The idea

Right. There are some of us out there who still cling to outdated notions of education, who are worried by the numbers of city academies being run by religious organisations. In our view (I say 'our', at the moment it's just me) education should steer clear of indoctrinating children intobelief systems which have no verifiable basis. The should teach young people the skills needed to analyse and pose arguments, that they might better search for truth. Indeed, inasmuch as they should promote a questioning attitude and a desire for testable propositions, schools should not be about faith at all. Faith is the opposite of education.

Thus, it seems to me to get a number of high-profile atheists to put their name behind a project to raise money to open schools which have no religious bias at all, and, indeed, only study religions as one would study any magical, anthropological systems. Instead, the focus will be on history and science, the creative arts and literature and on pupils gaining a knowledge of the history of human thought, that they might be encouraged to develop and test theses for themselves.

Obviously, as yet, there is no curriculum, no set of ideas, nothing more than what I've said above. If anyone knows Stephen Fry, Richard Dawkins, Philip Pullman, Francis Wheen or James Randi, please pass this along to them. Or, if you have any ideas, please leave them in the comments box....