Date published: 2009/06/08
The BBC says:
A majority of people in the UK believe offering school places on grounds of religion is likely to undermine "community cohesion", claims a survey.
The Accord group, which campaigns against faith-based admissions, found 57% agreed with its suggestion that choosing by religion could be divisive.
The group accuses some faith schools of "exclusivity and insularity".
The Department for Children, Schools and Families said all English schools had a legal duty to promote cohesion.
And the department says that in practice faith schools have a higher proportion of ethnic minority pupils than other types of state school.
The survey from Accord asked a representative sample of adults whether they agreed that "state funded schools that select students by their religion undermine community cohesion".
It found that 57% either agreed or strongly agreed. And 72% said schools should not have employment policies that "discriminate on grounds of religion or belief".
It is amazing how often the BBC and the rest of the media run stories about allegedly bona fide polls run by special interest pressure groups which just happen to produce results allegedly consistent with the special interest. Polls can easily be slanted, and the results can easily be cherry picked, all for the sake of a juicy press release.
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