On the eve of landmark case in the Supreme Court on discriminatory admissions to a Jewish faith school, Andrew Copson, the British Humanist Association’s (BHA) Director of Education and Public Affairs, was interviewed on BBC’s Newsnight about the BHA’s involvement with the case and its stance on faith schools more generally.
In June the Court of Appeal found the admissions criteria of the Jewish Free School (JFS) in breach of the Race Relations Act 1976 (RRA), as it was clear that the entry criteria was based not on religious practice or faith but on ethnicity.
Should the Supreme Court rule to overturn the verdict, Mr Copson stated it would be ‘a dangerous message to send out’ and that ‘the whole case has illustrated the essential divisiveness of faith schools being allowed to discriminate.’
Mr Copson made the point that the state itself has contributed and supported the inequitable policy of faith schools through funding and, when asked if there should be open access to faith schools, Mr Copson responded, ‘Faith schools are entirely state funded in the main, 60 years ago religious groups provided a lot of funding for their state funded schools, it was a genuine partnership, and so they’ve retained certain control over admissions. But these days 100% of the running costs are paid by the state and so there’s absolutely no reason why what is essentially a public service should be denied to any children whatever their beliefs or the beliefs of their parents.’
When confronted with the proposition that many parents have a preference for their child to go a faith school, Mr Copson responded, ‘There’s absolutely no evidence that faith schools are any different from community schools in creating their values. There’s also no evidence that faith schools per se are responsible for the improved academic results of pupils that go to them.’
Mr Copson concluded that the state should not ‘be taking on the role of preserving the religious identity of certain groups with its funds. If religious groups and religious parents want to raise their children in a certain tradition that’s their right…but they don’t need state assistant to do so’.
Notes
You can watch the interview on BBC iPlayer at http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00nn6rg/Newsnight_26_10_2009/
The British Humanist Association has intervened at every stage of this case and is making a further intervention in the Supreme Court hearing. For more information see humanists.uk/news/view/306
For further information, contact Naomi Phillips on 020 7079 3585.
The British Humanist Association (BHA) is the national charity representing and supporting the non-religious and campaigning for an end to religious privilege and to discrimination based on religion or belief. It is the largest organisation in the UK working for a secular state.