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.
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Collective worship laws are outdated relics of a society unrecognisable from the diverse and pluralistic Britain of today, where citizens hold a wide variety of religious beliefs, and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.
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1. Write to your MP
Ask them to help end compulsory worship in schools
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Latest updates
Ruling: Collective worship and RE in NI schools breach human rights
Posted: Tue, 5 Jul 2022 13:47
Collective worship and Christian-biased religious education in Northern Ireland breach human rights, a high court has ruled.
In a groundbreaking ruling today, the High Court of Northern Ireland found the current arrangements for collective worship and religious education (RE) breach an article in the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) which provides that the state "must respect the right of parents' religious and philosophical convictions in respect of education and teaching".
The case was brought in 2021 by a father and his seven year old daughter. They were granted leave to seek a judicial review of the arrangements after the girl's family, who are non-religious, discovered her praying late into the night.
This led them to investigate how her school was imposing Christianity on young children through religious assemblies and RE lessons.
They argued that a complete focus on Christianity, to the exclusion of all other faiths and with no meaningful alternative, is an unlawful violation of the human rights of children in NI.
They were represented by human rights lawyer Darragh Mackin of Phoenix Law, who has discussed the case at a recent NSS conference and podcast.
The law in NI compels state-funded schools to "include collective worship whether in one or more than one assembly" every day. The right to withdraw children from collective worship is available to parents, but no independent right of withdrawal is available to pupils.
Similar laws exist in England, Scotland and Wales.
RE in NI schools is controlled by religious bodies to a greater extent than anywhere else in the UK, and aims to "develop an awareness, knowledge, understanding and appreciation of the key Christian teachings… and develop an ability to interpret and relate the Bible to life". RE is not thoroughly inspected and is often delivered partly by external evangelical organisations.
The ruling said the court "considers that the unlawfulness it has identified requires a reconsideration of the core curriculum and the impugned legislation" in relation to the teaching of RE and the provision of collective worship.
It said the matter is "currently under review" and that in carrying out a reconsideration and review, the Department of Education and NI Assembly "should ensure that the arrangements for the teaching of RE and CW in Northern Ireland are compliant" with the provisions of the ECHR.
It added the court will "allow the parties to reflect on the judgment and will invite further submissions from counsel before making a final order."
NSS: "NI must now make its schools truly inclusive of all children"
NSS chief executive Stephen Evans congratulated the family and their legal team, saying the ruling was "a significant step forward for more inclusive and pluralistic schools in Northern Ireland".
He said: "Christian privilege has dominated education in Northern Ireland for too long, fuelling its serious problems of segregation and sectarianism. Under this historic ruling today, this cannot continue.
"Northern Ireland must now make its schools truly inclusive of all children and their families, whatever their religion or belief.
"We also hope that other UK governments are watching closely. In light of this ruling, laws imposing collective worship in UK schools look shakier than ever."
Image: davidf, Shutterstock
“No plans” to review school collective worship, government tells UN
Posted: Tue, 21 Jun 2022 16:06
The UK government is refusing to review laws requiring collective worship in schools despite repeated requests from a United Nations committee.
In a report to the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC), the UK government said there are "no plans" by the UK government, the Welsh government or the Northern Ireland executive to review laws requiring all state-funded schools to hold daily acts of invariably Christian worship.
Parents have the right to withdraw children from collective worship, but children cannot withdraw themselves unless they are sixth form pupils.
The Scottish Government is examining whether to review the policy on the right to withdraw from religious observance. Scotland's new UNCRC Bill will strengthen children's rights by making it unlawful for public authorities to act incompatibly with the rights incorporated by the bill. The NSS has said compulsory religious observance in Scotland's schools in incompatible with the bill.
The UK is the only Western democracy to legally impose worship in schools. This has been challenged repeatedly by the UNCRC after the National Secular Society raised it as a child right's issue.
In its most recent list of issues of concern, the UNCRC asked the UK government to describe what measures it has taken to "repeal legal provisions for compulsory attendance at collective worship in publicly funded schools" and "ensure that children can independently exercise the right to withdraw from religious observance at school".
Recent moves to end collective worship in nonreligious schools in England, including a private member's bill and amendments to the Schools Bill, have been opposed by the government.
Progress for child rights in other areas
The UK government's state report highlighted other areas where children's rights have progressed. These include several developments supported by the NSS:
- Relationships and sex education (RSE) is now mandatory in England and Wales, after lobbying from many children's rights groups including the NSS.
- The UK government is intervening in Northern Ireland to roll out safe abortion services.
- The UK government has strengthened laws to tackle violence against women and girls, including new laws to protect girls from forced marriage and female genital mutilation (FGM). It has also banned so-called 'virginity testing' and 'virginity restoration' procedures. Northern Ireland recently held a consultation on developing a strategy to tackle violence against women and girls, which the NSS responded to.
- The legal age of marriage has been raised to 18 in England and Wales, while Scotland and Northern Ireland are considering raising the legal age. The NSS responded to Northern Ireland's consultation in support of the plans in February.
But there are other areas where the UK is failing to tackle religious interference with children's rights:
- Despite the UK government strengthening protections for girls from FGM, and reviewing the practice of non-consensual surgery on the genitals of intersex children, it has made no moves to protect boys from forced religious or cultural circumcision. A recent NSS-backed report from an international NGO has called on the UNCRC to work towards "full, equal protection of all minors" from non-therapeutic genital cutting.
- Although it has a duty under the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child to protect children from discrimination, the UK has not acted to end discrimination on the basis of religion or belief in faith school admissions.
NSS head of campaigns Megan Manson said: "While the UK government has made some progress in protecting children's rights from religious imposition, the refusal to review compulsory collective worship at schools stands out as a serious failure.
"Forcing schools to hold acts of religious worship means the UK is lagging behind other Western democracies in upholding freedom of religion or belief for children.
"The government must listen to the UN and work to abolish the archaic and wholly unnecessary collective worship laws throughout the UK."
Image: davidf, Shutterstock
