Posted on 03/09/2018 6:06:00 PM PST by marshmallow
They said changing admissions rules for new faith schools would be 'divisive'
The former head of the Anglican Communion has joined Richard Dawkins in attacking a policy that would allow the Catholic Church to open new schools.
Dr Rowan Williams, the former Archbishop of Canterbury, co-signed a letter to the Daily Telegraph saying it was “difficult to bring to mind a more divisive policy, or more deleterious to social cohesion” than removing an admissions cap that prevents new faith schools from selecting more than half of their intake from their own religion.
The cap effectively prevents the Catholic Church from opening new schools because, once they reach the 50 per cent limit, they would have to turn away students because of their Catholic faith – something that would violate canon law.
However, the letter implies that children do not really have any religion, saying that removing the cap would allow schools to “label children at the start of their lives with certain beliefs and then divide them up on that basis.”
Other signatories to the letter include Andrew Copson, Chief Executive of Humanists UK, Rabia Mirza, Director of British Muslims for Secular Democracy, and Conservative MP Sarah Wollaston.
In their 2017 general election manifesto, the Conservative Party pledged to remove the cap, calling it “unfair and ineffective” and acknowledged that it prevented the Catholic Church from opening new schools.
The manifesto reiterated a pledge that Prime Minister Theresa May had made shortly after taking office the previous year.
In December 2016, the Diocese of East Anglia said it was ready to open eight new Catholic schools once the cap was lifted, citing a desperate shortage of school places for Catholic children.
(Excerpt) Read more at catholicherald.co.uk ...
The darkness that has descended over the U.K. is horrific.
I don’t understand. Catholic schools in the UK can’t restrict admission to just Catholic students? They have to let at least half of the students be non-Catholic?
I wonder if the madrassas are limited by the same riles
And Mother Ireland ... [[sniff]]
Henry the 2018th I am, Iam.
Catholic schools should be allowed to have only Catholic students.
I was actually trying to tell if that WAS the rule.
Are Catholic schools forced to accept non-Catholic students even when there are Catholic students who want to attend?
“more deleterious to social cohesion”
These are the new buzzwords as the anti-God tools of Satan try to dismantle Christian society- They will claim that Christian values are antithetical to ‘social cohesion’ and claim Christianity breeds hate and divisiveness- Denying Christians the right to express their beliefs openly in the name of ‘social unity’-
Of course these tools of Satan will be the ones thwarting social unity by forcing Christians to abandon their public faith
“... removing an admissions cap that prevents new faith schools from selecting more than half of their intake from their own religion.”
No Brit had ever better tell me he comes from a free country again.
I wonder if the madrassas are limited by the same riles
I understand you point, but why would any sane person send their child to a madrassas?
Given that obvious fact how could a madrassas meet such an obligation. It seems to me that a madrassas would have to leave half of their seats unfilled.
‘...the cap would allow schools to “label children at the start of their lives with certain beliefs and then divide them up on that basis.”’
Even easier, simply stamp their arms with a numerical govt code?
Not exactly.
The UK allows for public funding of some religious schools - these are called 'Faith schools' and (to use terminology familiar to Americans) are a kind of hybrid public/religious school. 'Faith Schools' that already exist are required to offer places to students of other faiths (or of no faith) in cases where they are not full. They can give priority to students of their own faith, but if they still have spaces must offer them to all.
The rules apply to Faith Schools of any type - not just Catholic. In fact, the largest number of Faith Schools are Church of England - Catholic schools are second with much smaller numbers from other groups.
Since 2010, new (not existing) Faith Schools have been required to offer 50% of their places as 'open places' where religion is not considered as part of the entry criteria. This was done as part of a deal to allow an expansion of more government funded 'free schools' - again, to use US terminology, these could be considered as public charter schools. It was basically a compromise to get those free schools into existence. Note - those 50% of 'open places' could still go to students of the school's faith. They were just as entitled to them as anybody else, so in practice, such schools would likely still have more than 50% of their students coming from their core faith.
The Conservative government pledged last year to remove this 50% cap on these newer schools. They are now proceeding with plans to do this and at the moment it is likely to happen - this article is about people who oppose that change, but they are fairly unlikely to succeed.
All of the above only applies to 'Free Schools'. It doesn't apply to any of the other types of schools that exist in the UK - and that's quite a complex mix. Free Schools are only one part of the state system.
And private/independent schools are another thing again.
It’s the MUSLIMS.
Its ALWAYS the muslims.
And over HERE..........wait for it......................
https://twitter.com/RichardDawkins/status/969939225180364805
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.