We are glad to see that the Times Educational Supplement has published a letter from Accord, after last week featuring an editorial that we felt unfairly caricatured those concerned about how faith schools operate. The orignial article is here:
http://www.tes.co.uk/article.aspx?storycode=6015287; our response is below.
Dear Sir,
I was sorry that your editorial last week quoted the recent opinion poll finding that 57% of people think that religious admissions undermine community cohesion, but without acknowledging that the poll was commissioned by Accord or giving any further results of the poll elsewhere in the paper.
Accord is a coalition of people with both religious and non-religious beliefs, including clergy from many different faith groups. This undermines Gerald Kelly’s dismissal of the poll as being the concerns of “assorted atheists” who think religion is a “busted flush”. Moreover, Accord campaigns not against the principle of faith schools but against their discriminatory practices in both admissions and employment, an unfairness that must worry all who value best educational practices.
For the record, the poll, carried out by YouGov, also found that 72% “agreed or strongly agreed” that “all state funded schools should operate recruitment and employment policies that do not discriminate on grounds of religion or belief” and 75% “agreed or strongly agreed” that “all state funded schools should teach an objective and balanced syllabus for education about a wide range of religious and non-religious beliefs”.
What is important is to get away from the old ideological rows between those for or against faith schools, and instead look at what are their long term effects on society. Our worry is that unless we change the way they operate and the narrow view many of them teach, they will come to be seen as creating divisions at the very time we should be building bridges between communities.
Yours faithfully
Rabbi Dr Jonathan Romain
Chair, Accord Coalition
Alex Kennedy is the Coalition Coordinator
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