I am a Methodist minister and I have held very similar views to Rabbi Romain for the past three years. His article is a well argued case for all “faith” schools to be taken into the state sector and for all religious education to be centred on churches, mosques, temples, synagogues, etc. Rod Ingrouille, superintendent minister, Chepstow and Caldicot circuit

As an orthodox Jew, I agree with Rabbi Romain that children of all faiths and backgrounds should go to the same schools. This is not only because children mix with each other (although large groups, often cousins, sometimes stay apart, even in the same school), but because children experience racism at first hand, which reinforces their identity, unlike those cocooned in their own schools. However, all this depends on adequate weekend and evening classes and on a religious home life. Unfortunately, faith schools have led to the near collapse of part-time education, and broken homes or ignorant parents have not provided the right home environment. I would like to see a halfway point. Schools in an area should be grouped together - faith and secular, academic and vocational, mixed and single sex. Children should spend part of the week in each school, so that they can mix with others, but also learn in an environment that gives them more confidence and the better use of teaching resources. Mark Drukker, Reading, Berks

I agree totally with Rabbi Romain. But the practical problem of stopping the slide to a divided society requires us to take on politically the privileged positions of the Church of England and the Catholic church, for they are seem by many as setting the norm and providing the "if them, why not us" case for other faiths. The matter is urgent: in Leicester, a city of with just over a hundred schools, we have, in the last year alone seen three new CofE schools approved or built - and essentially imposed on neighbourhoods that never asked for a church school. An Islamic secondary school has just been approved - not more than ten percent non-Muslim pupils allowed. And we have ten Catholic schools that put being a baptised Catholic at the top of their admissions criteria. Allan Hayes, Leicester

I was glad to read the article by Jonathan Romain. As a Jew myself, I feel honoured to have grown up in a country which offered me and my family opportunities of tolerance, respect and integration. I ask myself, what can I do for society, not just my group. To have values in our schools that create harmony and cohesion, in sharing the common values of humanity while respecting the differences, can only make for a better society. Let us start with an open vision for the young, and build bridges. Irene Rose

As a humanist I have long been baffled by the perennial squabbles about "My god is bigger than yours" and the consequent disharmony within society . In my view the bedrock aspiration for all should be to be kind to others. Everyone. Full stop. Why need there be any more to it ? Of course - easier said than done But surely more rational. M. Ahlquist

Jonathan Romain has stated the case extremely well for mixed education rather than faith schools. The main problem is finding teachers with the objectivity to build bridges so that students may learn what unites them and enables them to appreciate and understand their differences and show grace towards each other. Norman Webb Halifax, West Yorkshire

What good sense Rabbi Dr Romain talks. I am chair of a non-faith primary in Tooting - a very multicultural area, representing a wide range of ethnic and religious groups. RE is seen as an important platform for helping children to understand the similarities and differences of their faiths, and assemblies celebrate the festivals of all faiths as well as developing spiritual and moral sense. The work of RE lessons is also extended in citizenship and PHSE lessons to help children understand their roles in the world and the importance of the contribution of everyone to our society. We believe our children are well balanced, well behaved and insightful, and go onto cope very well in the extended environments of secondary schools. Penny Ryan, London

The QCA's new Non-statutory Framework for Religious Education (Autumn 2004) goes a considerable way towards the kind of teaching Jonathan would like to see, whereby the major religions and secular philosophies such as humanism are included. It is to be hoped that state schools will adopt the framework soonest. I would prefer that there were no faith schools at all but if they are allowed to continue then they should definitely not be given public funds, should publish their ethos very clearly and should be regularly monitored in respect of their curricula. Richard Scutt, Broadstone, Dorset

Rabbi Hugo Gryn once told me that initially he could not understand why the local people stood back and let the Germans march their neighbours to the extermination camps. He later realised that whilst they lived in harmony in the same locations each community had nothing to do with each other. Peter Gorlov

Dr Romain's powerful and balanced article is all the stronger because he writes as a Rabbi. Alas, his penultimate paragraph expresses perfectly the vertical slope he must climb. Leaders of all faiths will never put aside religious self-interest - it's against their religion; while politicians are so dominated by possible votes (or the possibility of missing out on them) that the greater good of communal integration is unlikely to take precedence over local sectarian demands. My pessimism gets worse at the news that the Government is about to announce more faith schools. So keep on climbing Dr Romain. I do hope that your resolution gets the impact it deserves and that at the very least some more sensible debate may be encouraged. Maurice Griffiths

Keeping religion out of schools is our only hope. I'm a gentile, my children went to schools in Greater Manchester, 50 per cent of the pupils of which were Jewish. The result? Faith is understood as part of everyone's life, but far from being preclusive it is totally irrelevant in the context of school and social life. The children have the crucial opportunity to mix, with the result that they integrated without even thinking about it. Our children will save us and themselves, given the opportunity, and "integration" will take it's natural course, possibly within a generation. The problem is, how can you deny demands from whatever group for single faith schools while, for example, Catholic schools are afforded this religious distinction. Give our children the opportunity, they'll sort it out for themselves. Ken Davies, Mobberley, Cheshire

To ensure that children are given the best opportunity to integrate, their parents - meeting at the school gate - need to speak a common language. It is, I am told, quite common for the parents (mothers in particular) of immigrant children not to be able to speak English. It should be made a condition of their residence or citizenship that they can demonstrate that they can converse in English or are obliged to take lessons. Stuart M. Firth

Jonathan Romain's article was impressive and almost had me agreeing with him. I cannot, however, agree with one of his contentions: that religion should be taught in mixed religious schools. Religion should be a private matter and should remain outside the school curriculum. If it is the parents' wish, then children should be allowed dispensation to leave school for religious lessons. Schools should be places where children are educated to live in the real, secular world. Debates about religion, and between religions, are divisive. Schools should be encouraging cooperation between pupils and students for the benefit of the country as a whole, not instilling in pupils and students competition and hatred based on religious creeds. Roger Hart


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