Could Do Better

The question of whether or not Britain is a Christian country has taken a new turn. David Cameron raised the issue in an Easter article in the 'Church Times'. Last week the focus was on faith schools. In a BBC interview, Archbishop of Canterbury the Most Rev Justin Welby said that faith schools provide education for some of Britain’s poorest children.

His comments came after Birmingham City Council launched an inquiry into alleged plots by Islamists to take control of the governing bodies of some Muslim schools in the city - the ‘Trojan Horse’ plot.

To detractors, the Birmingham story fuels their opposition to faith schools, which they regard as elitist or abusive. The Fair Admissions Campaign ‘wants all state-funded schools in England and Wales to be open equally to all children, without regard to religion or belief’. Using free-school-meal eligibility as a benchmark, it claims that by admitting pupils on the basis of religious affiliation, faith schools are turning their backs on the poorest children.

The Archbishop said that Church of England schools ‘are often in the poorest parts of the country … we seek to love and serve people, as we should, through these schools’.

The National Secular Society believes that faith schools are abusing public money and their position. Responding to the Archbishop’s comments, executive director Keith Porteous Wood said: ‘He fails to point out that his schools, run entirely at public expense, prioritise evangelisation over serving the population who are steadily abandoning his pews.’

Do church schools really ‘prioritise evangelisation’? Do parents really move into a catchment area or start going to church so their little darlings can be evangelised - as a priority?

Christianity - a relationship with Jesus - is not something that can be drummed in between maths and science lessons. It is an all-embracing life choice that is based on fact, lived by faith and expressed by serving others.

UK & Ireland War Cry 17 May 2014