Supporter comments

"I had never looked into the rules of faith schools and admissions before. Now that I am expecting a baby soon, I have searched locally - I am shocked to discover that unbiased education free from religious dogma is not an option."

As a British born Sikh, the first time I felt excluded by society was when applying for primary schools. Despite having faith and regularly attending our local temple, my children were excluded from a primary school that we meet the distance criteria for. This segregation adds to the modern racism, prejudice, and discrimination in our workplaces.

I am currently looking in to schools for my children and horrified at the level of religious indoctrination that seems inescapable in the village school settings. I feel this is a breach of our human rights.

Our children are discriminated against in our potential secondary schools. There is no choice, only one we can apply to (without having to jump thru hoops of entrance tests). We refuse to begin attending church to get our "Stamps" Schools should be secular across the board and parents given full opportunity to bring up their children in the religion of their choosing outside of the education sector.

I actually find it hard to believe that in this day and age discrimination on any means is allowed. In Liverpool, my 4 year old starts school next week and his options were drastically reduced because we refused to get him 'fake' christened, why should I pretend his is being raised in a faith just to get him a good education, education and religion have no place together. Our schools need to arrive in the current era of equal rights. It's actually quite shocking that my son will not be considered for a school because of a prejudice.

"Why is my child facing such blatant discrimination due to the beliefs of her parents? I have always encouraged her to learn about all religions and decide for herself when the time feels right. So, I haven't had her christened or baptised because that isn't my choice to make for her. But now we need to apply to high schools and it seems she isn't worthy enough to even be considered for half of the faith schools in my area based on religious criteria."

I had no choice over sending my children to a faith school; that was the catchment school with other nearby schools also faith schools. We are a non-religious household. When the vicar came every Monday for Christian religious assembly, I made the difficult decision to have my children removed. I do not believe it is right that religious leaders are coming into our schools regularly as part of our children's' education.

We are a non-religious family, but I sent my son to our local village school because we could walk there. Like all in the area it was CofE. I told him to be respectful of other people's beliefs, but they were not the same back. He was forced into prayers. A couple of years after he started at this school, they changed the admissions criteria so that you had to go to church to get in and we would never have got him into our state funded village school. This is absolutely outrageous.

I and my children had no choice but to attend church of England primary schools and, in my case, a grammar school with compulsory worship, compulsory church attendance and compulsory education in Christian mythology.

"I am an atheist raised by atheists, the only school in the village I lived in was C of E. I had to go participate in Christian rituals in a church several times a year, was regularly told off for not praying and was taught that Hindu and Muslim legends are "myths" whilst Noah's ark literally happened. Aside from the obvious issues of indoctrinating impressionable children and encouraging tribalism and exclusion, when state schools become faith schools, they actively impinge on the right of anyone who is in that catchment area but not of that faith to raise their children with their own beliefs."

My daughter cannot attend her nearest state funded school as she does not follow that religion. Even if she were to be given a place, she would feel excluded. Please make all state funded schools secular.

"My daughter can't go to her local school because she hasn't been christened. This is discrimination, no matter how it is dressed up!"

I was forced into putting all 3 of my children into a Catholic school. My choices were of three schools. One was a terribly performing C of E school, the other two. Catholic schools. Disgusting. Whilst the staff are generally nice, the air of eternal damnation hangs over those kids and the volume of hard work that's attributed to a god makes my blood boil.

"It is appalling that in this day and age children continue to have religion forced upon them. A child should be allowed to make their own mind up when in possession of all the information and when they are able to fully assess their options. There are no non-faith schools where I live and consequently my children have to go to school in the neighbouring town."

"I believe that it is harmful for children to be segregated by their parents' beliefs. As a person without a religion, who had not been to a religious school, I was surprised at and disturbed by the level of religious indoctrination in our local state C of E primary school when my children were young, and at the amount of time that was devoted to religious themes."

It's not fair that my child has to be exposed to religious dogma if they want a local education, or that they have to travel miles to a non-faith school if the faith school around the corner is allowed to discriminate on the grounds of faith. All education should be secular as this is the most inclusive form of education.

"We have taken the very hard decision to remove our children from our local but C of E school. The attempted indoctrination and divisive nature of the school became too much."

My children have no choice but to attend a Church in Wales faith school, as with all our local council schools. It indoctrinates and teaches biased religious education. This is religious discrimination. Other faiths and atheism are dismissed. Rather than allowing more faith schools to be setup, existing faith schools funded by the taxpayer must be converted back to be secular schools free of religious discrimination and indoctrination.

"Parents attend church just to get them into their most convenient school, not because of their devotion to the religious orientation. We have a school five meters away from our house, but our son can't go there because we refuse to attend the local church. This should not be happening in today's society. Children should be able to make their own choice when they are able to make that choice."