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
NSS condemns faith school cancellation of gay author
Posted: Wed, 9 Mar 2022 10:36
The National Secular Society has said religious control over state schools must be challenged after a Catholic diocese cancelled a talk by a gay author.
Simon James Green (pictured), an award-winning children's author, had been due to visit John Fisher School in Croydon on Monday. He was scheduled to hold talk about his book for teenagers Noah Can't Even, which features a gay protagonist, to commemorate World Book Day.
But his visit was cancelled after Southwark Archdiocese, which oversees the Catholic secondary school for boys, intervened and removed school governors supportive of Green.
The NSS said the incident "highlights a broader problem of faith schools stigmatising same-sex relationships" and called for an end to public funding for such schools.
Religious campaign against Green
The diocese's intervention follows a campaign by the website Catholic Truth featuring a call to cancel Green.
It said it was a "major problem" that boys are "misled into accepting, as normal and good, sexual behaviour which is condemned by Christ's Church".
A few days before the talk, the Education Commission of Southwark Archdiocese published a statement saying it had recommended the school's leadership cancel the visit, because it fell "outside the scope of what is permissible in a Catholic school".
But the school's leadership team decided to go ahead with the visit, with support from the governing body.
Following this decision, John Fisher's chaplain James Clark sent an email to parents in protest. He said: "No one is denying the existence of those who have differing views and beliefs to ourselves, the event is about promoting the literature of a lifestyle choice that is contrary to the teachings of Jesus Christ, and therefore has no place in a Catholic school."
According to Green, the talk was to cover "being an awkward teenager, the power of comedy, my career, and about an 8 min section of the importance of LGBT [representation]".
The decision to cancel Green has also been condemned by staff at John Fisher School, in addition to members of the NEU and NASUWT unions.
A separate visit by Green to St John's Primary School in Gravesend, which is controlled by the same diocese, was also cancelled. The talk was to be about Green's books for younger children "which contain no LGBT content whatsoever".
Green said: "All I do with my books and school events is encourage reading for pleasure, acceptance of difference and celebrate being who we are."
He added: "You can't be made gay by reading about gay characters in books. If you're LGBT, you're LGBT. I want LGBT kids to find comfort and understanding in my books, and non-LGBT kids to understand other lives, empathise, see we're really not so different."
Anti-gay stigmatising in Catholic schools
The NSS has previously highlighted how faith schools, included those that are state-funded, are permitted to teach stigmatising ideas about gay people and same-sex relationships.
The government permits faith schools to teach about relationships and sex "according to the tenets of their faith". This has resulted in some faith schools teaching that same-sex relationships are morally wrong.
NSS research in 2018 found examples of Catholic secondary schools calling same-sex relationships "unacceptable" and "against the natural order", and gay people "objectively disordered", in their relationships and sex education policies.
The NSS has also highlighted how exemptions in equality law may enable faith school to harass pupils who are LGBT+ in its 2020 report on the Equality Act 2010.
NSS chief executive Stephen Evans said: "If a visit from one of the UK's leading writers of LGBTQ+ teen fiction is considered 'outside the scope of what is permissible in a Catholic school', the state should reconsider publicly funding such schools.
"The disturbing behaviour of this diocese highlights a broader problem of faith schools stigmatising same-sex relationships and therefore contributing to a climate where many young LGBT people are growing up feeling ashamed or frightened about who they are.
"Our own research has shown that a significant number of faith schools promote the idea that same-sex attraction is 'morally wrong', 'disordered' or a 'lifestyle choice'. This isn't acceptable in a publicly funded school. Regardless of their sexuality or the sexuality of their parents, children of every religion and belief background should be entitled to study in a welcoming and accepting school."
Image from Simon James Green's website.
Don’t let religion enable violence against women in NI, NSS says
Posted: Tue, 1 Mar 2022 16:52
The National Secular Society has warned the Northern Ireland Executive that conservative religious teachings may play a role in abuse and violence against women and girls.
The NSS has responded to the Executive Office's call for views on strategies to tackle violence against women and girls (VAWG), as well as domestic and sexual abuse.
The Executive Office's proposals include initiatives to "address societal attitudes, beliefs and behaviours that contribute towards violence against women and girls", in addition to "an inclusive approach" to helping victims of domestic and sexual abuse.
In its response, the NSS said women and girls in conservative religious communities may be especially vulnerable to abuse due to religious teachings that subordinate women and impose strict gender roles. It said some forms of VAWG, including forced marriage, 'honour crimes', female genital mutilation (FGM) and 'witchcraft' abuse, are "directly linked" to religion.
It also highlighted how unregistered religious 'marriages' and sharia councils can compel women to stay in abusive relationships.
It welcomed plans to ban 'virginity testing' and 'virginity repair' in NI. Last week the NI assembly endorsed the principle of NI adopting provisions to ban these activities within the UK parliament's Health and Care Bill.
The NSS said LGBT+ individuals within religious communities were at heightened risk of abuse due to religious prohibitions on same-sex relationships. It said these individuals were more likely to experience 'conversion therapy'.
In order to prevent domestic abuse, sexual abuse and VAWG, the NSS said "age-appropriate and objective" relationships and sex education (RSE), which teaches vital information such as consent, should be made mandatory in all schools.
Schools in NI are required to develop an RSE curriculum based on their religious ethos. The NSS said this means provision is "extremely unequal" and "often organised to promote religious interests and views, rather than provide a comprehensive, rights-based education for pupils." It could result in schools teaching "stigmatising ideas about contraception, gender roles and same-sex relationships", the NSS said.
The NSS also called for a review of charity law to prevent organisations promoting homophobia or misogyny from becoming registered charities.
It highlighted how the Charity Commission for Northern Ireland refused to take action against Core Issues Trust, a Christian charity promoting "change orientated therapy" for gay people, after the NSS expressed concerns last year. It warned the charitable purpose of 'the advancement of religion' may enable charities to promote religiously-sanctioned homophobia and misogyny, despite the duty on charities to serve a public benefit.
The NSS warned some religious communities attempt to silence women's rights activists by accusing them of religious bigotry or intolerance. It said authorities "must protect the right to free speech of those who challenge any practice or ideology, religious or not, that harms women and girls or undermines their equality and human rights."
NSS comment
NSS head of policy and research Megan Manson said: "We welcome Northern Ireland's commitment to tackle domestic abuse, sexual abuse and violence against women and girls.
"Sadly, the subordinate role afforded to women in many organised religions has contributed to abuse and violence.
"In order to challenge religious ideology that contributes to abuse and misogyny, Northern Ireland must reform its relationships and sex education in schools, review its charity laws, and ensure no-one speaking out against harms caused by religious ideology is silenced."
Image by Kleiton Santos from Pixabay
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)
