Do you believe that every child should be able to decide for themselves what they believe, or don’t believe, about religion? Despite the fact that a majority of people in the UK would answer with a resounding ‘yes’, schools across this country continue to divide up children by religious beliefs they are too young to confidently hold for themselves.

It all adds up to a morally broken, discriminatory, and outdated education system - in which one in three UK state schools is a so-called ‘faith’ school, paid for by taxpayers but run by religious organisations! These schools divide communities by religion, and often by race and class too. Because there are so many more faith schools than there is demand for them, parents are often forced to send their children to them against their will. Or, just as bad, forced to travel many miles to the nearest school that will let them in.

It's our Education Campaigner's job to challenge religious discrimination in admissions, employment, and the curriculum - and to campaign for a transformed, fairer education system, in which no child, no teacher, and no parent faces barriers because of religion.

He works for: 

• An end to state religious schools and religious discrimination in school admissions;

• An end to narrow and closed-minded forms of religious education and to compulsory collective worship in schools;

• Comprehensive and inclusive relationships and sex education in all schools, with accurate information about safe sex, women’s reproductive rights, and LGBT people; and

• An end to illegal religious schools, to ensure the safety and education of the thousands of pupils at risk in these settings.

But to do any of this, he needs your support. And, in light of the coronavirus pandemic, we need your help more than ever to continue to employ him through 2022.

Over a third of all state schools in England and Wales – more than 7,000 – are run by religious groups. In Northern Ireland, the proportion is considerably higher. These schools are legally entitled to discriminate against children on the basis of beliefs they are too young to confidently hold for themselves, which serve to divide communities rather than bring them together. Shockingly, the UK Government is committed not only to increasing the number of English religious schools, but to establish more that are 100% religiously selective in their admissions. What’s more, by failing to take a strong line on how religious schools deliver relationships and sex education, it has also permitted the rights of children to be swept aside in favour of the vested interests of religious groups.

We believe that children should be given the freedom to form their own beliefs and discover their own sense of meaning and purpose, without imposing any religion. 

And we think it’s just as important that all schools adequately reflect the diversity of our society, while emphasising our shared human values and how to live well together. 

The work of our Education Campaigns Manager has never been more important than it is now. It must be allowed to continue in 2022 as well. 

At a time when society is more divided than ever, it is vital that children from different backgrounds learn with, from, and about one another in open and inclusive schools with equally open and inclusive curriculums. Please, donate generously today.

Key successes of the Faith Schools Campaign this year include:

Supporting local people in Oldham, Kingston, Soham, and Peterborough to organise hard-hitting campaigns to oppose new faith schools being undemocratically imposed on their communities

Providing oral evidence to the Northern Ireland Assembly on a new single education system to replace its current system of schools organised on religious lines

Lending support and evidence in an ongoing High Court challenge in Somerset to a community school being merged into a faith school, explaining how this outcome discriminates against non-religious families

Securing hard-hitting research into compulsory Christian worship in England, showing how 60% of parents oppose the current law being enforced

Publishing new research exposing the extent to which faith schools abuse their discriminatory powers to refuse to admit children in care

After a long battle, successfully pressuring the UK Government and Ofsted to condemn a misogynistic, anti-consent RSE resource being used in English and Welsh Catholic schools

Securing UK Government proposals to shut illegal religious schools in England. This would not be happening without our Education Campaigner, who was instrumental in bringing attention to this issue

Arranging the introduction and supporting the progression of a parliamentary Bill to replace compulsory Christian worship with inclusive assemblies that are suitable for all children regardless of belief

Securing a commitment from the Welsh Government that Relationships and Sexuality Education must be taught in a ‘neutral, factual way’, including in faith schools

Supporting the introduction of the new Welsh Government curriculum, which for the first time puts humanist beliefs and values on a par with the major religions in law as part of ‘Religion, Values, and Ethics’ (RVE) education

Hitting back at outlandish Church of England claims that forcing non-religious children to pray in schools can be considered ‘inclusive’

Earning Ofsted’s confirmation that high-quality RE teaching in schools must include education covering humanism, too

Providing public support for a teacher in Batley who was unfairly suspended from his job after teaching a lesson on blasphemy, which some Muslims deemed blasphemous

Highlighting where Muslim religious schools and groups in England have been failing to comply with the law on LGBT-inclusive Relationships and Sex Education

Highlighting Admissions Code breaches from Charedi Jewish schools that ban children whose mothers wear skirts 

Pressuring the Government to close a school run by an extreme Christian sect which continues to flout the law by teaching creationism as scientifically valid

Providing evidence to the Church of England on how its discriminatory school admissions promote racial segregation, institutional racism, and racial inequality

Giving oral evidence to the Northern Ireland Education Committee on how religious discrimination in school employment harms the local community

Working with politicians in Wales to challenge the law on compulsory collective worship, and issuing expert evidence to the Welsh Government on how this archaic Westminster-drafted law undermines the new Curriculum for Wales

Publicising new data from Ofsted showing that 94% of parents do not think about religion when selecting a school

Contributing to a UN consultation on freedom of thought, calling upon the UK and all states to develop a more objective, pluralistic, and critical curriculum around teaching about religions and humanism

Further actions include:

Responding to all relevant official consultations across the UK, including a Department for Education consultation on changes to the School Admissions Code in England, prompting over 1,000 of our members and supporters to submit their own responses. Together we called for an end to faith-based discrimination against children who are or were in care.

Responding to numerous consultations in Wales, including on the new curriculum guidance for Religion, Values, and Ethics and for Relationships and Sexuality Education.

In Northern Ireland, making expert submissions on two proposed private member's bills, one on the removal of the teacher exemption to employment equality law, and another on the Integrated Education Bill. 

Supporting and advising hundreds of parents and carers whose children have been discriminated against in the education system on the grounds of their beliefs, as well as teachers who are worried about how these issues are handled in their schools.

Meeting ministers, shadow ministers, and civil servants, and briefing MPs and peers, particularly members of the All-Party Parliamentary Humanist Group (APPHG), on legislation related to religious schools and education in Parliament.

Generating significant media attention for Humanists UK's campaigns work. Stories on our work featured in every national newspaper, and received coverage on various national and local TV and radio stations throughout England and Wales. Highlights include speaking on BBC One’s Sunday Morning Live programme about the importance of teaching humanism in RE, participating in Radio 4’s Beyond Belief as part of a panel discussing the teaching of religion and science, and appearing on multiple local BBC radio stations to talk about the Inclusive Assemblies Bill and why the law on collective worship needs to change. We also secured major media coverage of our Fertile Heart exposé and illegal schools stories across a range of high-profile media outlets.  

Sitting on the steering group of the Accord Coalition for Inclusive Education, and working alongside other organisations like the Religious Education Council and the Sex Education Forum on issues of shared concern.

With your support, we can slow and stop the spread of faith schools - and advance a vision of a better, fairer education system - for every child, and every parent, and every community. Will you help us?

With your donations, we’ll be able to employ our Education Campaigns Manager throughout 2022 and continue to fund our work to curb the rise of religious influence and privilege in the education system. Any money donated over and above our target will be used exclusively on furthering Humanists UK’s campaigns. 

If you’re a UK taxpayer, please also indicate that Humanists UK can claim Gift Aid on your donation so that we can reclaim 25p tax from HMRC for every £1 you donate.

Thank you for reading this far. Please, donate generously today.

Richy Thompson
Director of Public Affairs and Policy, Humanists UK