Equality law ‘failing to protect people from faith-based discrimination’, says report - National Secular Society
A report by the National Secular society into the working of the Equality Act -
Faith-shaped holes: how religiously privilege undermines equality law, which was intended to end discrimination in the UK, shows how religious organisations are exploiting in-built loopholes in the law to continue to discriminate against people with the 'wrong' religion (or none) and, because of the link between some faiths and ethnicity, on the basis of race or ethnic origin.
These loopholes were intended as allow discrimination in matters of employment in situations where religion was an important part of the job, for example, not to provide holes through which religious bigots, who want to continue to discriminate and victimise minorities, could drive a coach and horses, so rendering the law unenforceable and ineffective. In the matter of education particularly, religions are exploiting privileges granted to them by the Education Act to discriminate against minorities and those from the 'wrong' faith or none and so to circumvent the provisions of the Equalities Act.
In her forward to the report, the former Equalities Minister, Rt Hon Baroness Featherstone said:
The Equality Act is something that, as a country, we should be extremely proud of. It has contributed to the UK becoming, on the whole, a more tolerant nation and has been vital in tackling discrimination against minorities and safeguarding individuals’ rights.
...the continued existence of exemptions for religious privilege is completely at odds with ambitions to create a fair society. Whilst the aspirations of the Equality Act were – and remain – laudable, this should not blind us to the fact that provisions within the Act itself have created stark areas of on-going discrimination and gaps in the guarantees of equality. Until exemptions that create religious privilege are tackled and ended, we cannot claim to have created a just and fair society.
In the
Executive Summary to the report, the National Secular Society say:
Equality is an essential principle not merely for its own sake. It underpins community cohesion, democratic participation, and personal liberty.
Freedom of religion or belief is an indispensable component of personal liberty. It also pertains to an area of UK society that has undergone dramatic change within the past ten years since the Equality Act became law.
Firstly, diversity of different religions has increased. Islam, Hinduism and Sikhism are amongst the religions on the rise.
Secondly, the UK is now more irreligious than ever, with more than 50% of British adults saying they have no religion. This rise coincides with a dramatic fall in adherents of the established church, the Church of England. Only 2% of young adults identify as belonging to the C of E.1
But according to Humanist International’s Freedom of Thought Report 2018, this non-religious majority in the UK suffer from systemic discrimination in all areas monitored: government, education, society, and free expression. This is in stark contrast to some of our surrounding European neighbours – France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, and Iceland – where the non-religious enjoy ‘free and equal’ treatment in all or most of these areas.2
The report identifies three key areas in which there is still discrimination on religious grounds:
KEY FINDINGS
Education
- The religious ‘gaps’ in the Equality Act take their heaviest toll on our children. Although our nation’s schools should be beacons of tolerance and equality, the entrenchment of religion in British education systems shatters these aspirations. This report finds that exceptions to
accommodate faith schools, faith-based admissions and religious practice in schools are leading to a level of religious discrimination that would not be tolerated in any other area of society.
Caste-based discrimination
- Migration into the UK from Asia has meant caste-based discrimination and harassment has become a feature of British life. Although tens of thousands, perhaps even hundreds of thousands of people belonging to oppressed castes live in the UK, they still have no genuine protection from discrimination.
Employment
- There is evidence that some organisations might be using the ‘genuine occupational requirement’ exceptions in the Equality Act as ‘loopholes’ to avoid employing people who don’t belong to the ‘right’ religion in seemingly secular roles. This shuts off job opportunities for talented people who do not share the same beliefs.
It is perhaps in the area of education where religions, especially Anglicanism and Catholicism, the two largest providers of publicly-funded 'faith schools', can't resist the opportunity to discriminate both in their selection and treatment of children and in their employment of teachers. The National Secular society cite several examples of children being bullied and victimised for not sharing the religious views of the schools 'ethos' - public humiliation for not preying correctly, being coerced into attending a Catholic mass even though not a Catholic, valuable hours of study being lost to attend compulsory religious ceremonies, being excluded from the class for not saying the school prayer, etc.
The report listed several examples of discrimination, bullying and victimisation in faith schools, including:
- A child placed in a Catholic faith school in Medway which was not the parents' first choice but no other schools were available, and being made to attend all Catholic services, including Mass.
- An Atheist girl from Preston being chastised in front of the whole school for not praying properly.
- A sixth form girl from Gloucester made to miss crucial A-level lessons to attend compulsory religious ceremonies such as mass, and being threatened and punished for non-attendance.
- A student from Sheffield forbidden to participate in the class and being made to sit at the back and not speak or ask questions, because he wouldn't say the school prayer.
The report outlines a case study of Burford Primary School. Burford is of interest to me because I have ancestral family connections with this lovely Cotswold town and it was against the wall of the church on May 17, 1649, that three Levellers (early English socialists who had sided with Cromwell in the civil war but whom he then suppressed) who had taken refuge in the church along with about 150 others,
were dragged from the church and summarily executed by firing squad, by Puritan soldiers of Oliver Cromwell's New Model Army. The bullet holes can be seen in the wall. May 17 is now commemorated as Levellers Day.
But that event, relevant only in that it shows how draconium, discriminatory and blood-thirsty a fundamentalist theocratic government would be if it got the power fundamentalists crave, is not germane to this case study:
CASE STUDY: BURFORD PRIMARY SCHOOL
This is a summary of casework handled by the NSS. The full versions can be read at:
www.secularism.org.uk/opinion/2018/12/my-childrens-school-has-become-christian-by-default
www.secularism.org.uk/news/2019/11/coe-trust-to-introduce-alternative-to-worship-after-legal-challenge
Burford Primary School is a community ethos school in Oxfordshire. Lee and Lizanne Harris enrolled their children there “primarily because it was a non-faith-based community”, one of a minority of non-faith schools within four miles. The parents were both active contributors to the school, with Lizanne taking a leading role in the Parent-Teacher Association.
In 2015, the school joined the Church of England’s Oxford Diocesan Schools Trust (ODST) under the condition that its community school ethos would be protected. But the Harrises discovered through conversations with their children that regular assemblies were being held by the church in the school. The children said they were encouraged to participate in active prayer, Christianity was positioned as truth, and Bible stories were 'acted out' including beatings and crucifixion.
When the Harrises raised concerns, the head explained that she was legally entitled to run daily worship and was simply operating within the law.
The Harrises decided to withdraw their children from collective worship. This led to the children feeling “increasingly excluded” from assemblies and school activities, left to sit in side-rooms for long periods of time with a teaching assistant. “More and more it felt like our children were being discriminated against”, Lee said. “Daily activities that could help to provide an inclusive environment were seemingly being ignored.”
In July 2019, the Harrises launched a judicial review against Burford Primary School, arguing that the school must provide an inclusive assembly as a meaningful alternative for pupils withdrawn from Christian worship.
In response, ODST agreed to provide an inclusive alternative assembly for pupils withdrawn from Christian collective worship.
This case represents a rare win for the parents, but it shows the damage caused to inclusion and cohesion in school life, and the relationship and trust between school and parents, when religious worship is imposed. No parents should have to threaten legal action in order to ensure their children are treated equally to others. No school should impose collective worship.
When given the opportunity and excuse, the Anglicans who took over the running of Burford Primary School, clearly wasted no time in exploiting the provisions of the Education Act to avoid their obligations under the Equalities Act and seeking to impose an intolerant Christianity on non-believers and the children of non-believers, and to isolate and discriminate against non-believers. Not surprisingly, the Anglican Church is very much in favour of faith schools and the requirement in the Education Act that all schools should have a 'Christian ethos', including a daily act of worship.
The report lists instances of discrimination in their selection process by faith schools. These include:
- An autistic child from Sheffield unlikely to be accepted by any of the smaller-intake schools which are all faith schools, because his parents are not church-goers.
- Children in Guildford, Surrey being unable to get into their local school while the school bussed 60% of its intake in from surrounding counties.
- A girl in a London borough unable to get into a local school because of discrimination on religious grounds.
- A girl in Liverpool unable to get into the school of her parents' choice because of religious discrimination. As her parents point out, it would not be tolerated if secular schools refused to take children of religious families.
- A Girl in Warrington unable to get into high school because she was not baptised, her parents believing she had the right to chose her religion, or none, when she reached adulthood.
- A girl in Romford refused admission to her closest school because the family were Atheists.
- A school governor in Cambridge who reported that middle-class parents had succeeded in turning the local faith-schools into state-funded independent schools by selection criteria that excluded under-privileged children, resulting in segregated education on socioeconomic status.
- A parent from Bath who admitted lying to get his children into what was considered a better school than the alternative on a local sink estate where bullying and drugs were endemic.
- Atheist parents from Preston going to church regularly to get their children into a local school.
As can be seen, selection criteria are not only being abused by faith schools but are also being used to artificially boost church attendance figures. Religious bigots seem unable to resist abusing the little bit of power and privilege the Education Act affords them.
There is also considerable evidence of active discrimination on religious grounds in faith schools: There are from the Secular Society report:
TESTIMONIALS:
DISCRIMINATION WITHIN FAITH SCHOOLS
The following quotes are from parents, pupils and teachers who have experienced or witnessed discrimination and alienation due to the religious curriculum at faith schools. All quotes come from signatures of the No More Faith Schools campaign petition at www.nomorefaithschools.org.
“My children were always under pressure to believe in God in their C of E primary. It was seen as naughty/ disrespectful to question or disagree with the school ethos.” – AMANDA, BIRMINGHAM
“My son is currently being forced by his C of E secondary school (an academy) to take a GCSE in RE which means he will have to drop either history (his preferred choice of humanity) or triple science. This is a ridiculously stressful and unnecessary thing to put a young person through. This is the only secondary school in our town and we had no choice but to send him there.” – JENNY, BATH
“The overwhelming emphasis on religion at my children’s Church of England school is affecting my son’s mental health. He is constantly being reprimanded for questioning Christianity.” – NANCY, READING
“As someone who is about to finish their time at a Catholic school, I have seen first-hand over the last 13 years the toxic environments they can be. I hold no ill will towards religion, that’s not what this is about. This is about a more equal and inclusive society where people aren’t indoctrinated. Since finding out about my atheist beliefs, I have been singled out, berated and humiliated by more than one teacher, even though my personal religious beliefs are none of their business. Despite my respect for them, they evidently show a lack of respect for me.” – FRANKIE, GLASGOW
“My daughter was discriminated against repeatedly at age 4 for coming from a nonreligious family. First she wasn’t able to attend our local state school because we had to prove we attended Catholic mass for her to be admitted. Then she was repeatedly discriminated against at the Church of England school she attended. Despite not being voluntary aided, the local vicar and people from his congregation who did not have children or grandchildren at the school had taken up all the school’s governor positions. This resulted in the school holding mass rather than assembly every morning, making the children pray four times a day and overall an inordinate religious influence. Although we had officially requested that she not have to attend RE – as this was taken as an opportunity for indoctrination rather than teaching tolerance and understanding of different beliefs – we were told this would be too difficult for the school to implement so she was forced to attend. Following repeated night terrors after being told by the vicar that nails were put into Jesus’s hands and feet due to YOUR sins, she asked please not to go into assembly again and was
punished by the school for making this request.” – EUGENIA, YORK
“My son has to go to a Roman Catholic school because of SENS needs - his timetable includes five periods of RE every two weeks. This is more than any other subject and is straight up evangelising. Educational should be secular, faith schools severely limit the choice of pupils especially in areas like mine which is a grammar area.” – SALLY, CANTERBURY
“As a non-Catholic who has worked as a supply teacher in a Catholic school for two years, I have seen first-hand religious discrimination and horrible attitudes. This has no place in our society and would be illegal in any other work place.” – HAYLEY, GLASGOW
“I come from Slovenia where religion has no place in the educational system. I am now facing a tremendous problem finding a school for my child that will teach her to think for herself instead of valuing faith as a virtue. She has been given a place at a Church of England school because all non-religious schools in the area are full. I am an atheist, a scientist, an engineer. I suffer from anxiety knowing my kid is at risk of being indoctrinated into a religion… The only alternative the UK government is giving me is to have her home-schooled and deprive her of the social aspects of going to school.” – ELIZABETH, READING
“We have taken the very hard decision to remove our children from our local C of E school. The attempted indoctrination and divisive nature of the school became too much.” – CHRISTINA, PETERBOROUGH
“Our children’s infant and primary schools were both C of E, which caused them a great deal of confusion - their teachers telling one thing, when they knew we didn’t believe. Our son in particular became very upset about it. I find it almost beyond belief that in 2018, when only a minority of people in the UK still believe in a god, our local schools can still exclude on the basis of faith.” – CHRISTOPHER, GUILDFORD
“My great grandchildren attend a village faith school and are raised as free thinkers by their family which causes conflict and confusion for the children.” – MARK, COLCHESTER
Once again we see religious authorities unable and unwilling to resist abusing the power over others that the Education Act allows them, to abuse, bully and victimise those who disagree with them or who come from the 'wrong' background. Faiths are fulfilling their historical role of spreading division, disharmony and suspicion within society, made worse in a multicultural, multi-faith, multi-ethnic society such as the UK.
The National Secular Society report makes recommendations which would close these loopholes and pivileges in the Education Act which are enabling religious leaders to circumvent the intention and spirit of the Equalities Act and continue to bully, victimise and alienate minorities of their choice.
In the days when non-believers are
now in a very clear majority at 53%, totalling more than all other faiths together in the UK, and where believers make up only 3% of the key 'parent' age-group of 25-34, there is now no excuse for continuing these privileges for faiths in the UK. Because they have now shown themselves incapable of resisting the temptation to abuse what privileges they might have, it is time to remove these privileges and put an end to faith schools altogether.
Anglicans and Catholics comprise only 12% and 7% of the UK population yet are given an enormous and privileged status in the education of our children!
Religion should have no place in the education of children, other than as part of a curriculum which looks objectively at world religions and compares the value of faith over an objective assessment of the evidence in forming opinions - prospect which would no doubt terrify religious leaders and have them foaming at the mouth and screaming about discrimination and not being privileged enough.
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