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
School governor calls LGBT-inclusive education “child grooming”
Posted: Wed, 5 Jun 2019 11:59
The National Secular Society has criticised a Church of England school governor for calling LGBT+ inclusive education "child grooming" which "opens the door for sexual predators" in a rant in a church magazine.
Peter Hughes called on Christian parents to "take back control" and "follow the example" of Muslims behind recent school protests over relationships and sex education (RSE).
Hughes, a local reverend and ex-officio governor designated with responsibility for anti-bullying at St Alban's Church of England Primary School in Rotherham in South Yorkshire, was writing in the local parish magazine.
In the piece, he called the government's proposed RSE programme "nothing but state sponsored child abuse" and said pupils "all over the UK" are being "indoctrinated in culturally Marxist LGBTI ideology".
He also called RSE "a form of child grooming" and "sexual indoctrination". He said RSE prepares children "for early sexual experimentation, normalises it and, in doing so, opens the door for sexual predators".
He accused "LGBTI activists" of "imposing a sexual philosophy which at its heart is both anti-Christian and harmful" via "the Trojan horse of teaching tolerance and opposing bullying". He said activists "greatly exaggerate" the extent of bullying and that bullying would be better deterred by teaching "the biblical truth that every person is made in the image of God".
Hughes's article referred to recent protests against diversity lessons at Parkfield Community School in Birmingham. Activists from mostly Muslim backgrounds protested against the school's 'No Outsiders' programme, which teaches equality and tolerance of all people including LGBT+ people.
Hughes said: "Christian parents need to follow the example of our Muslim neighbours and insist on their basic human right to have their children educated according to their own beliefs."
Ex-officio governors are normally appointed by the local church diocese's education board to promote its ethos and interests. Usually one governor must be the parish priest.
The school says it aims to "promote understanding and respect for differences" in a policy on equality.
NSS education and schools officer Alastair Lichten said: "Mr Hughes is entitled to his views, however uninformed or discriminatory. But such an outburst is entirely inappropriate from a school governor.
"The hysterical, conspiratorial views of anti-RSE campaigners are spreading across reactionary religious groups. They are leading to a campaign of hate and fear which endangers schools and fuels homophobia. Smearing the transmission of knowledge of LGBT people as child abuse send a vicious message to LGBT pupils, parents and local people.
"Comprehensive, age appropriate and equality-based RSE enjoys overwhelming support across the political and religious spectrum. The loud minority and their ludicrous claims that RSE is an anti-religious conspiracy must be confronted.
"This also shows how inappropriate it is to have religious representatives given automatic places as school governors. This is a product of a faith-based education system, where reactionaries inevitably gain undue power to shape school policies."
Parkfield Community School suspended its 'No Outsiders' lessons in March, saying it would not resume teaching them "until a resolution has been reached" with objecting parents. Four other schools in Birmingham also suspended lessons about diversity shortly afterwards.
Since then a religious campaign against LGBT-inclusive teaching and RSE, led by mainly Muslim protagonists, has escalated.
Anti-RSE leafleters are targeting schools across much of England. Meanwhile increasingly intense protests outside Anderton Park Primary School in Birmingham forced the school to close early for the recent half-term break. The school's head teacher has also received threats.The NSS campaigns for evidence-based, age-appropriate education about sex and relationships for every child, regardless of their religious background, and is playing a major role in resisting the religious protests.
The NSS also campaigns to end faith schools and religious representatives' role in state education through its No More Faith Schools campaign.
Update 7 June 2019: The NSS has written to the school and governing body.
NSS warns of growing threat from religious anti-RSE campaigners
Posted: Wed, 29 May 2019 15:56
The National Secular Society has warned of a growing threat from reactionary religious campaigns against relationships and sex education (RSE) after its research highlighted the activities of an anti-RSE Islamic group.
NSS research has revealed that a group called Islamic RSE is promoting anti-LGBT, anti-sex and anti-contraceptive messages and encouraging sympathetic parents to get involved in school governance.
The group's founder has also toured the country giving talks on the issue.
Islamic RSE says it "strives to engage with Muslim communities to help guide Muslim children understand the importance of marriage and prevent them from forming sexual relationships outside of marriage".
In a document for parents the group raises a concern that RSE will "promote and normalise same-sex relationships" without giving parents the right to opt their children out of it.
It adds that the promotion of acceptance of same-sex families "disregards traditional and religious values adhered to by the many".
The document also says RSE at secondary school level presents "a skewed view of sexuality" and suggests "modern lifestyle choices" are as "valid as natural marriage".
It bemoans the lack of focus on "chastity" and says RSE promotes the message that "postmarital and extra-marital sex" are "accepted as a normal part of life".
It also says children will be given information and advice on contraceptives and abortion services "without any parental knowledge or consent" and abortion "is offered to children as an option during pregnancy".
Islamic RSE promotes resources and provides "a range of services to mosques, Islamic schools, supplementary Islamic schools, Muslims groups, Islamic centres and state schools".
It is encouraging sympathetic parents to demand a parental right to withdraw children from RSE and a mandate on schools to "consult parents regarding RE and RSE".
In another resource it tells parents to "find out how the school plans to take into consideration your child's religious background" before deciding which of its resources to use.
The campaign is also urging parents to request that their schools involve them in "any decision making process" and to get elected as school governors in order to "influence real change".
A report in The Times this weekend revealed that its founder, Aziz Torofdar, has spoken about RSE at mosques and schools in Birmingham, Bristol, London and Essex.
He has also organised a petition to parliament arguing that it should be mandatory for schools to consult parents before providing sex education. The petition has gained more than 15,000 signatures.
Islamic RSE is also running an event entitled 'Supporting Islamic schools to meet the new RSE legislation' next month and is encouraging "Islamic school leaders and management" to attend.
NSS education and schools officer Alastair Lichten said: "Islamic RSE's fearmongering is the latest sign that the campaign against RSE in schools is a significant threat to a tolerant society which values children's right to a decent education.
"The government must appreciate that the anti-RSE movement is increasingly potent and is having a national impact – and it needs to respond accordingly. Individual schools can't be expected to face this down on their own. The reactionaries attempting to undermine RSE need to know they will not succeed."
In February NSS research revealed that Stop RSE, a primarily Islam-based campaign which supported protests against LGBT-inclusive education at a school in Birmingham, was promoting bigoted messages.
The NSS also revealed that an academic who secured a debate on RSE in parliament had encouraged Muslims to adopt a "psychological" or "mental health" response to same-sex attraction.
Last month the NSS urged the government to reconsider a requirement on schools to take pupils' "religious background" into account when teaching about relationships as teachers reported being intimidated and criticised the government's response to the protests.
The latest revelations come amid an escalating religious campaign against LGBT-inclusive teaching and RSE, led by mainly Muslim protagonists.
Anti-RSE leafleters are targeting schools across much of England. Meanwhile increasingly intense protests outside Anderton Park Primary School in Birmingham have forced the school to close early for half term and the school's head teacher has received threats.
Islamic RSE has said it has not made contact with "those involved with any protests" and does not intend to do so in future.
In February the government resisted religious pressure to extend parents' right to withdraw their children from RSE in England. Parents will continue to have no right to withdraw their children from relationships education, which begins in primary school, or a new subject of health education.
Parents will have a "right to request withdrawal" from sex education in secondary schools, slightly diluting the previously explicit right to withdraw children.
Image: Flyer for event promoted by Islamic RSE and others.
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)
