Church leaders and inspectors should be aware that, although a daily act of worship in state schools (I have conducted many) is a legal requirement, it should not be confused with moral education. You don’t have to be religious in order to be moral, and it is doubtful whether religious behaviour is moral behaviour. And the Department for Education and Skills should be aware that religious education is not an instrument for making people either religious or moral; its purpose is educational. There’s some woolly thinking going on in high places.

John A Sealey

(Doctor of Divinity, ex-chief examiner for religious education and author of Religious Education (Unwin) and Religion in Schools (Gleerup)

Barkston

Lincolnshire