Prayer in Schools

You may have read recently about the decision by a school in London to ban religious observance at their school, which has led to statements such as “Wouldn’t it be better if we banished faith in schools altogether?”.

However, as George Pitcher, a visiting fellow at the London School of Economics and an Anglican priest, states “You don’t teach children religious tolerance by being religiously intolerant. Banning seems to be the kind of old-school management that said that if you can’t play together nicely, there will be no playtime for anyone. Transposed into the religious context, that becomes: “If you can’t pray together nicely, there will be no prayers.” This grows into an extreme form of secularism, which pretends that there is no religion in the world, when we know that in fact it’s full of religious people. That doesn’t seem to be a good education for our young, if good education is meant to prepare them for the world, which I posit that it does.”

For church schools the Christian faith is threaded through every part of the curriculum and the rhythms of school life. Jesus’ invitation to enter into life in all its fullness embraces the spiritual and the eternal, it becomes the source of a renewed mind and transformed life and it motivates our courageous advocacy as we seek peace and justice in the world through the mandate to love others.

We are reminded of a speech that the late Queen Elizabeth delivered at Lambeth Palace to mark her Diamond Jubilee in 2012, in which she said:

“Our religions provide critical guidance for the way we live our lives, and for the way in which we treat each other. Many of the values and ideas we take for granted in this and other countries originate in the ancient wisdom of our traditions.

The concept of our established Church is occasionally misunderstood and, I believe, commonly under-appreciated. Its role is not to defend Anglicanism to the exclusion of other religions. Instead, the Church has a duty to protect the free practice of all faiths in this country.

It certainly provides an identity and spiritual dimension for its own many adherents. But also, gently and assuredly, the Church of England has created an environment for other faith communities and indeed people of no faith to live freely. Woven into the fabric of this country, the Church has helped to build a better society – more and more in active co-operation for the common good with those of other faiths.

Faith plays a key role in the identity of many millions of people, providing not only a system of belief but also a sense of belonging. It can act as a spur for social action. Indeed, religious groups have a proud track record of helping those in the greatest need, including the sick, the elderly, the lonely and the disadvantaged. They remind us of the responsibilities we have beyond ourselves.”

Holding faith at the heart of education helps us to teach how the world is and to enable our young people to live side by side with the skills and understanding they need to agree and to disagree well.

Thank you for all you do to make sure that the school where you serve is deeply Christian, serving the common good.