ACCOMMODATION – David Pollock at the UN Conference<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />

In the interest of promoting understanding, mutual appreciation and cooperation, we oppose confessional schools and any form of education biased towards a particular religion. We see the danger in these of fostering a narrowness of understanding and sympathy. Unfortunately in England today, despite the fact that only 7.5% of people go to church on an average Sunday and about 30% say they have no religion,

l   1 in 3 publicly-funded schools is a confessional school run by the churches or (a tiny number) by other faith groups.

l   In the other two-thirds of schools the law requires a daily act of religious worship and the religious education given excludes non- religious ethical traditions. There is a possibility (little used) for parents to have their children excused from these religious activities. Moreover the Government has proposed an expansion of the number of religious schools. This policy, motivated in part by a wish to correct the imbalance between Christian religious schools and those for the religions  of  the  ethnic  minority  communities,  has  proved  very unpopular. (a poll found 80% opposition and only 11% support, and even leaders of the minority religions have spoken against it as being socially and ethnically divisive).

(To resolve these difficulties) The British Humanist Association proposes that   the   mainstream   publicly   funded   schools   should   offer “accommodations” - changes designed to suit the religious minorities - so that hey are suitable for everyone and none can reasonably argue the need for confessional schools.

These accommodations would include:

(a). for all pupils:

l   an end to the daily act of worship

l   religious education to become “Belief and Values Education”, covering all relevant religious and non-religious alternative life stances with a strictly educational approach.

(b). as options for those who would want them:

l   additional confessional religious education

l   acts of worship and facilities for (for example) Muslim prayers

l  protection for those wishing to wear the veil or other items of religious significance

l  halal and kosher school meals

l recognition of key holy days of all relevant religions, by schools closing on those days or by other means.

l  other such accommodations as may be desirable.

With such changes in place, we argue that the religious schools should be brought into the mainstream.

We believe that such arrangements in schools would be of value not only to those whose religious beliefs were so acknowledged but also to the main body of pupils, who would be better able to understand and appreciate the religious beliefs of their fellow pupils.

David Pollock