The murder of the drummer Lee Rigby in Woolwich has changed the mood in Britain. For many, it made them question the nature of what others claim to be the religion of peace. Attitudes towards Islam – not only Islamism – are changing for the worse and the seeds planted by the media of intolerance and hatred seems to be baring fruit.
This is a time to think radically about change which will defend our liberty, freedom of religion and safety; and the change we desperately need is to abolish faith schools.
Now it may seem that these views conflict – how could anyone possibly want to defend the right of freedom of religion and still want to abolish faith schools? Moreover, how could they possibly believe that their abolition would halt the alienation of British Muslims or any other person of faith in our society?
It is important to make it clear what I believe. I do not think faiths schools are bad because they teach a faith. Also, I do not believe that faith schools cause terrorist attacks. The complete basis of my argument is built on integration and inclusion. The problem with faith education and the reason they are creating a society in which hatred and infighting will flourish is because the system divides children based on what religion their parents believe in. How can anyone think that that is a good thing – let alone be desirable? Surely if multi-cultural society is to work, it must be based on an education system that is inclusive not exclusive.
Therefore, I propose that every school which selects children based on their parent’s belief is abolished and we build a secular education system where children from all faith backgrounds are included.
Is it not often said that most racism comes from ignorance? So, why do we endorse a system that promotes separation between children from different faith backgrounds? You only have to look at Northern Ireland’s education system to see how destructive separating children based on faith can be. Indeed, many children as young as seven or eight have been found to be participating in the recent riots in Northern Ireland. Would this have happened if there education system had encouraged integration between religions?
If our children grow up in a nation where they are less likely to go to school with a Muslim then they are far more likely to believe that these terrorist attacks are the fault of these people’s religion and not just of a few extremist who do not represent the opinions of a tolerant majority.
The point of inclusion is obvious and speaks for itself, but another issue of concern is that faith schools may also select teachers based on faith. In Richard Dawkins documentary ‘Faith School Menace’ he exposed a science teacher at a Muslim school that was unable to answer a basic question regarding evolution. Now this is not to say that the problem is that the teacher is Muslim, but it was obvious that because the school has its only vested interest in the theory of creation, it would be more inclined to hire teachers who are biased. We need children to be taught science objectively and have different views presented with balance where necessary. It is clear that this can only happen in a secular school which do not have any vested interest in one particular viewpoint and do not discriminate based on faith.
Nonetheless, I also demand that religious education is given more prominence in these new secular schools. As someone who attended a state comprehensive, I think the great failure of our religious education was that all the focus was on rituals and dogma, and absolutely nothing on religious philosophy.
These tensions are not going away and successive governments’ failure to produce an inclusive education system leads me to think if we do nothing now then these problems will not go away, they will only get worse as more children are educated separately from others of different backgrounds.
I do not want to live in a society where people of different faiths are fearful of each other and unless we abolish faith schools, that is an inevitable consequence of this policy.
Although I agree with your overall stance, I find your argument somewhat weak and based purely on personal opinion over evidence and research. You fail to recognise that many parents choose to send their children to faith schools on the basis of higher results. Although research has not fully explained why faith schools tend to produce higher results; it highlights the fact that not every pupil in a faith school has strongly religious parents or has brought up in such a way. Many faith schools have also been found to offer a sound moral framework for pupils that does not necessarily equate to indoctrination.
While I understand the sentiment, this is not convincing as it comes across as very personal (as stated in the first comment), and uses snippets of ‘information’ such as one example in a TV program to justify the point. I’d suggest making it more of a question piece rather than ‘demanding’ this, that and the other, clearly without any real research behind the views.
I totally agree with your comments. This is just common sense, the evidence is abundantly clear across the world not just Northern Ireland. If parents choose faith schools because of academic success then keep the school and get rid of the faith/fantasy belief as it is the staff producing the good results. Children should grow up with science, truth and reason not brain washing.
Even many people who support faith schools agree that it can’t be right to give taxpayers money to schools that discriminate against children on the basis of their parents’ religion. And a poll last year showed that the general public agree with that by 4:1. Yet very many of our schools do that if they are over-subscribed (which many of them are, especially in urban areas).
Many faith schools do get good results, but they are also socially selective (which helps give good results). Catholic schools in particular have a lower % of children eligible for free school meals than is typical of their local area, but the same is true of others too. And if they are good schools, why should some parents be denied the opportunity to send their children to them because they have the “wrong” beliefs. Would we allow that in a state-funded hospital?
Add to that the key point that our plural society needs to encourage people to understand and respect each other, and to discourage the “us” and “them” view encouraged by faith-based selection, and the case is overwhelming.
There’s a new Fair Admissions Campaign pressing for a change in the law on this: http://fairadmissions.org.uk/
You are correct in that mixing at early age in school is probably one of the best ways to fight prejudice. But the huge thing missing in your article was any discussion on immigration. An adult Muslim from Somalia presumably did not mix with an adult Catholic from Poland when they were at school. But does that mean Enoch was right and Britain will fall into chaos as a result of them both being here? A Saudi backed school in Acton was shut for its extremism. But we don’t check the educational background of Saudi adults migrating here. If being educated at different faith schools is such a threat, you should logically argue for immigration too to only come from broadly secular countries. Will you do so?
Some facts: The Northern Ireland situation originates from hardline protestant migrating from Britain to Ireland. The existence of separate faith schools probably perpetuated the problem. But they were not the cause.
As I understand it one of the Woolwich accused was a late convert to Islam and not from a Muslim faith school.