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Daily worship in schools should end, according to teachers and education experts, who have called the legal requirement “antiquated” because England is not predominantly Christian.
The 2021 census revealed last week that for the first time less than half of the population in England and Wales described themselves as Christian, while 37% said they had “no religion”.
Currently, all state schools are legally required to provide a daily act of “mass worship” that is “largely Christian.” Many heads admit privately that they no longer adhere to this, preferring to run less religious assemblies more consistent with their various student associations.
But Schools Minister Nick Gibb confirmed last year that his department would investigate any alleged breaches of this requirement. Professor Russell Sandberg, an expert on law and religion at Cardiff University, said: “The legal framework is stuck in the 1940s. The census underlines that requiring daily worship is quite archaic and discriminatory.”
Nikki McGee, head teacher in religious education for Prerna Trust, which runs 18 schools in Norfolk, said: “Mass worship is pointless in schools that are not faith-based. Census results show that it is ancient.
Mark Shepstone, assistant head of Bungay High School in Suffolk, said the mass worship requirement was “simply ignored” in many schools and called on the government to scrap it altogether after the census results. “In all the schools I have worked in since 2007, there has never been a daily act of mass worship,” he said. “We still do assemblies and they will often have a moral message, but it’s not every day.”
He added that he could count on one hand the number of Christian assemblies he had seen in 15 years.
A head of a secondary school in the south-west, who asked not to be named, said most of the school leaders of the faithless schools had violated the law when organizing the assembly. “We all dance around it, but in fact it is not mass worship. It’s like a group pastoral message.”
The Law on Mass Worship was passed in 1944, requiring all students to study religious education. Parents and sixth formers may opt out now, but many education experts say it’s time for the government to rethink all of its policies on religion in schools.
Sandberg called the census a “wake-up call” for ministers. “There is a reluctance in Westminster to discuss religion because of its historic power,” he said, “but the law violates children’s human rights because they have no choice.”
He said that, because more than a third of schools are faith-based, with religious schools especially prevalent at the primary level, many children would have a Christian education they would not choose.
“If your local school is faith-based, religious principles permeate everything and you can’t opt out,” he added.
A spokesman for the Department of Education said there were no plans to review the law. She said: “Collective worship encourages students to reflect on the concept of belief and the role it plays in society. Schools are able to tailor their provision to the needs of their students.”
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