By Toby Young, Telegraph
The Bishop of Oxford has come up with a delightful gift for the Anglican community this Easter. In his capacity as chairman of the Church of England’s Board of Education, he has declared that he wants to see an end to faith-based admissions in church schools.
In the latest edition of the Times Educational Supplement, the Rt Rev John Pritchard says the church’s mission should not be about “collecting nice Christians into safe places”. No, the church’s obligation should be towards the wider, non-Christian community:
I’m really committed to our schools being as open as they can be. I know that there are other philosophies that will start at the other end, that say that these are for our church families, but I have never been as convinced of that as others.
Every school will have a policy that has a proportion of places for church youngsters … what I would be saying is that number ought to be minimised because our primary function and our privilege is to serve the wider community. Ultimately I hope we can get the number of reserved places right down to 10%.
For defenders of faith schools, this is profoundly demoralising. You expect to be attacked by aggressive secularists like Richard Dawkins, but not by an Anglican bishop.
Read it all here.
The Bishop of Oxford has come up with a delightful gift for the Anglican community this Easter. In his capacity as chairman of the Church of England’s Board of Education, he has declared that he wants to see an end to faith-based admissions in church schools.
In the latest edition of the Times Educational Supplement, the Rt Rev John Pritchard says the church’s mission should not be about “collecting nice Christians into safe places”. No, the church’s obligation should be towards the wider, non-Christian community:
I’m really committed to our schools being as open as they can be. I know that there are other philosophies that will start at the other end, that say that these are for our church families, but I have never been as convinced of that as others.
Every school will have a policy that has a proportion of places for church youngsters … what I would be saying is that number ought to be minimised because our primary function and our privilege is to serve the wider community. Ultimately I hope we can get the number of reserved places right down to 10%.
For defenders of faith schools, this is profoundly demoralising. You expect to be attacked by aggressive secularists like Richard Dawkins, but not by an Anglican bishop.
Read it all here.
2 comments:
The Bishop of Oxford is correct with respect to wanting an end to faith-based admissions in church schools.
These schools should accept children of all religions. Children can learn about their own faith by attending Sunday school at the church of their parents.
Christian schools in this country accept children who have not experienced conversion. However, their parents must consent to sign a statement of faith based on the key elements of the Christian creed.
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