Compulsory Christian Worship in UK Schools Should Be Scrapped, Says Inquiry
Compulsory Christian worship should be axed from schools, an inquiry into the position of faith in the multicultural United Kingdom said.
Elizabeth Butler-Sloss, a former high court judge and head of the Commission on Religion and Belief in British Public Life, said schools should no longer be required to provide daily Christian worship. She also recommended putting an end to segregation of children according to religion and implementing a major overhaul in the teaching program to accommodate the increasingly secular population, according to The Guardian.
Aside from that, the report highlighted the negative effects of faith schools favoring one religion. In England, one-third of schools are government-funded faith schools, most of them Christian. Because the United Kingdom is increasingly becoming more secular, the report recommends revising the teaching program to adjust to the more diverse population, the report details.
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At present, non-Christian schools in the United Kingdom are allowed to offer their own form of daily worship. Government-funded schools, on the other hand, are required to conduct daily Christian worship, but many of them do not adhere to the policy, the Metro reports.
Butler-Sloss' commission contends that religious segregation only creates more tension and misunderstanding in the community. Furthermore, the inquiry thinks mandatory daily Christian worship should be replaced by a period of reflection wherein all students, regardless of faith, can participate in, the report relays.
"Selection by religion segregates children not only according to different religious heritage but also, frequently and in effect, by ethnicity and socio-economic background," the Guardian quotes the report. "This undermines equality of opportunity and incentivises parents to be insincere about their religious affiliation and practice."
Charles Clarke, the former secretary of education, echoed Butler-Sloss' sentiments. Earlier this year, he had called for the practice of compulsory daily worship to be abolished, saying school assemblies should be decided on by the specific governors of each school.
