More than 125 schools have applied over the past three years to be exempt from the legal requirement to hold collective worship of a “wholly or broadly Christian character”.
Information released to Schools Week following Freedom of Information (FOI) requests shows 127 schools have requested a “determinations” from their local Standing Advisory Council on Religious Education (SACRE) board.
Determinations allow schools to amend their collective worship from being “wholly or broadly” Christian in nature.
A full determination allows a school to change to a different religion – for example, a school with a largely Muslim population could hold Islamic worship. A part determination allows different acts of collective worship to suit different faiths within a school, including atheists and agnostics. Read More
Category Archives: In The News
C of E School Expansion Plans
Entirely the wrong direction of travel: Church of England announces 100 more church schools
The Church of England’s educational empire-building continues, with its recent announcement of plans to build more than 100 discriminatory Anglican ‘free schools’, which will have the legal right to select 50% of school places on the basis of religion.
As if that weren’t bad enough, other major players in our sorry ‘faith’ schools sector are pushing for that cap to be lifted. The Catholic Church, for example, is determined to be able to discriminate with 100% of places at its new schools. A national charity responsible for promoting ‘free schools’, the New Schools Network, has also called for a lift on the cap.
Rights of the Child
UN – Rights of the Child
On 9th June the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child has published its major periodic review of the state of children’s rights in the UK, and has advocated:
- the repeal of compulsory collective worship in UK schools
- a fully integrated education system in Northern Ireland
- full and comprehensive sex and relationships education in UK schools
- decriminalisation of abortion in Northern Ireland in all circumstances. Read More
“Nones” outnumber Christians
Guardian 23rd May 2016
The number of people who say they have no religion is rapidly escalating and significantly outweighs the Christian population in England and Wales, according to new analysis.
The proportion of the population who identify as having no religion – referred to as “nones” – reached 48.5% in 2014, almost double the figure of 25% in the 2011 census. Those who define themselves as Christian – Anglicans, Catholics and other denominations – made up 43.8% of the population.
Academies and Religious Influence
On 25th April The National Secular Society published a press release warning that academisation risks increasing religious influence.
Three extracts from the NSS press release :
In 2015 the Archbishops’ Evangelism Task Group said that the Church had an “urgent need” to focus evangelism on children, young people and their parents in light of a catastrophic collapse in adult church attendance.
The earlier CofE ‘Church School of the Future‘ report set out a strategy of expanding the number of Church schools to “intensify the religious input into lesson”, calling for a new “concordat” between the Church and the Government to “reinforce and enhance” the Church’s influence throughout the education system.
The NSS has also raised questions about land ownership, expressing concern that “public land will be transferred from local authorities and placed under control of the local diocese for 125 years, and, given the permission of the secretary of state, the church could use it however it likes”.
Pastafarian Wedding
Briton and New Zealander tie the knot on pirate ship to become the first to be married by the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster.
Read the full story from the Guardian. 18th April 2016
All Schools to Become Academies
Nicky Morgan Secretary of State for Education
George Osborne announced in his budget speech that all schools will be forced to become academies.
When small primary schools form a grouping to give them a viable size for an academy, there may be a religious school in the group.
This may result in the entire academy having to take on aspects of the religious school in the group. This could in turn have the effect of forcing many schools without a religious character, to become to some extent religious schools.
Read the full article from BHA.
Darwin Day Lecture
Prof Jerry Coyne delivers the Darwin lecture on 13th February
The lecture, hosted by the British Humanist Association (BHA) and entitled ‘Evolution and atheism: best friends forever?’, explored whether comprehension of evolution was inimical to religious belief. Professor Coyne presented data which showed that fewer than one in five Americans believe in the naturalistic evolution which is taught in science lessons.
Report on Religion and Belief
Only By Accepting That Britain Is No Longer a Christian Country Can We Start to Look Towards Real Equality
Andrew Copson in the Huffington Post 7th December 2015
Monday’s report from the Commission on Religion and Belief in British Public Life is a watershed moment for recognition of the non-religious and the significant role that they play in the community. While the report gives due attention to the 8% of Britons of non-Christian religions and what their increase means for our public life, it is unique in giving fair recognition to the 50% of us in Britain who say we have no religion: the fastest growing group in this country.
BBC Radio 4 “Sunday”
On 6th December William Crawley explored Religious Education, in the BBC Radio 4 programme “Sunday”.
Andrew Copson of the BHA took part.
If you missed the broadcast you can listen to it now. (45 minutes)