The National Governors’ Association (NGA) has suggested scrapping Christian assemblies in state schools.
The NGA, which told Christian Voice that one-fifth of state school governing bodies are members, says staff are “unable or unwilling” to lead pupils in prayer and that worship is ‘meaningless’ to non-Christian schoolchildren.
In a policy statement, the body said schools were “not places of worship but places of education” and “the worship of a religion or religions in all schools should not be … compulsory.”
“Few schools can or do meet the current legislative requirement for a daily act of collective worship, partly because there isn’t space in most schools to gather students together and often staff are unable or unwilling to lead a collective worship session,” it said.
“There is also the added issue that worship implies belief in a particular faith – if the ‘act of worship’ is not in your faith then it is meaningless as an act of worship.”
The NGA said dropping collective Christian worship from schools’ remit would “not prevent them from holding assemblies that address a whole range of topics, including faith and belief.”
The Church of England said dropping Christian assemblies would “deny children the opportunity to experience something they wouldn’t experience elsewhere in their lives”.
In 2012, Welsh Evangelical Alliance National Assembly Liaison Officer Jim Stewart said of Christian worship in schools: “If this right were taken away from us it would lead to further marginalisation of Christianity in public life. This is not just something that is beneficial to us though – it is for the common good and other faith groups in Wales are supportive of it as are people who don’t have a particular faith.”
Naturally, the British Humanist Association and the National Secular Society welcomed the NGA’s comments, with the BHA saying schools should be “holding inclusive assemblies that forward the spiritual, moral, social and cultural development of all pupils and staff”.
However, it isn’t at all clear what ‘spiritual, moral, social and cultural’ values would qualify as ‘inclusive’ nor whom or what they could be founded on if not on the God who brought this nation victorious through two world wars.
It is no good appealing to ‘multi-culturalism.’ Even though Islam is the UK’s fastest-growing religion, its practitioners still only number 5% of the population. Our African and Caribbean populations are overwhelmingly Christian. Britain is not ‘multi-cultural’ in any meaningful sense.
For some fifteen hundred years, as they became converted, rulers in this nation increasingly rooted their laws and morality in what Almighty God revealed in the Bible, revering Jesus Christ as King of kings. This process culminated in the late-ninth-century law-code of King Alfred the Great, who based his ‘dooms’ on the laws of God in the Pentateuch, the five books of Moses.
In a country with such a rich Christian heritage, who defines what is ‘right’ and what is ‘wrong’ if not Almighty God? The school head? The school governors? On what basis?
A collective act of worship has been a statutory requirement in state schools since the Education Act 1944 stated that ‘the school day in every county school and every voluntary school shall begin with collective worship on the part of all the pupils in attendance’. The Act gave parents the right to withdraw their child, perhaps in favour of separate arrangements. The Education Reform Act 1988 reaffirmed that position and reinforced it, stating that the act of worship should be ‘mainly of a broadly Christian character’.
Children in state schools should engage in a collective act of worship because ours is constitutionally and demographically a Christian country. As we lose respect for the sacred, we lose respect for each other. Britain would become just a bit more brutal, crass and disrespectful as a result.
The elimination of school prayer would rank alongside amoral sex education and the silencing of any possibility of creation as a prime motivator of antisocial behaviour. It would be irrational for anyone to ask why God permits this or that outrage of violence in schools which have legislated God out of the door.
The National Governors’ Association cannot claim to represent anything approaching a majority of school governors. But if it is true that staff are unable or unwilling to conduct an act of Christian worship, the way is open for a local church to offer the services of its pastor, youth leader or another committed member of the congregation. So there is an opportunity in the present situation for closer relationships between schools and churches.
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Our C of E primary does hold a daily act of recognisable – just! – Christian worship (though heavily tinged with modern C of E thought – no proper traditional hymns etc) but our secular secondaries have all failed on this front. Our secular schools are not Christian in any shape or form; there is no God and the only acts of worship are the termly/yearly celebration assemblies in which the objects of veneration are the children.They have already banned Christian assemblies in practice so the reasons behind this move are more sinister; the final betrayal of our children in denying them, via the statute book, the Christian heritage which was their due.
And so on we march into our secular, humanist Utopia!
The kids don’t know any hymns, but they know how to put on a condom!
The secular humanists should enjoy their time in the sun, because Islam is coming, and they won’t cower or turn the other cheek like the “Christians”: the muslims will behead them, before or after, or possibly as well as, the Saturday and Sunday people!
couldn’t agree more. What did God do to the israelites when they followed “foreign gods” he brought judgement and exile. This is where secular humanism gets one – destruction of Chritianity = destruction of the British way of life and conquest of Islam.
Most people are aware that school assemblies for most staff and pulps is meaningless or considered a waste of time. But on the other hand it does expose both to the the divine and great truths of the Gospel, which they may not have if assemblies were cancelled. What is the alternative ? ? ? The constant lies and fairytale of evolution when schools should be taught the common sense of Creation – Jeffery Colin.
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Isn’t this a terrible state of affairs and you wonder how on earth how it has come to this. This nation was built on the firm foundation of GOD’s Word and succeeded as a world leader. Now it is falling from fast into a godless, self seeking and self centred having departed from sound Biblical doctrine and principles that will only lead to total failure as a nation that no longer knows GOD.
It greatly saddens me that we as a nation have so quickly turned away from GOD and who now think they know best by allowing others to take over with their own individual ideas … which simply will never succeed.
As a nation, if we fail to return to trust in the Almighty GOD we read about in the Holy Bible and apply the teachings this once Great country of ours will be taken into captivity. The time is now to take a stand and restore Christian teachings us how to love, respect and live by good morals, proper standards, trusting and obeying GOD in all things and reject all other false teachings.
It’s not just this nation. Other countries in Europe which used to be thoroughly Christian are now much less so, including France (which did have a mighty empire) and Switzerland (which didn’t). Even the Irish Republic is now disillusioned with Christianity, particularly following the behaviour of Roman Catholic priests, nuns, and “Christian brothers” there. You will find much the same in Italy or almost wherever you go.
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When I was a child, everybody knew that the UK and the USA were far more prosperous than France, Italy, Spain etc because we were Protestant and they were RC; this distinction needs to be brought back – fast!
It would be interesting to know when you were a child. The gap between the USA and the UK was surely greater than between the UK and France. What about Germany with its geographical division between Protestant and Catholic areas ? I suspect that the Catholic areas have usually been more prosperous.
How exactly do you want a distinction to be brought back fast ?
Dear Cllr Robert Brown,
I couldn’t agree more, though as Rox says it certainly isn’t just this country. In a sense we have already been taken into captivity: through (1) multiculturalism and 2) our ‘enslavement’ to the EU, our membership of which has been based on a lie. Through the former we have allowed the influence of foreign religions to enter our nation and through the latter we have allowed a ‘foreign power’ – financially corrupt itself – to dictate to us our laws. What Bonaparte & Hitler failed to do, the EU has seemingly achieved.
We’ve got some good laws out of it, though.
As I never tire of pointing out, Islam is NOT showing any signs of converting large numbers of white British people, and in fact many of the immigrants from countries like Poland are keener Christians than most of our own people (but they aren’t converting the locals to Roman Catholicism, either).
It seems much too often ignored that the UK has just as much say in EU matters as any other country. I doubt if this would have been the case under Napoleon or Hitler (though it might have evolved into that in time, like the British Empire did).
I can’t think of a good law we have from the EU.
White British and Black African people are being converted to Islam, like it or not, Rox.
Yes, the UK has in theory as much say in EU matters as any other country (except Germany). Which is none at all.
Uniform food additive and food labelling regulations throughout virtually an entire continent, combining the expertise and high standards of Britain, Italy, and others.
Sometimes Stephen’s views are quite extreme.
And how much is this dramatic breakthrough, which actually prevents the UK from labeling food slaughtered halal, costing the UK per year in payments to the EU? Somebody tell me.
Very little, in fact it is probably cheaper for us. We always had to have similar national legislation anyway. It wasn’t a dramatic breakthrough, it was a consolidation of differing practices . Legislators like to have (for example) just one permitted blue, so that any artificial blue which is not that one is illegal, without having to identify what it is. If different countries have a different permitted blue, then manufacturers have to keep changing their product about according to where it’s going (that still happens with exports to and from the USA and Canada, for example). They may get it wrong, so analysts have to watch out for that more than they would otherwise (although it’s not usually a question of the other colour being more harmful, just illegal). Obviously it saves everyone a lot of trouble to have this harmonised throughout Europe. And we did have our say — for us it was essential at the time to have a green which British people felt comfortable with in peas, for example. It would be absurd to suggest that it was all set up by and for Germany —- for Italy, olive oil and tomato paste are very important products and ingredients, and they got what they wanted imposed also on Spain and Greece, to everyone’s benefit.
Think of the continental mass of southern North America. Do all the states have different food regulations, so that Kentucky Fried Chicken would find it was illegal in New England, and New England maple syrup find it was illegal in Kentucky ? Of course not. They have a federal agency, the FDA .
I agree that meat slaughtered halal should be labelled as such, but I don’t remember that it ever was before we joined the EU. When you buy it, there is normally a notice , though, so as to attract Muslim buyers, else there would be no point. Similarly, the many cheaper eateries which use halal meat, especially chicken , are usually happy to display a sign to attract their Muslim clientèle. It is useful to be able to recognise the word in Arabic. You can learn this as easily as you learn “Slow” or “No parking” in Welsh, from seeing both languages usually side by side.
Anyway, that is not the only good law. You said you couldn’t think of one, and this is one. There are others.
Actually, it costs around $33m a day, £12bn /annum, around £660 per family per year, just for our UK EU contribution less rebate, grants etc. The costs to commerce and industry in terms of red-tape type regulations is higher again.
What a silly thing to say that halal meat was not labelled as such before we joined the EU. That was in 1973.
actually, I understand that the UK’s contribution to the EU is more like £65billion a year, ie approx one tenth of total government expenditure (which is around £700billion a year). Simple maths shows this is £180million a day, £7.5million every hour, or, if you like, just over £2,000 every second!
Yes, but we have to remove the rebate and the various grants from the EU, to be fair.
ok, Stephen, fair enough!!
At least leave children their Christian Assemblies! Let know about love, tolerance & forgiveness from some where! The secular world has so little to offer of it! Give them at least a memory of goodness!
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