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Collective worship laws are outdated relics of a society unrecognisable from the diverse and pluralistic Britain of today, where citizens hold a wide variety of religious beliefs, and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
Religious influence in schools criticised in House of Lords “religion in public life” debate
Posted: Thu, 27 Nov 2014 21:10
The role of religion in schools has come under scrutiny during a House of Lords debate on the role of religion and belief in public life. The debate was called by the Rt Revd Lord Harries of Pentregarth, formerly the Bishop of Oxford.
The debate was wide-ranging, with discussion ranging from faith schools to social action, to the presence of Bishops in the House of Lords, though many speakers addressed education prominently in their speeches. Lord Harries, introducing the debate, acknowledged that there had been "major issues concerning religion in schools."
Baroness Falkner, an honorary associate of the National Secular Society, said that whilst parents' religious and philosophical convictions should be respected in the educational provision that the state offers, the demand for a religious education, wholly on parents' terms, was an "unreasonable and potentially divisive demand which must be resisted".
The Baroness said that "rather than facilitating the segregation of pupils along religious lines, we should be doing everything we can to ensure that children of all faiths and none are educated together in a respectful and inclusive environment."
The Baroness also drew attention to the "wider problem of faith-based schools narrowing the curriculum to suit their own particular religious ethos." She cited the example of the Yesodey Hatorah secondary girls' school, which recently admitted redacting exam questions on human reproduction, because they conflicted with the 'ethos' of the school.
Baroness Falkner also criticised the requirement for a daily act of 'broadly Christian' collective worship in schools, saying that the law is "unevenly applied, can reduce a broad and balanced approach, and seriously undermines parents' abilities to raise their children in accordance with their own beliefs."
Baroness Massey drew attention to a "mistaken confusion of education and indoctrination" and argued for education to "develop personal and social skills, good citizens and thinking skills based on dialogue and discussion rather than on one-dimensional doctrine."
Lord Warner noted testimony heard by the All-Party Parliamentary Humanist Group from the "original Trojan Horse whistle-blower" as well as a former student of an Accelerated Christian Education (ACE) school. Warner told the House how parliamentarians on the committee had been "truly shocked to learn what was going on in some of our schools in 21st-century Britain in the name of religious beliefs, and by the apparent inability of our legal and regulatory systems to safeguard our children from what can only be described as indoctrination and abuse."
Warner added that the curriculum in the ACE school system "is a fundamentalist Christian one that originated in the United States. It is widely considered to be creationist, homophobic and misogynistic. The teaching materials used in these schools that were presented to us certainly supported this view. Much of the material is in a comic strip format with characters that could only be described as risible if they were not being used to brainwash and indoctrinate young minds. It was very scary that the so-called science teaching was leading to certification that was being used to progress children to further education."
Lord Dubs criticised presence of Church of England bishops sitting in the legislature as of right. The Labour peer said that if he had to set a pub quiz question it would be "apart from the House of Lords, in which legislature in the world is a block of seats reserved for members of a religion?"
When he asked if there were "any takers", other peers responded correctly with cries of "Iran".
Turning to education, Lord Dubs warned "the more religious-based schools we have, the more divisive will be the consequences." He said faith schools were "having a damaging effect on our society and on the religions themselves."
Commenting on the role of religion in social action, Labour peer Baroness Sherlock, herself a practising Anglican, noted the "contribution that believers and faith-based organisations make to our national life". She stressed the need to "learn from the strength of faith-based work but recognise that there are risks, both to the state and to the groups, of drawing faith-based groups into delivery."
Promoting the role of religion in public life, Lord Singh of Wimbledon said "religious instruction" was required for society, stating that religious teaching was like an "ethical satnav". Lord Blair went further, and said that whilst atrocities had been committed in the name of religion, "worse has been done in the name of secularists creeds."
Conservative peer Lord Ahmad, responding on behalf of the Government, said he believed that faith was a "force for good". The Communities minister reinforced Secretary of State, Eric Pickles' warning about secularism "becoming so aggressive that it attacks religion in all respects and encourages intolerance towards others ". He said the best response was to "champion values that define our country", many of which he said were "founded in faith".
Lord Ahmad recognised the value of a broad-based education, and addressing Baroness Falkner's concerns directly, said it was "essential that all schools prepare children for modern life". He said the Government was "working with local school leaders and governors to ensure that children are not put at risk by the rise of extremism".
In closing, Lord Harries said there was a "need in our society to build common ground between religious believers and those who have no religion but regard themselves as humanists" and cited the moral philosopher Michael Sandel, criticising society for focusing on individual freedom alone, to the neglect of other values.
Commenting on the debate, Stephen Evans of the National Secular Society, said: "Britain's religion and belief landscape has changed dramatically over the past few decades and there is clearly a need to rethink the role of religion in public life.
"The increasingly diverse nature of society means the traditional manner of categorizing people by their faith identity is anachronistic and redundant, not to mention dangerous. If we are to avoid sectarianism becoming a major problem, the state needs to treat people as individual citizens rather than as members of a particular faith or belief group.
"It's time the public domain became wholly secular, leaving religion as a matter of private conviction – and not the basis on which we organise schools and other public services which we all share."
NSS calls on Welsh Government to review compulsory collective worship
Posted: Thu, 30 Oct 2014 14:40
The National Secular Society has called on the Welsh government to review the legal requirement on schools to provide worship after parents expressed concern about prayers being imposed on children in non-denominational schools.
A number of parents from Wales have contacted the National Secular Society (NSS) complaining of "excessive worship", with reports of children being made to pray up to four times a day – without parents being informed.
Stephen Evans, NSS campaigns manager, said the imposition of worship in schools is causing a "moral dilemma" for many parents who don't want a Christian upbringing for their child, but at the same time don't find withdrawal an acceptable solution due to the emotional upset this causes for very young children.
Mr Evans said: "We are increasingly hearing from parents concerned about proselytising within their children's schools, often in the form or excessive worship or assemblies being led by priests or evangelical groups. The obligation on all schools to provide a daily act of 'broadly Christian' worship is clearly providing a foot in the door for individuals and organisations with evangelistic intentions.
The National Secular Society has now written to the Welsh Minister for Education and Skills, Huw Lewis AM, calling on him to urgently review the legal obligation on Welsh schools to provide worship – and to ensure that schools properly respect their pupils' religious freedoms.
Simon Blake, whose son attends Cross Hands Community Primary School in Carmarthenshire, said he was shocked to find out that pupils are required to pray between three to four times every day.
According to Mr Blake, nursery school children pray before the day begins, during the roll-call. In addition, all children pray before lunch, at the daily afternoon assembly, and last thing before they leave for the day.
He said the nature of the worship makes withdrawal completely impractical.
Mr Blake told the NSS; "I attended a secondary school whose head and deputy were both church ministers, yet they never asked non-Christians to participate in any Christian assemblies, nor were we asked to pray at any other time. I attended school over twenty years ago in another Welsh valley which was every bit as Christian as this one is. This situation does seem to me to be abnormal and of great concern."
Another parent whose children attend a Welsh Medium School in Caerphilly has also complained of excessive Christian worship at his daughter's non-faith school.
He told the NSS: "Prayers are held before assembly, after assembly, before they eat their lunch and again before they leave school. My daughter has asked to be left out of worship, but the headteacher implied that it would be discriminatory to my child as they will have to be moved in and out of assembly twice, out of the dinner hall for a period and then out of the class/ hall at the end of the day."
"When I suggested that the way the school had set up collective worship makes it discriminatory towards pupils who don't wish to attend, I was told the school wouldn't be changing the set up."
Parents say that after lodging their concerns with the Standing Advisory Councils on Religious Education (SACREs) and Local Authorities, their objections have been brushed aside, with Local Authorities pointing out the legal requirement on schools to hold worship.
A compulsory daily act of collective worship is a legal requirement in England and Wales. Education is a devolved matter and the Education Reform Act 1988 and the Welsh Office Circular 10/94 set out the legal requirements for collective worship in schools in Wales.
The guidance in Welsh Office Circular 10/94 informs schools that collective worship must "reflect something special or separate from ordinary school activities and it should be concerned with reverence or veneration paid to a divine being or power." The inspectorate of schools in Wales, Estyn, has a remit to inspect acts of worship in all school that do not provide a denominational education.
Mr Evans said: "Any imposition of worship in schools encroaches on the civil rights of both parents and pupils. A law that requires worship cannot be justified on educational grounds and is incompatible with a genuine commitment to religious freedom. The time has surely come to consign laws requiring religious worship to history."
