assess what progress a state is making in implementing the convention. This reporting process happens once every five years.
- The UK's response to the CRC's list of issues is due on 15th February 2022.
Regular C of E worshippers form less than 2% of England’s population
Posted: Mon, 12 Oct 2020 17:19
Fewer than two per cent of people in England regularly worshipped at Church of England churches in 2019, despite tens of thousands of children attending services for schools.
The C of E's statistics for mission for 2019, which were published today, show that 1.1m people were part of its 'worshipping community' last year. That number has fallen by three per cent since 2014.
Almost a sixth of those – 182,000 people, most of whom were children – attended school services on an average week in October 2019.
That figure has risen from 148,000 five years earlier. It has since fluctuated slightly, standing at 197,000 in 2017 and 175,000 in 2018.
The stats also show that:
- On average, 854,000 people attended Church of England services and acts of worship each week in October 2019.
- The number of people attending services on a usual Sunday fell below 700,000 for the first time, to 690,000.
- Most of the church's key measures of attendance fell by between 15% and 20% from 2009 to 2019. This fitted within a pattern of decline in attendance at C of E church services over recent decades.
- The number of C of E marriages, which was over 50,000 in 2012, fell below 30,000 in 2019.
NSS comment
National Secular Society chief executive Stephen Evans said:
"Any basis there once was for the Church of England being the national legally established church has crumbled.
"Its shameful failings which have been laid bare by the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse undermine any claims of moral authority, and the unrelenting decline in adherents has removed any majoritarian argument.
"C of E attendance continues to fall even though pupils who are compelled to attend Christian services as part of their schooling are inflating the numbers.
"Britain is one of the few democratic states in the world that continue to promote an official religion, and the fact that most of its citizens no longer subscribe to it makes a nonsense of continuing with this archaic form of religious privilege.
"The need to give equal weight and recognition to all citizens, irrespective of their religious or philosophical beliefs, has never been clearer. The church should be disestablished and its role in state-funded schools rolled back."
Note: impact of coronavirus reflected in separate figures
- Today's statistics for mission were accompanied by a report outlining the C of E's digital figures for 2020. This shows that many services and events are now being provided online following the Covid outbreak.
- The latest statistics for mission report also notes that its equivalent next year is likely to "take a very different form".
