'Our' faith schools

One of the oft-unspoken assumptions of those who support the academies scheme is that certain faith schools are all right, and should be encouraged. 'Normal' religions and denominations will be fine in the way they run schools, won't they?

This report suggests otherwise.

"In Fit for Mission, the document written for schools in the Lancaster diocese, O'Donoghue wrote: 'The secular view on sex outside of marriage, artificial contraception, sexually transmitted disease, including HIV and Aids, and abortion, may not be presented as neutral information ... parents, schools and colleges must also reject the promotion of so-called "safe sex" or "safer sex", a dangerous and immoral policy based on the deluded theory that the condom can provide adequate protection against Aids.'

The bishop also called for any books containing polemics against the Catholic faith to be removed from school libraries. 'Under no circumstances should any outside authority or agency that is not fully qualified to speak on behalf of the Catholic church ever be allowed to speak to pupils or individuals on sexual or any other matter involving faith and morals,' he said."

Comment is free: The unbelievable privilege of faith

Comment is free: The unbelievable privilege of faith

This is an excellent article on CiF, outlining some of the arguments against faith schools generally, and certainly state-supported ones. It raises a few interesting issues:

One argument put forward by supporters of faith schools is that schools established by religious institutions predate schools run by the state. What this is an argument for, precisely, is unclear. One might as well point out that the first hospitals and libraries were all in religious institutions, and suggest that this indicates that they should be run this way to this day. Perhaps, as the Spanish Inquisition predates our current interrogation techniques, we should allow the Catholic Church to question suspects for the police...

That there have been schools set up by religious institutions far longer than there have been those set up by municipal or other nominally secular authorities is indicative of nothing more than the greater role religion played in our society in the past. A key difference is that these religious schools funded themselves, they did not expect the taxpayer to foot the bill.

Another point which caught my eye was the story of David McNab, an atheist teacher at a Roman Catholic school in Glasgow who was blocked from applying for a post involving pastoral care because he was not a Catholic. An employment tribunal ruled in his favour, but only because the school had failed to list the post as one of a 'reserved' nature, reserved for Catholics only.

It is an odd situation when, since the Religious Discrimination Act of 2004, an employer cannot refuse to employ someone for a post on the grounds of their religion, but a religious employer can refuse to employ someone in a post because of their lack of religion.