We want to see laws requiring schools to hold acts of worship abolished.
The laws are archaic, unnecessary and breach children's freedom of religion or belief.
The United Kingdom is the only Western democracy which legally imposes worship in publicly funded schools.
The law in England and Wales provides that children at all maintained schools "shall on each school day take part in an act of collective worship". Northern Ireland and Scotland have similar laws.
Even in schools with no religious designation, the worship must be "wholly or mainly of a Christian character".
School assemblies are an important feature of school life. They foster a sense of community in schools and promote the moral and social development of pupils. But acts of worship are neither necessary nor desirable to achieve these educational goals.
Polling has found 70% of senior teachers "disagree" or "strongly disagree" with the law mandating worship, and 66% of teachers say their school does not even hold collective worship.
The majority of the public (52%) say school assemblies should be about moral issues, whereas just 26% agree that they should feature religious worship.
Many schools ignore the law, but where it is enforced it causes division and discrimination, as well as opening the door to evangelism and proselytising.
Parents have the right to withdraw children from collective worship, but many this is an unreasonable imposition on both themselves and their children. Parents should never have to withdraw their children from any part of the school day to ensure their rights to raise their child according to their own religious or philosophical convictions are respected.
Collective worship laws are outdated relics of a society unrecognisable from the diverse and pluralistic Britain of today, where citizens hold a wide variety of religious beliefs, and increasingly, no religious beliefs. The abolition of collective worship is long overdue.
Take action!
1. Write to your MP
Ask them to help end compulsory worship in schools
2. Share your story
Tell us why you support this campaign, and how you are personally affected by the issue. You can also let us know if you would like assistance with a particular issue.
3. Join us
Become a member of the National Secular Society today! Together, we can separate religion and state for greater freedom and fairness.
Latest updates
NSS urges repeal, not enforcement, of law on worship in schools
Posted: Thu, 22 Apr 2021 16:02
The National Secular Society has urged the government to repeal the law requiring collective worship in schools in England after a minister said it would "investigate" schools which breached it.
The NSS has written to schools minister Nick Gibb to urge him to clarify recent comments to parliament and repeal the law.
Since 1944 all schools have been legally required to hold daily acts of worship which are "wholly or mainly of a Christian character".
The law is widely disregarded, particularly in non-faith schools. The NSS has long campaigned for its repeal, along with the repeal of similar requirements in other parts of the UK.
Nick Gibb's remarks
On 31 March Gibb was asked what steps the Department for Education (DfE) was taking to ensure a daily act of worship was taking place in each maintained school.
In response he said every maintained school, academy and free school is "required to ensure that collective worship takes place each day".
"If the department is informed that a school may be in breach of this requirement, it will be investigated. Where needed, the department will remind schools of their duty on this matter and advise on how this can be met."
NSS letter
The NSS's letter said any efforts to enforce the legal requirement would "only serve to undermine parents' and pupils' freedom of religion or belief, alienate non-worshipping pupils and inconvenience school leaders".
It said "all aspects of school life, including assemblies" should be "respectful and equally inclusive of all pupils, irrespective of their religion or belief background".
It said the law was "anachronistic" amid rising levels of non-belief and religious diversity in Britain.
It added that where acts of worship do take place in schools, "pupils must be free to independently exercise a right to withdrawal".
The society also asked the minister what the government had done to "remind schools of their duty" and if there were any plans to withdraw or update the most recent government guidance on collective worship before any changes in enforcement.
The guidance was issued in 1994 and said worship in schools "should be concerned with reverence or veneration paid to a divine being or power".
NSS comment
Explaining his decision to write the letter, NSS chief executive Stephen Evans said any move to "tighten enforcement of this outdated and unpopular law" would be "astonishing".
"Ministers should clarify whether this represents a material change in their position on collective worship in schools.
"Laws mandating worship have no educational merit, are incompatible with a commitment to freedom of religion or belief, and are exclusionary. No child should be compelled to worship in school, and no school should be compelled to hold acts of worship."
Further evidence against worship law
The NSS's letter noted evidence that the law is widely disregarded:
- Last week 53% of respondents to a snap poll aimed at primary school teachers, from the education publication Tes, said their schools did not undertake daily acts of collective worship.
- In 2019 polling from Teacher Tapp found that only 43% of non-faith primary schools have some activity which they call collective worship.
It noted evidence suggesting the law is unpopular:
- In 2018 a poll commissioned by the NSS found that just 26% of British adults thought assemblies should feature religious worship.
- In 2019 a poll by YouGov for Humanists UK found that only 29% of parents of school-aged children thought religious worship was appropriate in assemblies.
And it noted that the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child recently asked the UK what steps it was taking to repeal laws requiring worship in schools.
Image by Jaime Wiebel from Pixabay.
UK quizzed over collective worship law by UN
Posted: Thu, 18 Feb 2021 14:13
The UN Committee on the Rights of the Child has questioned laws which require collective worship in UK schools after the National Secular Society raised the issue.
The CRC asked what steps the UK is taking to repeal laws requiring daily acts of worship in schools, as part of its periodic examination of children's human rights in the UK.
The committee monitors the progress of member states' implementation of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.
The CRC asked the UK to describe the measures it had taken to "repeal legal provisions for compulsory attendance at collective worship in publicly funded schools", and to ensure children can "independently exercise the right to withdraw from religious observance".
The UK is the only Western democracy to legally impose worship in publicly funded schools. Parents have a right to withdraw their children from collective worship, but children cannot withdraw themselves.
The NSS highlighted the issue of collective worship in a submission to the CRC in November.
The CRC also asked what measures the UK is taking to:
- Ensure relationships and sex education is LGBT-inclusive. The NSS's submission raised concerns about inadequate access to comprehensive RSE.
- Ensure girls' access to safe abortion services in Northern Ireland. The NSS said girls in NI are "still struggling" to access abortion services, despite the decriminalisation of abortion in 2019.
- Prevent cases of female genital mutilation and "unnecessary medical or surgical treatment of intersex children". But it did not raise the issue of non-therapeutic circumcision on boys. The NSS's submission urged the CRC to "extend its scrutiny" to this area.
- Integrate human rights education into school curricula and teacher training programmes. The NSS has repeatedly called for a stronger focus on human rights in citizenship education.
NSS comment
NSS chief executive Stephen Evans said: "It's good to see the CRC defending children's right not to have religious rituals imposed on them, and their right to inclusive relationships and sex education.
"For too long, religious interference in education has undermined the rights to education, equality and freedom of religion or belief. The UK must take the CRC's requests seriously and urgently address these issues.
"But it's disappointing that the CRC has overlooked infant boys in its scrutiny of non-therapeutic genital cutting. All children, regardless of sex, should have equal rights to bodily autonomy and must be protected from painful, permanent and dangerous religious or cultural procedures done to them without their consent."
Testimonies in NSS submission
The NSS included testimonies from children and parents affected by the collective worship law in its submission.
One contributor, who was forced to pray in school, said: "Even at a young age I knew religion wasn't for me. That was my choice to make. It's not up to the state to force religion on anyone. Doing so is a breach of basic human rights."
Notes
- Every state that has ratified the convention is required to report to the CRC on how it is fulfilling its obligations. This allows the committee to assess what progress a state is making in implementing the convention. This reporting process happens once every five years.
- The UK's response to the CRC's list of issues is due on 15th February 2022.
