Oscar Wilde argued that “scepticism is the beginning of faith”. Scepticism about faith appears to be more common in modern Britain; indeed, outright cynicism has become fashionable in some quarters. Nowhere is that more true than in the relationship between religion and education. Religious schools are often admired for their ethos while simultaneously condemned for their exclusivity. Yet how their ethos could be created and maintained without an emphasis on what makes these schools distinctive and different is difficult to envisage. Ministers are faced with a similar conundrum. On the one hand, the academic results achieved by faith schools in poor neighbourhoods are often impressive. Yet on the other hand, politicians and public alike are uneasy about religious segregation and fear that it will undermine the quest for social cohesion. It is an unenviable dilemma for public policy.

As we report today, the Government and representatives of those who provide faith-based education have been in intense discussions about how they cooperate in future. The fruits of that initiative will be revealed in full in a report next week. A draft copy obtained by The Times makes a number of practical, sensible and uncontroversial proposals that should be adopted immediately. The document also implies a shift in tack by accepting that where an existing independent faith school wants to move into the state sector, while retaining its religious nature, then Whitehall may not only encourage that process but provide the money to execute such a transfer. Put bluntly, this would mean a modest increase in the overall number of state-funded faith schools.

It is also possible to predict which sections of British society would be most likely to avail themselves of this opportunity and what might be the consequences. Demand and supply for schools providing a specific Muslim education are wildly out of kilter. In 2001 there were at least 375,000 Muslim children in England, yet, at the most recent count, there were fewer than 2,000 places in state Muslim schools available. This disparity has led to a boom in independent Muslim schools, of which there are now 115 registered with the Department for Children, Families and Schools. A few of these have rich benefactors, but many of them are supported by lowly paid Muslims who want their children to have an education that is in line with their ideals – even if that means children taught in sometimes shabby facilities.

A proportion of these schools would undoubtedly opt to become maintained by the taxpayer if they could retain their religious identity. If they were to become free of charge, then there is also every reason to conclude that many more Muslim parents unable to afford to send their children to these establishments when they were independent would enrol. The numbers of Muslim children being educated in Muslim schools would increase and, many critics will contend, the danger of their separation from the rest of society would increase as well. This would be disturbing at any time, but as the reports published by this newspaper in the past two days about many normal “British” mosques illustrate, that sense of separation can be and is being exploited by those who propagate a notion of faith that it is fanatically and spitefully intolerant of others.

The reality, nevertheless, is that, if these faith schools are not offered the opportunity to come into the state sector, it is highly probable that the numbers of independent Muslim schools will flourish. These have little obligation to respect the strictures of the national curriculum and the content of what is being taught in some (by no means all) of these schools is separatist and alienating. The inspections held by Ofsted tend, not surprisingly, to focus on facilities and in so far as the tenor of their religious teachings are studied, these schools have the right to demand that this assessment is made by an inspector drawn from their faith rather than by an outsider. This is a recipe for cultural and social alienation. It is not a satisfactory arrangement for maintaining academic standards or ensuring social cohesion.

The best response is thus to permit schools that wish to come within the state sector to do so and to change the nature of the inspection regime for all faith schools that wish to continue to be independent (as the majority probably will). It is hard to justify the present situation where children from Anglican, Roman Catholic, nonconformist and Jewish backgrounds often have a choice of state faith schools while those from the Muslim, Sikh and Hindu communities invariably have to pay to send their children to what can be highly segregated institutions. Diversity is a noble ideal but the assumption that it always produces pluralism and mutual understanding is optimistic. Ministers should be ready to back faith and expend financial charity in that enterprise. They must do more than just hope that children are taught that love is at the core of all religions.