A HUMANIST group has criticised a quarter-century old Jersey law which requires weekly worship in schools as “inappropriate” and “out of date” – after new figures revealed that just over a quarter of young Islanders follow Christianity.
According to the latest Jersey Children and Young People’s Survey, just over a third (35%) of children aged eight to 17 years said they had a religion.
Of the religious young people, which amounted to just over 1,500 of 4,300 respondents, 78% said they were a Christian.
That means that just over a quarter (27%) of all respondents claimed to follow Christianity.
But under the Island’s Education Law 1999, all school age children should attend an act of “broadly Christian” worship at least once a week – though parents have the right to withdraw their child from religious education or acts of worship.
The Humanists UK praised the survey as a “groundbreaking insight into the beliefs of young people” for marking the first time an official question on religious belonging has been asked to young people anywhere in the UK and Crown Dependencies.
But the local branch of the group, the Channel Islands Humanists, said the statistics show that Jersey’s education system’s attitude towards religion is “inappropriate” and needs to change.
Group member Deputy Louise Doublet described the current legislation as “outdated” and said it “does not reflect the diversity of our school communities”.
She added: “I think head teachers should have the autonomy to decide what is best to include in their assemblies and our policies and legislation should empower them to do this.”
Local humanist Jennifer Bridge, a representative on the Religious Education Advisory Council, argued that the survey data “should play a vital role in shaping the curriculum”.
“Education on religion and worldviews must be fully inclusive, acknowledging that nearly half of young people identify as having no religion,” she added.
“It is essential that children have the opportunity to learn about humanism alongside various faiths.”
But the Dean of Jersey said he felt legislation on school-based worship remains “really important” despite the slim figures.
Reverend Michael Keirle explained it is important that young people “are exposed to and experience spirituality, mystery, awe and wonder”.
“We fail our children if only give them things to live with and not things to live for,” he said.
“This is nothing to do with favouring a particular faith but about giving our children the tools to navigate life.”
However, the Dean refuted the idea that teachers should be given more autonomy on what and how their school practices and studies religion, noting that education staff are already “under enormous pressure” which could result in them “taking the line of least resistance” or removing any religious practice from the school agenda altogether.
According to the Jersey Children and Young People’s Survey, the proportion of young people who reported they didn’t have a religion increased with age – with 38% of children in year 4 claiming to have no religion, compared to 60% for students in year 12.
The latest Jersey Opinions and Lifestyle Survey also showed that 49% of adult respondents reported having no religion.