The religious education in the UK has been subject of a heated debate between those who support the idea of an increase in religious instruction and those who bet for a more secular education system.

British Humanist Association (BHA) chief executive Hanne Stinson thinks that every state school in the UK is like a faith school: “Even the ordinary community schools, because they tend to have a very Christian ethos, they are required by law to have collective worship which is broadly Christian, besides things like nativity plays, vicars visiting every now and then.”

Director of Catholic Agency to Support Evangelisation Monsignor Keith Barltrop
“The government and people in general see the value in the teaching of religion because it helps to give people values and helps to ensure a stable society.”

The BHA is getting more and more complaints or request for advice from parents that have no option of non-religious schools around their homes, and queries from parents who actually do want to get their children into the local faith schools because it’s a good

school but they can not get their children in because they are not church goers.

Mrs Stinson is not against religious education as long as it includes the teaching of humanism. Unfortunately, she said: “The way our claim was reported in the media was all about atheism being taught in schools because the press thought people wouldn’t understand the term humanism.

“We try to present humanism as a positive world view, is not mainly about not being religious, it’s about the views you have of the world and the implications of that on your morality and all other aspects of your life”, said Mrs Stinson.

Muslim writer Ruqaiyyah Waris Maqsood is against the secularisation of schools: “We have atheists teaching Christianity which is another reason why lack of faith has spread across the country and now their next move is to stop RE being taught in schools at all.”