Being a newly minted resident of the United Kingdom, I ve learned that much can surprise you in this

Being a newly minted resident of the United Kingdom, I ve learned that much can surprise you in this gloriously beautiful country with utterly filthy weather. One thing that might catch an American atheist off-guard is how the UK, a country far more secular than the US, maintains official ties with religion that are unthinkable in a country with the First Amendment.
One of these ties is the existence of state-funded faith schools . Historically these were Christian schools that agreed to teach a general state-mandated curriculum in exchange universal orlando hotels for being funded by the government. In the mid 90s, the Labour government expanded the religions that were allowed under this system. Today, though the vast majority of faith schools are either Church of England or Catholic, there are also Jewish, Muslim, Sikh, and Hindu schools all funded by tax-payers.
All of these things are bad, and that is only compounded by the fact that they are funded by taxpayers. Sadly, because the UK lacks a strong separation of church and state, they are perfectly legal. However the state has put its foot down when it comes to faith schools teaching Creationism.
One of the schools, Sevenoaks Christian School, says that while it won t teach creationism as an alternative to evolution, it will teach children aged 11 to 18 that God made the world and loves what he has made in religious education class.
After that very poor start they are quick to assure that they do not share the rigid Creationist s insistence on literalistic interpretations of the Bible and make some soothing sounds about getting along with evolution. Then things go downhill fast:
We will teach creation as a scientific theory and we will always affirm very clearly our position as Christians, universal orlando hotels i.e. that Christians believe that God's creation of the world is not just a theory but a fact with eternal consequences for our planet and for every person who has ever lived on it.
The headmaster of the school now claims this is an obsolete document and that science class would be kept free of Creationism, a subject that would be reserved for assembly (collective worship), adding:
universal orlando hotels In the end, these are the dangers you confront when you allow state money to go towards segregated sectarian education. Though there are many schools where the religious aspect will be merely decorative universal orlando hotels and the curriculum utterly indistinguishable from a fully secular school, there will always be those so devout that they are unable to separate their religious beliefs from their legal obligations. universal orlando hotels Paying universal orlando hotels such people to educate children and expecting them to keep their beliefs separate from their jobs is like giving a match and wood to a pyromaniac universal orlando hotels and asking him to build furniture. universal orlando hotels Sooner or later, something is going to be wrecked.
Coming from Canada where taxes go towards Catholic universal orlando hotels schools, this isn t that shocking.  I would think that as more UK residents find out about it, they ll force the government to reverse this decision.
Be careful not to confuse a school with a faith-based ethos with fundamentalist creationists. I am a non-christian working in a high-profile faith school which Dawkins has criticised universal orlando hotels frequently (baseless accusations of Creationism being taught in the classroom). I can assure that not only is Neo-Darwinian evolution in the curriculum, epigenetics and all modern refinements are taught. To make the instant assumption that faith-based schools are Creationist is misleading and irresponsible journalism.
The last paragraph clearly says that many faith schools have a indistinguishable universal orlando hotels curriculum. However, this is slightly besides the point. The fact remains universal orlando hotels that there are going to be some new schools which teach creationism as fact/science. That is just ridiculous particularly when you consider it s paid for by tax. I for one am very much against all faith schools because they are segregative, and because religion is effectively universal orlando hotels forced upon the children. Children should not be brought up like this in school, because it has such a huge effect on them for the rest of their lives they should be allowed to think for themselves. In addition, it effectively labels a child as being from X religion, when they have not had the chance to think about alternatives to God and, really, they don t know.
Firstly Joe I am afraid universal orlando hotels I am going to call BULLSH*T universal orlando hotels on you for the baseless accusations accusation. You are familiar I take it with the legal principles of slander and libel. If what Prof D said is so egregious and untrue why has your school done nothing to legally protect itself against further libels by taking him to court or obtaining injunctions? Ah . let me guess. Dont have a leg to stand on perhaps?
Secondly have the courage of your convictions universal orlando hotels .which school would this be then? Let your audience decide. We are all smart cookies here and can do our own research and decision making. Is it, perchance, one of the ones in his documentary work shown on TV? Are there reports, perchance, other than Prof D s out there on the interwebby?
As his work shows, stealth creationism is an insidious tactic in some UK faith schools, more apparent universal orlando hotels in some than others. The sort of sly nod nod wink wink shell game between science and RE classes that is discussed in this article goes on, and that fact has been well established.
And my main reason for doubting the words you type. Neo-Darwinian evolution is a dog whistle if I ever heard one.  Eugenie Scott has more than comprehensively shown that in her research into stealth creationist creep.
universal orlando hotels I don t like the idea of so many children being segregated by religious affiliation for most of their childhood. It seems like an environment like that might inherently create extra divisiveness in the culture between the different religious groups.
There are historical reasons why Faith Schools are so prominent in the UK. Namely that the Church of England, the Scottish universal orlando hotels Kirk and Roman Catholics started providing free education to poor children much earlier than the state did. Thus when the state started universal orlando hotels providing universal education it was cheaper and easier to fund such schools where they already existed than build and staff new schools.
Of course the provision of basic education in the 19th cetuary does t justify continued state funding for such schools in the 21st! One only has to look at the ongoing sectarian violence in Northern Ireland and parts of Scotland to see how damaging and divisive dividing kids along religious lines from an early age is.
I m glad your article mentions the BHA, who oppose all state funding for faith schools, but it should be noted there is also the National Secular Society and the Accord Coalition (which includes many religious groups and is headed by a Rabbi) who are also campaigning to end this once valuable universal orlando hotels but now hideous anachronism.
universal orlando hotels Secularism is under threat at the political level in the UK like never before and has been since 1997. But the UK is becoming a more secular country at grass roots level than it has ever been. At some point in the not too distant future the balance will tip. It can t come soon enough for my peace of mind.
The situation is very similar in Canada, especially Alberta. Publicly-funded religious schools in Alberta teach creationism, and evolution is taught only in an optional grade 11 biology course, and then only superficially with no mention of human evolution.
No Free School is allowed to teach creationism. The Free School universal orlando hotels application guidance published by the Department universal orlando hotels now specifically says creationism, intelligent design and similar universal orlando hotels ideas cannot be taught as valid scientific theories.
Furthermore, the funding agreements universal orlando hotels for all Free Schools state that divine universal orlando hotels creation should not be taught as an evidence-based view or theory (a scientific theory) in any lesson: so if a school did do this they would be putting their funding at risk. We are confident that the Free School project you mention will follow the rules, having explored these questions robustly with them at interview.
I find the differences in approaches to faith between the UK and the US absolutely ridiculous. On one hand, the US is supposed to be the secular one but is crazy about religion while the UK is perceived as secular but has a state religion! However, and this is a big sticking point for me, I think the US is better off. Seriously. The US has a constitution that actually spells out how religion should not be involved in politics etc. Sure, it is a bit of a hassle trying to enforce that but at least it is there, in black and white. The UK doesn t have any of that, so any time someone kicks off in a religious way, they will often get a free ride because the law is on their side.  I have only really begun to appreciate this silent threat with the increase in faith schools, the anti-gay marriage lobby and women in the Church of England. It sucks.
I utterly despise  the shameful fact that the UK still has this anachronistic link between state education and faith schools, no matter what particular brand of woo woo they espouse. As in our politics, the state education system should be run on a secular basis where We don t do God .
This crapola parade got worse under that stealth god botherer Blair and now the Tory party are in faith creep into secular society is just getting worse.  Its a shambles now with all these different types of academies and all the rest of the twaddle. Secularise or stop their funding say I.
I too am a devout atheist and as much as I want to denounce the practice universal orlando hotels of taxpayers money funding what I perceive to be nonsensical theories, I hold out hope that scientific discoveries and constant questioning of our beliefs will prevail and educate parents NOT to send their children to these schools. There is no such thing as right or wrong there is only human PERCEPTION of what is right or wrong.
The English dictionary actually has the word antidisestablishmentarianism .  Moves to disestablish the Church universal orlando hotels of England (other faiths or denominations are no