I am a political secularist - I believe the State should adopt a level playing field when it comes to religious belief. Even many religious people now recognise that the State funding of religious schools involves giving special privileges to religious communities that are not afforded to the rest of us. This is unjust, anti-democratic, and should stop.

Stephen Law, Philosopher and author.
Faith schools contribute to the fragmentation of our education system and the religious segregation of pupils. This is not conducive to social integration, cohesion and equal opportunities for all. That's why I'm supporting the 'No more faith schools' campaign. I want to see an education system that is free from religious control and that brings together pupils from all backgrounds and beliefs.

Peter Tatchell, Human rights campaigner
State-sponsored superstition should have no place in the education of children, who should be left to make up their own minds on the basis of the evidence they see around them. Education should inspire rational thought and display the pleasures of deep understanding; it should not propagate the social poison of divisive dogma.

Peter Atkins, Writer and former Professor of Chemistry at the University of Oxford
I am happy to join the No More Faith Schools campaign. Education must be secular.

Lord Desai, Economist and Labour politician
I support this campaign. There is too much segregation in life. As we live together so we grow through sharing and understanding not by reinforcing a faith or belief or one set of values. Children from all faith and belief backgrounds should be educated together and allowed to develop their own beliefs independently and within the rich communities in which we all have to live.

Lord Cashman CBE
Faith schools brainwash children into believing that they are in some way superior to people of different faiths or none. They are divisive, as we can see in every town and city in this country where people of different faiths live in different areas and their children are not allowed to mix. The government should be asked to release the figures of how many jihadists who went to fight in Syria had been to faith schools.
Kushere, from HULL
Allowing schools to discriminate against students on the basis of their parents' religion is socially divisive and fosters intolerance towards people of other faiths. The government should be seeking to eliminate discrimination in the UK school system, not increase it.
Jonathan, Nottingham
While the main reasons for opposing faith schools have to be associated with their effects on the lives of young people and on their divisive effects on social cohesion, there is another reason: the damage done to teachers. As a former teacher of mathematics, on two occasions I was foolish enough to apply for positions in faith schools. On both occasions the interview process seemed to be progressing well- until the interview with the Chair of Governors, on both occasions an ordained minister. I was naive enough to b, believing that my (non) religious beliefs were irrelevant to maths teaching. The subsequent frostiness.
Ken
I think it's a disgrace that my child's school is being closed down and that he is being forced into a religious school. I do not want organised religion rammed down my sons throat.
Natasha, Great Yarmouth
We are trying to raise our child to understand that the freedom to follow a religion, or to follow no religion, is a fundamental tenet of life in the UK. It is the mixing of beliefs and no beliefs that leads to an integrated and tolerant society. There is no better place for this than school. Our children will be deprived of exposure to people from a range of backgrounds and who hold a range of beliefs - this will not lead to integration but quite the opposite.
Sarah, Chippenham
Testimonials
Parents’ perspective: Our children shouldn’t suffer because we’re not religious
Posted: Wed, 15 Dec 2021 11:30
The dominance of faith schools in certain areas forces families seeking a local education into impossible...
Parents’ perspective: Our child was sent to a Catholic school despite our clear wishes
Posted: Thu, 23 Sep 2021 11:26
When families are assigned faith schools they don't want, left with no choice or locked out of local...
Parent’s perspective: My daughter has to take Catholic-centric RE – at the expense of other subjects
Posted: Wed, 04 Aug 2021 09:26
My daughter's Catholic school says RE is required for all students, undermining her choices elsewhere....
Head’s perspective: Inappropriate religious inspections enable the C of E to push its agenda
Posted: Fri, 04 Jun 2021 09:36
While faith based inspections of state schools continue, headteachers will continue to play a game which...
Head’s perspective: Church inspections impeded efforts to promote inclusivity and an honest education
Posted: Wed, 19 May 2021 10:33
Our local Church of England diocese used an anachronistic faith-based inspection regime to push its own...
Teacher’s perspective: How C of E schools grew more evangelistic during my career
Posted: Tue, 06 Apr 2021 15:06
After decades of experience as a headteacher and local adviser I became convinced that faith schools...
Parent’s perspective: Playing the faith school admissions game would teach my children the wrong lessons
Posted: Fri, 05 Feb 2021 08:42
Almost all the places at the school my daughter wants to attend are reserved on a religious basis. Jumping...
Parent’s perspective: We made a mistake sending our child to a faith school
Posted: Thu, 26 Nov 2020 11:27
We were unprepared for how strongly a Catholic school would push religion on our child, says Natassa....
Parent’s perspective: My son’s faith school has restricted his subject choices
Posted: Fri, 23 Oct 2020 09:55
By giving special weight to RE, my son's C of E faith school has restricted his options elsewhere, says...
Parents’ perspective: religious discrimination could cost our children places in a suitable school
Posted: Thu, 08 Oct 2020 10:01
Local faith schools' selective policies have created an unseemly competition for places, leaving parents...