By TOM SUTCLIFFE - THE INDEPENDENT
Updated: Thu, 19 Aug 2010 21:29:22 UTC

Religious prejudice may be the only form of discrimination now funded by government. We spend money – and quite a lot of it – on discouraging racial bigotry and age intolerance. We also pay to ensure that gender bias and homophobia keep their ugly heads down. But, through the agency of faith schools, the belief that one form of religious conviction is superior to others (and that pretty much any form of religion is superior to atheism) is actively encouraged by the state. That's a partisan way of putting it, of course. The proponents of faith schools don't like to think of themselves as intolerant, even as they discriminate against those who don't share their beliefs. They prefer to talk of cultural continuity and moral instruction and strong communities. Above all, they prefer to talk of parental choice.

Richard Dawkins, as you may not be hugely surprised to learn, does not buy any of that. His role as presenter and the title Faith Schools Menace? meant that More 4's film about the rise of religious education wasn't one of those programmes you really had to watch to the end in order to discover its conclusions. Indeed, the question mark was positively comical, tagged on at the end of the title as if it hoped to leave the issue teetering. It was like a seesaw with a hippo on one end and a budgerigar on the other. But the fact that the film wasn't exactly a cliffhanger didn't mean it wasn't worth watching – or that it didn't contain the odd surprise.

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TAGGED: CHILDREN, EDUCATION, RELIGION, RICHARD DAWKINS, TV