The British Humanist Association has issued its Manifesto for the 2010 General Election attacking faith schools and what they call ‘religious privilege’, and slamming any accommodation of faith groups’ initiatives.
Despite the outstanding record of faith schools and strong evidence indicating that faith schools are better than non-religious schools at building community relations, the BHA says they ‘undermine social cohesion, discriminate in admissions and employment’ and fail to expose pupils to ‘other world views or philosophies, disregarding children’s autonomy and their right to a balanced education’.
A 2009 study by Professor David Jesson of the University of York investigated the reports of 400 secondary schools inspected between March and June 2009, and 700 primary schools inspected in June 2009.
The data for primary schools suggested faith schools perform just as well as community schools based on the average grade received for promoting community cohesion.
The data for secondary schools indicated ‘clear evidence that Faith schools were awarded substantially higher inspection gradings for promoting community cohesion than Community schools’. The data showed that the mean average of grades given to secondary schools with a religious foundation is 1.86, compared to 2.31 for community schools, where 1 would be “outstanding” and 4 “inadequate”.
Professor Jesson said:
‘This finding is particularly relevant to the debate about schools’ contribution to community cohesion – and runs completely counter to those who have argued that because faith schools have a distinctive culture reflecting their faith orientation and are responsible for their admissions that they are ‘divisive’ and so contribute to greater segregation amongst their communities. This is clearly not supported by this most recent Ofsted inspection evidence.’
The BHA’s eyebrow-raising allegations come at the time when many non-religious schools are marked as ‘inadequate’ by Ofsted.
Among other claims, the Manifesto also says that BHA wants reforms for all faith schools to teach humanism in their lessons which would effectively change the school ethos.
The Manifesto requires a government to ‘recognise the contribution made by secular and humanist groups within the voluntary and community sector’, not to pay attention or give money to religious groups, and not to champion exclusive ‘interfaith’ work or to privilege religious groups in access to policy making. It ignores the enormous contribution of Christian groups to society and 15,000 Christian charities serving the wider community and helping the economy.
An extensive number of studies show that local councils and other government bodies are working closely together with local faith groups and faith organisations to help build strong and cohesive communities.
A 2008 research by the Local Government Association, in partnership with the Inter Faith Network for the UK, shows that the majority of local councils say that partnership working with local faith organisations helps to ensure that people from different backgrounds can interact positively and contributes to a greater sense of belonging within communities.
The substantial contribution of faith groups pushed some government ministers to admit that faith groups should be given a central role in shaping government policies in some areas. In his recent speech, John Denham, Communities Secretary, has attacked secularists who have called for religion to be kept out of public life and said religious values were essential in building a ‘progressive society’.
‘Anyone wanting to build a more progressive society would ignore the powerful role of faith at their peril,’ he said.
On 11 March 2009, during a parliamentary debate, MPs said that despite Christians making a vital contribution to British Society, they were being marginalised by public bodies.
(Click here to read the parliamentary debate Christianity in Public Life)
The Manifesto also wants to legalise assisted suicide and remove Bishops from the law-making process.
Andrea Minichiello Williams, Director of CCFON, said: ‘The Humanist Manifesto paints a typically grim picture of society, where no worldview is privileged—except of course their own. Faith schools would be gone, Christian organisations that provide public services would be secularised and assisted dying would be legalised. On the one hand they demand ‘equality and human rights’ for all (although there is no Humanist basis for these demands) yet on the other hand, they seek to remove freedom of religion, freedom of conscience and freedom of speech.
‘They seem to have forgotten that our great education, health and public service traditions in this Country were all founded by Christians motivated by their faith to serve every member of society.
‘However, their manifesto is not all bad; they ‘want a society where issues of ethical policy are debated openly’ with decisions being based on ‘reason’ and ‘evidence’. So do we. They also want a Government ‘that uses scientific evidence when debating changes to laws regarding abortion’. So do we. And we are confident that if abortion was debated, and if decisions were based on science, reason and evidence, we would not have a country where 200,000 babies are aborted each year.’