The Board of Deputies has expressed concern about a new report calling for the abolition of compulsory school worship and for a new national curriculum on “religious and moral education” which the government should consider applying to all schools.
Vice-president Edwin Shuker said the board was concerned about the “overall hostility to faith schools” in the report, which was produced for Westminster Faith Debates by a leading academic expert on religion, Professor Linda Woodhead of Lancaster University, and former Education Secretary Charles Clarke.
Religious instruction - as opposed to education - should not take place during the school day, even in faith schools, the authors argue.
They recommend the government consider extending a nationally agreed syllabus on religious and moral education to faith schools - which traditionally have enjoyed autonomy on their religious education - and independent schools.
