A U.N. committee said students' compulsory attendance in daily religious worships in England and Wales is undermining their freedom of thought, conscience and religion, drawing fire from British lawmakers, one of whom described the U.N. criticism as "ludicrous and mad."
In its report, the U.N. Committee on the Rights of the Child said it "is concerned that pupils are required by law to take part in a daily religious worship which is 'wholly or mainly of a broadly Christian character' in publicly funded schools in England and Wales, and that children do not have the right to withdraw from such worship without parental permission before entering the sixth form."
It said that in Northern Ireland and Scotland, children also do not have the right to withdraw from collective worship without parental permission.
The committee has recommended that the government should repeal the law "for compulsory attendance at collective worship in publicly funded schools and ensure that children can independently exercise the right to withdraw from religious worship at school."
The report is not legally binding but has drawn criticisms from Tory MPs.
David Burrowes described the report as "ludicrous and mad."
"The collective act of worship is not an indoctrination exercise. It is recognising and respecting the Christian heritage of the country and giving people an opportunity to reflect before the beginning of the day," he said, according to The Telegraph.
Burrowes said the U.N. should spend more time focusing on its main job of preventing war and genocide instead of meddling in other countries' classrooms.
"We can respectfully put those kind of reports in the bin where they belong," he said.
The atheist group British Humanist Association (BHA), which was part of the working group that produced the education section of the report, lauded the findings.
"The U.K. state fails its young people in far too many ways today. Almost uniquely among economically developed countries, it segregates them in schools along religious lines. Completely uniquely it forces them to attend proselytising Christian worship even when it is against their wishes," said BHA Director of Policy and Public Affairs Pavan Dhaliwal.
According to the U.N. committee, in Northern Ireland segregation of schools by religion persists.
It said the State party in Northern Ireland actively promotes a fully integrated education system and carefully monitor the provision of shared education, with the participation of children, in order to ensure that it facilitates social integration.
