Expansion of religious schools
The expansion of religious schools is totally at odds with public
opinion
81% of those polled in Leicester by the Leicester Mercury
were opposed to an
expansion in the number of faith schools, February 2006.
96% of respondents to BBC Radio 4's Sunday programme on-line poll
thought that "faith schools breed segregation", October
2005.
Only 49.7% of Muslim men in a study by the Islamic Human Rights
Commission found that had a preference for Muslim schools for their
children, and only 42.9% of Muslim women, October 2005.
96% of respondents to a New Statesman online poll thought ‘Tony
Blair
should end his support for faith schools’, September 2005.
64% of respondents to an ICM poll opposed the idea of government
funding
for faith schools, August 2005.
53% of respondents to a YouGov poll believed the Government ‘should
encourage the parents of all faiths to send their children to the
same
schools’, May 2004.
80% of respondents to a MORI poll believed all schools should be
open to
those of any religion or belief, November 2001
80% of respondents to a YouGov poll opposed the expansion of faith
schools,
November 2001.
79% of respondents to a NOP poll say separating children according
to
religious belief is as wrong as separating them according to colour
or accent,
June 2000.
It is totally at odds with the current religious profile
of the
country
Only 7.4% of adults in England and Wales go to any church on an
average
Sunday. Total church membership is 12.2%, Religious Trends, 2002/3
35% British adults in a YouGov survey did not believe in God and
21% didn't
know, December 2004.
And especially of young people, who are the people actually to be
educated in schools
43% of 18-34 year olds in a BBC poll described themselves as having
no
faith, November 2005.
65% young people are not religious, according to Young People in
Britain:
The Attitudes and Experiences of 12-19 Year Olds, a research report
for the
DfES (2004). (Though religious belief amongst the young has declined
by
10% in less than 10 years, moral attitudes have not and fewer young
people
are racially prejudiced.)
77% 18-year-olds in a NOP poll were not religious, 1999
And religious schools will be even less appropriate in the future
–
religion is declining generation on generation
A survey of 3000 people in England, Scotland and Wales in 2000 found
the
proportion of people who say they belong to no religion has grown
from 31%
to 44%. (British Social Attitudes Survey, National Centre for Social
Research,
Nov 2000)
A ESRC funded study led by Professor Voas of Manchester University
found
that religious belief has a ‘half-life’ of one generation
and is in progressive
decline (Religion in Britain: Neither Believing nor Belonging, David
Voas and
Alasdair Crockett, Sociology, Vol. 39, No. 1, 11-28 (2005))
Notes and further information on faith schools:
2006 BHA Report on Religion and schools: http://tinyurl.com/r4mj8
Archive of evidence against faith schools, 2000-06: http://tinyurl.com/avqy6
General information against faith schools: http://tinyurl.com/f5l34
BHA’s briefing for Lords Debate of 08/02/06 http://tinyurl.com/dkp23
And for Westminster Hall debate of 14/02/06 http://tinyurl.com/ak8g9
More statistics on religiosity are at http://tinyurl.com/osv8d
|