100,000 Want Religious Education As Part of British Core School Subjects

Last year, Britain's Department of Education introduced the English Baccalaureate which ranks schools according to students' performance in five key subjects-- English, mathematics, history or geography, the sciences and a language. BBC reports today that a petition containing more than 100,000 signatures was handed to the government this week demanding that Religious Education be added to the core subjects. Religious leaders have argued that without this, a generation of children will have no knowledge of the role of faith in society. Proponents say the petition should lead to a Parliamentary debate in line with promises by the Prime Minister during the election that any petition receiving over 100,000 signatures would be eligible for Parliamentary debate.