A Muslim pupil at a London school has lost a High Court challenge against its ban on prayer rituals. But in a nation slowly turning demographically Muslim, how long can that ruling endure?
The girl wanted permission for Muslim children to pray en masse in the school’s yard.
Last year, until the ban, the court heard up to 30 children were praying using blazers to kneel on. She argued the ban was discriminatory.
The Bible says:
Prov 18:17 The first in his own cause seems just; but his neighbour cometh and searcheth him.
In its own evidence, Michaela Community School in Wembley told the High Court that ‘allowing prayer rituals risked ‘undermining inclusion’ among pupils.’
The school argued its prayer policy was justified after it faced death and bomb threats linked to religious observance on site. It told the court of concerns about a ‘culture shift’ towards ‘segregation between religious groups and intimidation within the group of Muslim pupils’.
There is no legal requirement for schools to allow pupils a time or a place to pray. Michaela is a non-faith state secondary free school, independent of the local authority, but around half the school’s roughly 700 pupils are Muslim. In Britain as a whole it’s 8% and rising. The 6.5% of Muslims in the UK population are having more children than the rest.
The judgment
Mr Justice Linden gave an 83-page written judgement dismissing the student’s case. In it, he said, ‘The claimant at the very least impliedly accepted, when she enrolled at the school, that she would be subject to restrictions on her ability to manifest her religion.’
Indeed, pupils at Michaela are not allowed to gather anywhere in groups of more than four.
They must focus on teachers during lessons, stay silent in corridors, and observe restrictions on uniforms.
The school is often referred to a Britain’s strictest school. It is rated as outstanding by Ofsted.
Dismissing the student’s case, His Honour said: ‘She knew that the school is secular and her own evidence is that her mother wished her to go there because it was known to be strict.
‘She herself says that, long before the prayer ritual policy was introduced, she and her friends believed that prayer was not permitted at school and she therefore made up for missed prayers when she got home.’
Islam requires prayers at specific times of the day, but also allows for ‘Qada’ or ‘make-up’ prayer for any that have been missed. The court heard Muslim pupils were already doing that.
Yet Sarah Hannett KC, representing the girl, argued that the school’s policy had the ‘practical effect of only preventing Muslims from praying, because their prayer by nature has a ritualised nature rather than being internal.’
Islam is indeed a religion of outward show, a religion of ‘works’, as we say.
‘Victory for all schools’
The free school’s founder and head teacher Katharine Birbalsingh, said the ruling was a ‘victory for all schools’.
‘If parents do not like what Michaela is, they do not need to send their children to us,’ she said. We say if people do not like the UK’s Christian faith, they do not need to come here.
Meanwhile, the ruling pleased the National Secular Society (NSS) and Humanists UK. NSS said, ‘We are educators, politicians, religious leaders, academics and other individuals and representatives of organisations working across British society.
‘While our views on the merits or otherwise of faith schools are varied, where we do agree is that regardless of their religious character our state schools should be open, inclusive, and diverse.’
The Humanists UK, and the National Secular Society both say faith have no place in school. However, they mean apart from their own, secularist faith, of course.
We say schools in our constitutionally-Christian nation should celebrate and follow the Christian faith.
Arrange a meeting at your church →
Education Secretary responds
Education Secretary Gillian Keegan said, ‘I have always been clear that headteachers are best placed to make decisions in their school.
‘Michaela is an outstanding school, and I hope this judgment gives all school leaders the confidence to make the right decisions for their pupils.’
Ms Keegan recently issued guidance that schools should not allow pupils to change sex, or gender. However, she refuses to legislate to that effect, and appears powerless when head teachers ‘make a decision’ as she might say, to ignore it.
Which way forward?
The court judgment is a good outcome, but one which still raises questions about the direction our nation is moving in. Not least, we could wonder how long the establishment can maintain its current secular spiritual vacuum against the relentless rise of Islam if they refuse to return the United Kingdom to our Christian heritage and confess, as the Apostle puts it:
Php 2:11b that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
Read our related articles here:
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delays schools “transgender” guidance →
NHS bans puberty blockers for children →
UK in disarray over “puberty blockers” →
Read and pray
READ: Gen 1:27-28; Ezekiel 16:49; Romans 1:25-27; 1 Cor 6:9; Gal 5:19; Col 3:5; Hebrews 13:4.
PRAY: for the repeal of woke laws.
Pray for the Church to wake up and stand up for King Jesus.
Pray for our leaders to repent and seek the Lord.
Pray for our children.
Pray for what is hidden to be revealed, and go in to your child’s school and demand to see their policies on sex education and transgenderism.
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