Rejection

The law in England and Wales states that children at all publicly-funded schools “shall on each school day take part in an act of collective worship”.

Three possible amendments to this bill were put forward for consideration to the House of Lords, which contains twenty-six Bishops of the Church of England in a ‘spiritual advice’ role, and a whole host of personally religious Lords.

Lord Avebury said: It is time for the long-standing tradition which no longer reflects the beliefs of a high rate of schools to be changed, and cited the high rate of non-compliance with the law, showing it to be unenforceable and unpopular.
England and Wales are alone among Western democracies in requiring such enforced worship in community schools.
Baroness Turner said: “The law as it stands is the legacy of a society unrecognisable from the pluralistic Britain today where citizens hold a wide variety of religious beliefs, including no religious belief.

The reasons given for the resulting – and inevitable, given the religious bias of the house – rejection of all three of the proposed amendments, include the following pathetic and religiously bigoted statements:

Baroness Trumpington “it did not matter if pupils were bored, did not like going to chapel or were not interested in religious matters at the age of 15, 16 or perhaps even 17. That daily event gave each pupil a background to which they could return in later life. It was very important to have.”
The Lord Bishop of Ripon and Leeds. He said “We do not want to marginalise worship or spirituality within the life of our schools. [...] When the nation faces a time of crisis or indeed of joy and delight, it tends to do so in terms of prayer. Children need to know what prayer is about, and one of the best ways for that to happen is through the worship that takes place in both church schools and community schools.”
Baroness Butler-Sloss said “It is important that we all remember that the Church of England is the established church of this country. That is why we have the Prayers that we have every day [in Parliament]. It is appropriate that that should be recognised in schools.”
The Lord Bishop of Chester suggested the amendments were “tarred with secularist intent.” He did however concede that there is a case for a “cool, considered look at the provisions of collective worship.” He said: “The amendments push too quickly in a particular direction. There is a case for a proper review and full consultation in due course. However, let us not be misled. Collective worship is exactly that: worship appropriate to the collection of people who are present.”
Speaking on behalf of the Government, Lord Hill of Oareford made it clear that the Government did not support the amendments. He said “Our starting point is that the requirement is long-standing. It is difficult to dissociate that from the history of the country and the role that the church has played over a long period in individual schools and also collectively in society.
“The Government believe that the experience of collective worship makes a contribution to the spiritual and moral development of young people, not just for those who attend religious schools.”