A petition re sect schools
As widely reported by

- the National Secular Society (http://www.secularism.org.uk/christiancardealerswanttheirreli.html, - the British Humanist Association ( http://www.humanism.org.uk/site/cms/contentviewarticle.asp?article=1191), - Channel 4 (http://www.channel4.com/news/microsites/D/dispatches/)
The Education Bill currently going through parliament ensures the expansion and further empowerment of religiously-affiliated, state-funded schools in the UK. (I've little doubt this issue will have been covered in this forum.)

If you are against the propagation of new state-funded religious schools -- as are 64% of British adults (ICM) -- and against the division of children by their (parents!) religious beliefs in general, then you might like to cast your eye over a petition, drafted by myself with the input and support of other Brights at www.the-brights.net/forum. The petition itself is available directly at http://www.petitiononline.com/sects .

The petition, which will be sent to national media sources as an open letter;

- proposes the term "sect school" in place of the term "faith school" (this is a hook for making the petition potentially newsworthy itself, and a consciousness-raising 'meme', if you like)

- calls for amendments to the Education Bill to prevent the further proliferation of sect schools in the UK

- calls for an end to state-funded education which is controlled by any religious group or affiliated with any religious beliefs

These are not anti-religious demands. They are about achieving civic parity for under-represented worldviews including minority faiths, and about reasserting childrens' freedom of and from religious belief.

If you do agree with this analysis and want to get involved, you could read up at http://www.bob.seldo.net/schools and point your friends or constituency MPs in that site's direction. The petition itself is at http://www.petitiononline.com/sects .

(As ever, this project is strictly the work of individual Brights and any participation is strictly the choice of individual Brights! The "frontispiece" page I've put up, www.bob.seldo.net/schools , mentions the participation of a number of brights and links to the-brights.net, but the Petition itself does not refer to the movement.)

Kind regards,
Bob Churchill