The Independent — Parents should be banned from withdrawing their children from religious education classes because they are preventing pupils from learning about Islam, the Church of England has warned.
Derek Holloway, the Church’s lead on religious education (RE), said some parents with fundamentalist religious beliefs and “extremist views” are “exploiting” laws which give them the right to exclude their children from the lessons.
As a result, children are being left with little understanding of wider world views and are denied the chance to learn how to live in a modern and diverse country, he warned.
Current rules allow parents to exempt their children from RE lessons without having to provide a reason.
In a blogpost, Mr Holloway urged for this to be scrapped, commenting that RE, along with every other subject, can help to combat extremism and encourage community relations.
“To enable all to ‘live well together’ there is a need for all pupils from all backgrounds to receive a broad and balanced curriculum that includes high-quality RE,” he said,
”Sadly, and dangerously, the right of withdrawal from RE is now being exploited by a range of ‘interest groups’ often using a dubious interpretation of human rights legislation.
Mr Holloway, who previously taught at state comprehensive schools in Essex and Wiltshire, said the right to withdraw children from RE “gives comfort to those who are breaking the law and seeking to incite religious hatred”.
He told the Press Association: “Through RE teacher social media forums and feedback from our RE advisers, I am aware that some parents have sought to exploit the right to withdraw children from RE lessons.
The remainder of this article is available in its entirety at The Independent