From left to right, Jonathan Bartley – co-Director of the Christian think tank Ekklesia; The Revd Jeremy Chadd – Vicar of St Chad’s Church, Sunderland; Derek McAuley – Chief Officer of the Unitarians; Rabbi Dr Jonathan Romain MBE – Chair of the Accord Coalition; Martin Pendergast – Chair of the Centre for the Study of Christianity and founding member of the Cutting Edge Consortium and Roman Catholic Caucus of the Lesbian & Gay Christian Movement.
Back in September a group of clergy and religious activists published the first ever manifesto for faith schools, calling for an end to discrimination in pupil admissions and teacher employment, as well as broadening the curriculum to make it obligatory for pupils at all state funded schools to study about a range of the belief systems in Britain today. Accord assisted the signatories in organising their manifesto, which attracted widespread media coverage. It was launched to coincide with the main political parties own manifesto drafting process ahead of the 2015 General Election.
Last week a group of the signatories met with the Number 10 Policy Unit, which has responsibility for developing Conservative Party policy. Signatories set out research on how some policies were currently working, as well as their desire for the state funded school system to be better orientated towards serving the common good and promoting the growth of mutual understanding.
Chair of the Accord Coalition, Rabbi Dr Jonathan Romain, who accompanied the group of fellow signatories, said ‘The invitation to come to 10 Downing Street was the clearest possible signal that the Government is interested in hearing what Accord has to say about education, including our view that faith should not have to involve discrimination in pupil admissions or teachers’ employment, along with our belief that religious studies should be broad and inclusive. The fact that those attending represented different faith groups within the Accord Coalition gave added weight to the call for faith and fairness to go hand in hand.’
