Politicians and faith leaders call on Education Secretary Damian Hinds to drop plans to lift faith cap in free schools

It is difficult to bring to mind 'a more divisive policy' than increasing religious selection in new schools, letter signed by Former Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams says

Dr Rowan Williams is one of the signatories calling for the faith cap not to be scrapped (Getty)

Faith schools should not be allowed to admit more children on the basis of religion, politicians, public figures and religious leaders have urged in a new joint letter to the Education Secretary.

The group – which includes the former Archbishop of Canterbury Dr Rowan Williams – called on Damian Hinds to reconsider his plans to allow new faith schools to take fewer pupils from different backgrounds, as they argued it would be “deleterious to social cohesion and respect”.

The letter said it is difficult to bring to mind “a more divisive policy” than lifting the 50 per cent faith cap, which stops faith schools from selecting more than half of their pupils based on religion.

Among the 70 signatories are authors Philip Pullman and Ian McEwan, Tory MP Sarah Wollaston, Green Party co-leader Caroline Lucas, Professor Richard Dawkins and Dame Joan Bakewell.

It has been sent to Catholic school-educated Mr Hinds after he indicated to the The Sunday Times last month that he was pushing ahead with plans to scrap the cap on new faith schools.

The letter, organised by the Humanists UK, said: “The Government rightly identifies the promotion of mutual understanding and tolerance for those of different religions and beliefs as one of the most important roles for schools.

“As we are all aware, children are blind to the differences and immune to the prejudices that so often divide society.

“The duty of the education system, therefore, should not be to highlight and entrench such differences in the eyes and minds of young people, but to emphasise instead the common values that we all share.”

It adds that removing the 50 per cent cap on religious selection at faith-based free schools runs “entirely counter to this ambition”.

“It is difficult to bring to mind a more divisive policy, or one more deleterious to social cohesion and respect, than one which allows schools to label children at the start of their lives with certain beliefs and then divide them up on that basis,” the letter said.

Last month, The Independent revealed that campaigners were calling for a parliamentary inquiry to investigate the proposal to increase religious selection in free schools.

Andrew Copson, chief executive of Humanists UK, said: ”People from across the political spectrum, representing a range of different religions and beliefs, are united on this one point: whatever your views on faith schools themselves, it cannot be right for taxpayer-funded schools to divide and discriminate against children.

“That is the principle that underpins this letter – and it ought to be the principle that underpins our education system, too.”

But the Catholic Education Service has welcomed the plan to scrap the cap as it will allow them to open new Catholic schools in areas of high demand.

Despite Mr Hind’s comments last month, the Department for Education has not formally announced plans for the faith cap.