Supporter comments

"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 village school is C of E - most who attend do so because it is the village school, not because of its religious affiliation. My children attended for this reason but have been shown pictures of God's garden presented as fact, been given alcoholic wine without my consent and it has been a challenge to keep their minds open and objective about religion. I've now removed my children from the school."

"My son recently started reception at a faith school. Not because I'm religious, but because I had no choice. This is our local school; most other local schools are also faith schools. As a result, I will be forced to navigate challenging conversations with a four-year-old whether I feel he is prepared for them or not. Religious families will already be speaking to their children about religion at home, and non-religious families will not appreciate having to contradict what their children are taught at school."

"Parents are forced to send children to faith schools as there is effectively no choice due to lack of school places and/or the need to move to a new house and area to avoid them. A faith school should not be forced up on us."

"My own (atheist) children were taught creationist beliefs in their village primary school (there was no non-faith school we could choose), and that other faiths were essentially primitive. At secondary level, in our nearest town, there are three non-selective schools, two of which are faith schools. These faith schools don't accept children from families with no faith unless the families lie about their lack of faith. Our 'choice' was restricted to one school, therefore, unless our children passed the selective tests for the non-faith grammar schools. The faith schools' admissions criteria therefore massively distort the secondary system here."