[4] The term "mainly" means that acts related to other faiths can be carried out providing the majority are Christian.
[9] However the Department for Education "will not approve any application where we have any concerns about creationism being taught as a valid scientific theory, or about schools failing to teach evolution adequately as part of their science curricula.
The Welsh Government provides statutory support to education that recognises a religious dimension, including funding.
Charitably funded Roman Catholic schools were brought into the state system by the Education (Scotland) Act 1918.
[22] The Protestant schools were gradually transferred to state ownership under Education and Library Boards (ELBs) responsible to the Department of Education, but with an Act of Parliament to ensure that the ethos of the schools conformed to this variety of Christianity, and giving the churches certain rights with respect to governance.
[27] In 2002, Frank Dobson, to increase inclusivity and lessen social division, proposed an amendment to the Education Bill (for England and Wales) to limit the selection rights of faith schools by requiring them to offer at least a quarter of places to children whose parents belong to another or no religion.
I worry that many young people are being educated in faith-based schools, with little appreciation of their wider responsibilities and obligations to British society.
Although not state schools, there are around 700 unregulated madrassas in Britain, attended by approximately 100,000 children of Muslim parents.
Doctor Ghayasuddin Siddiqui, the leader of the Muslim Parliament of Great Britain, has called for them to be subject to government inspection following publication of a 2006 report that highlighted widespread physical and sexual abuse.
Giving preference to children born to Jewish mothers is permitted as it is a religious rather than a race issue.
[35] The general secretary of the Association of Teachers and Lecturers, Dr. Mary Bousted, said "Unless there are crucial changes in the way many faith schools run we fear divisions in society will be exacerbated.
In our increasingly multi-faith and secular society it is hard to see why our taxes should be used to fund schools which discriminate against the majority of children and potential staff because they are not of the same faith".
[35] Long standing opponents of faith schools include Humanists UK and National Secular Society.
The campaign, which seeks to reform the faith school sector, brings together a range of groups and individuals, including educationalists, civil rights activists and both the religious and non-religious.
"[38] John Pritchard, Chair of the Church of England's Education Board, welcomed the results of the study, stating that "I am pleased to see that this report recognises two very important facts.
The first is that faith schools contribute successfully to community cohesion; they are culturally diverse and there is no evidence that there is any social division on racial or ethnic grounds.
The second important fact acknowledged in the Theos report is that faith schools do not intentionally filter or skew admissions in a way which is designed to manipulate the system.
"[41] In June 2014, the Observer newspaper reported the results of a survey indicating that 58% of voters believe faith schools should not be funded by the state or should be abolished.
[42] In 2015 the Commission on Religion and Belief in British Public Life concluded that faith schools are "socially divisive" and should be phased out.
The Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason & Science, as well as its parent organisation, the Centre For Inquiry, also oppose faith schools,[60][61] and Richard Dawkins (who's on the board of directors) objects to faith-based education as he regards it as "indoctrinating tiny children in the religion of their parents, and to slap religious labels on them.
[63][64] The Church of England (CofE) is also in support of faith schools, they say "Our vision for education is deeply Christian"[65] and their values "faith-based".