Faith schools undermine equality, choice and social cohesion.
Let's build an inclusive education system today, to ensure an inclusive society tomorrow.
Our education system should be open and welcoming to all. That's why we want publicly funded faith schools phased out and an end to religiously selective school admissions.
Around a third of publicly funded schools in England and Wales are faith schools – schools with a religious character. Scottish and Northern Irish schools are still divided along sectarian lines.
Separating children according to religion is divisive and leads to religious, ethnic and socio-economic segregation.
To make matters worse, many faith schools can discriminate against pupils and teachers who do not share the religion of the school.
Parents are entitled to raise their children within a faith tradition, but they are not entitled to enlist the help of the state to do so. The state should not allow the schools it funds to inculcate children into a particular religion.
Faith schools seriously limit choice for parents who do not want a religious education for their children, or do not share the faith of the local school. Our research has found that 18,000 families were assigned faith schools against their wishes in England in 2017 alone.
Despite a consistent and dramatic decline in church attendance, and a growing majority of non-religious citizens, successive governments have paved the way for ever greater religious involvement in education, often to the detriment of inclusive community schools.
A secular approach to education would ensure publicly funded schools are equally welcoming to all children, regardless of their backgrounds.
Take action!
1. Write to your MP
Please call on your MP to support a secular, inclusive education system for all.
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
Ireland plans to end religious discrimination in school admissions
Posted: Tue, 3 Apr 2018 15:05
The National Secular Society has called on the Department for Education to "follow the lead" of Irish ministers who are preparing to end a rule which encourages faith-based school admissions.
According to Monday's Belfast Telegraph, the Irish government's plans to lift the so called 'baptism barrier' are "at an advanced stage". The barrier allows church-run schools to prioritise pupils for admissions based on the faith they have been baptised into.
The Department of Education in Dublin told the paper that minister Richard Bruton is expecting to announce proposals to carry out the plan shortly.
Churches run approximately 96% of Ireland's primary schools and 50% of its secondaries. The Catholic Church runs around 90% of the country's primary schools. The schools have legal protection for the 'baptism barrier' under Ireland's Equal Status Act, which the government is now expected to change.
Bruton has previously said the admissions rules are unfair and put some parents "under pressure to baptise their children in order to gain admission to their local school".
Catholic interest groups are expected to oppose the measure vociferously. A report in The Irish Times in January suggested several were prepared to take cases to court if the government tried to alter the current rule.
The news comes as ministers in England prepare to lift the cap on faith-based admissions to new faith schools. In February Damian Hinds, the education secretary, told The Sunday Times he would abolish the current rule that new faith schools must admit no more than 50% of children on the basis of their parents' religion.
The NSS is campaigning against that change, and education and schools officer Alastair Lichten said Ireland's stance should prompt a rethink.
"It's incredible that the Irish education minister is looking to remove a faith-based barrier to school admissions just as the secretary of state for education in England seeks to erect more of them.
"The Irish are well placed to recognise the harm and injustice of divided and sectarian schooling. England's DfE would do well to follow their lead and seek a move towards an inclusive education system where children are schooled together, irrespective of their parents' religious outlook."
Ireland's government is also planning to ask parents to decide who should run Catholic primary schools. The move could mean a number of those schools being handed over to multi-denominational patrons.
Earlier this year the Irish government announced that schools would be expected to offer alternatives to religious instruction, which has tended to be dominated by Christian doctrine.
Last year Ireland indicated its willingness to tackle the Catholic Church's control of hospitals when the minister of health said there would be "no religious involvement" in a new publicly-funded national maternity hospital.
The country is also due to hold referenda this year on repealing its blasphemy law and eighth amendment, which outlaws abortion in almost all cases.
Image: © Andreas F. Borchert, via Wikimedia Commons [CC BY-SA 3.0 DE]
Government integration strategy places emphasis on faith groups
Posted: Wed, 14 Mar 2018 16:46
The National Secular Society has expressed concern over the government's proposed reliance on faith leaders in its integration strategy for communities in England.
In a green paper published today by Sajid Javid, the communities secretary, the government has pledged to "engage directly with individuals, communities, businesses, voluntary and faith organisations and local government" to "shape and deliver" its proposals.
The paper includes a proposal to expand a scheme which supports faith institutions. It says extending the Strengthening Faith Institutions programme will "help a wider range of faith institutions to strengthen their governance structures, including the participation of women and young people".
It says new schools "should be inclusive and promote community cohesion" and the government expects "all state-funded schools to be inclusive and welcoming of pupils of different backgrounds". It says the government will "boost the capacity to identify and tackle concerns in out-of-school settings where they arise" and "review Ofsted's powers in relation to unregistered schools".
But it also expresses backing for faith schools: "We fully support their role as providers of state-funded education and recognise their continued academic success." The government is expected to extend religious discrimination in school admissions soon: the education secretary has spoken in favour of dropping the 50% cap on religious selection at free schools to pave the way for a new generation of fully religiously selective faith schools.
The green paper says the government will "support faith communities and interfaith dialogue as a means of breaking down barriers between communities, building greater trust and understanding, and removing the conditions which can allow intolerance and unequal treatment to flourish".
Several of the measures it proposes appear to go against the overall vision outlined in the strategy, which says the government is aiming to promote "communities where people, whatever their background, live, work, learn and socialise together, based on shared rights, responsibilities and opportunities".
The paper criticises previous decisions to define "communities by their ethnic or religious identity, rather than as a place where people from different backgrounds are brought together", adding that the results "can feel exclusionary rather than inclusive".
It says "it is important to recognise that the freedom to practise religion needs to be balanced against the rights and freedoms of others" and "the government's respect for faith communities will not prevent us vigorously promoting rights to equal treatment".
The government has submitted the paper for a four-month consultation, which will conclude in June. NSS chief executive Stephen Evans said the society was "looking forward to responding" to the consultation.
"We plan to make the point that relying on faith groups to deliver government strategies does not work. The government says it wants an integrated society built on shared rights, responsibilities and opportunities. This is a wonderful vision but reinforcing religious identities and buttressing the power of religious leaders will undermine those goals.
"The failure to address the inherent divisiveness of faith schools represents yet another missed opportunity. Promoting secular and inclusive education over faith-based education should be central to any strategy to promote integration.
"If the government wants social integration it must see people as citizens, not define them as members of different religious groups."
The strategy also reflects on the recent findings of a review into sharia 'law' in England and Wales. It says the government will "explore the legal and practical challenges of limited reform relating to the law on marriage and religious weddings" and is "supportive in principle of the requirement that civil marriages are conducted before or at the same time as religious ceremonies".
It reiterates the government's recent rejection of a proposal to regulate sharia councils, saying such a measure "would confer upon them legitimacy as alternative forms of dispute resolution". The NSS has welcomed this rejection.
And it says the government will support awareness campaigns on "the consequences of not having a civilly-registered marriage" and issues such as forced marriage. The NSS has previously called for similar campaigns.
The paper says the government will work with the National Citizen Service to "increase young people's mixing in areas of high segregation" and "stimulate other innovative approaches to promoting meaningful social mixing". The NSS said this was "an encouraging alternative to faith-based options to encouraging integration".
The government says it will refresh its action plan on hate crime later this year and aim to ensure suitable training is available so religious ministers understand the British legal system, British culture and "our shared values". It says it expects faith institutions to address the need for "well-qualified, informed and confident faith leaders, who are outward-looking, involve all parts of the community… and are capable of resisting intolerant or extremist arguments".
It also outlines the remit for its new counter-extremism commission. This will be tasked with: advising the government on counter-extremism policy; supporting communities and the public sector to confront extremism; and promoting shared values and community cohesion.
The government will invest £50m in trial schemes to improve community relations in the next two years in Bradford, Blackburn, Peterborough, Walsall and Waltham Forest.
You can respond to the consultation through the gov.uk website.
More information
Protect relationships and sex education
Age-appropriate relationships and sex education should be every child’s right.
Remove religious appointees from Scottish councils
Religion shouldn’t grant people privileged places in local democracy.
Research and reports
The faith schools research bank
The choice delusion: how faith schools restrict school choice
Three in ten families across England live in areas where most or all of the closest primary schools are faith schools and thousands are being assigned faith schools against their wishes.
Power grab: Academisation and the threat to secular education
Academisation has enabled faith groups to increase their influence over all schools, including those with no religious character. With little public debate, religious governance has increased, while secular oversight has diminished.
Religiosity inspections: the case against faith-based reviews of state schools
Faith based inspections of state schools are an unnecessary drain on public finds, frame widely held values as exclusive, and promote biased religious education.
Faith-shaped holes: How religious privilege is undermining equality law (PDF, 1.3 Mb)
