Today's Guardian reports that in Britain, representatives of the country's major religions are meeting today with Education Secretary Alan Johnson for an "inclusion summit". The Secretary will discuss the government's recently proposed legislation to require new (but not existing) faith schools to admit up to 25% of their student body from faiths other than that of the institution's sponsor, or else obtain an exemption. The Church of England has announced that it will voluntarily do this in its schools. Most new faith schools that will be subject to the proposal are expected to be Muslim. (See prior related posting.)
UPDATE: This Is London on Monday reported that the British government has plans to give Ofsted (Office For Standards In Education) inspectors the power to grade state-supported faith schools on how much they contribute to "community cohesion" by employing teachers of different religious backgrounds.
UPDATE: On Oct. 27, Britain's Education Secretary Alan Johnson announced that he was dropping the proposal to require new faith schools to take 25% of their students from other religious groups. (ePolitix)
