NSS launches withering attack on Archbishop’s comments on collective worship

The National Secular Society has launched a scathing attack on the Archbishop of Wales over comments in this week's Times Educational Supplement that older pupils should not be allowed to opt out of collective worship at school.

The National Secular Society was instrumental in bringing forward the amendment to the Education Act that permitted older children to exempt themselves from collective worship – otherwise they need their parents’ permission.

Now Dr Barry Morgan, the Archbishop of Wales has said that the law “degraded the status of faith schools”. He said that group prayer offered pupils a rare opportunity for “recognition, affirmation and celebration of shared values” and should be encouraged.

“Collective worship has been branded as something that young people grow out of by the age of 16, at precisely the time when it might be the best way of feeding both their minds and their hearts as they start to explore the responsibilities and consequences of adult life,” Dr Morgan said. “I am concerned that this is the thin end of the wedge and could be just the start of a process that devalues and ultimately marginalises the provision of collective worship in schools”.

His warning came after Wales joined England by passing a law allowing pupils aged 16 and over to withdraw from collective worship without parental consent. All schools are required to offer a daily act of worship. However, under the Education and Inspections Act 2006, sixth-form pupils are allowed to opt out.

Dr Morgan wrote: "Without a clear recognition of a spiritual dimension, schools run the risk of becoming narrowly focused on personal attainment. A shared spiritual experience, the development of a sense of awe and wonder and a reverence and veneration for the divine all provide a chance for pupils to participate fully in, reflect on and respond to life and religious issues.”

Dr Morgan warned that strict secularists should take caution from the examples of the US and France and “their struggle to build a sense of cultural understanding and mutual respect”.

But Keith Porteous Wood, Executive Director of the National Secular Society, who campaigned hard to get the right of 16 years written into law, was dismissive of the Archbishop’s comments.

He said: “The Archbishop is either ignorant of or cares nothing for older pupils’ human rights. It is not legitimate for the state to force older pupils to worship. He even wants to row back on rights of withdrawal enshrined in law since 1944. It is simply ridiculous and arrogant to insist that those old enough to join the armed forces, and who will already have endured ten years of forced worship, should not be permitted to withdraw themselves. The National Secular Society fully supports assemblies at which values can be shared, but this is not the same as forced worship.

“It is little wonder that the Archbishop is so determined to force his world view on unwilling near-adults. Church attendance in Wales is less than half of what it was in 1980, and is projected by Christian Research to drop to around a quarter of what it is now by 2050. Given he cannot stop the churches from emptying, where could be more fertile ground than pupils captive in school?”