A newly formed group in the UK has launched a campaign to abolish faith schools. The group, Accord, claims that schools which select pupils and staff on religious grounds "were harming community cohesion".

Schools which select pupils on the basis of their faith, they claim, were in fact encouraging "segregation". According to a report in a Catholic weekly, Accord includes Anglican clergy, rabbis and atheists and has the support of liberal associations, including teachers' unions, lesbian and gay groups and the Socialist Education Association. Accord is proposing that worship in schools should be abolished and replaced by sectarian or multi-faith assemblies.

A statement issued by Catholic, Anglican, Methodist, Muslim, Sikh and Hindu representatives claimed that Accord's allegations that faith schools were divisive and discriminatory were "a disservice to the huge value that faith schools add to our education sector."