Emails obtained under the Freedom of Information Act reveal the Church of Scientology made enquiries in an attempt to force schools to teach Scientology in Sussex as part of the Religious Studies curriculum.
The emails reveal County Councillor Richard Burrett was approached by a Church of Scientology representative, understood to be Director of Special Affairs Graeme Wilson, at an event in January 2023, who asked how Scientology could be included as a member of the West Sussex Standing Advisory Council on Religious Education (SACRE).
“On the evening of Saturday 28 January I attended the Crawley Mayor’s Civic Ball, and while I was there a man who […] approached me to say that he was a representative of the Church of Scientology (who are based in East Grinstead) and that another councillor he had been speaking to that evening had told him that I was the Chairman of the West Sussex SACRE.”
“He told me that he was keen to become a member of SACRE and asked what the process was. I explained that decisions on which groups could or could not have representation on SACRE were laid down in the relevant legislation, and that he would need to contact the County Council to make a formal application for membership, which he said that he would do, but having seen the date of his e-mail below it appears that he had already written to you at the point at which he spoke to me.”
According to the West Sussex Council website, the Standing Advisory Council on Religious Education advises the Council “on all matters related to collective worship and religious education (RE) in community, voluntary controlled, trust schools and foundation schools without a religious character.” It meets three times a year and is required by law to produce a review of the Local Education Authority’s ‘Agreed Syllabus’ every five years, which influences the way in which religions can be taught in schools across Sussex.
It consists of representatives of the major faiths, teachers, trade union representatives and local Councillors. Scientology’s application for inclusion states “West Sussex has the largest concentration of members of our religion in the country, and a proportionate number of children in local schools.” However census data suggests there are only 398 Scientologists living in the area, with an additional 402 in neighbouring Wealden.
2021 Census Response Data: ‘Other Religion – Scientology’
(West Sussex Local Authority Districts)Mid Sussex – 368
Crawley- 10
Horsham – 9
Chichester – 0
Adur – 3
Arun – 4
Worthing – 4
Scientology were advised an email requesting to be included on the committee was not sufficient and a formal application would be required. An email sent by a Council representative asked the controversial group to provide further details:
“We invite you to submit a formal request in writing (email is fine) which should address the following:
- Explain the governance of the organisation – where authority sits for taking decisions about how the Church should be represented through other organisations and confirmation of how this nomination has arisen
- Be supported by information about the place and role the church has in the community of West Sussex and its role in particular with regard to education and young people in the area.
- Explain the reasons for seeking membership of SACRE.”
To which Scientology responded saying they “will now compile and submit a formal request in writing, as directed,” although it is understood this never materialised.
Although SACRE is required to ensure local religious groups are adequately represented (and therefore taught) in local schools, it is unclear whether Scientology has a substantial enough following to meet the criteria for membership. With a population of 882,700 at the last census, Scientologists make up less than 0.05% of residents in West Sussex, despite Scientology claiming to have “millions” of adherents globally.
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Scientology is somewhat more of a cult than Christianity but has fewer supernatural beliefs. Neither should be allowed to indoctrinate our children in publicly funded schools.
What follows shows the bureaucratic lengths WSCC will go to supporting SACRE’s religious control over our children, in violation of our human rights.
I attended SACRE for many years as an observer on behalf of Humanists UK, an organisation representing the interests of the non-religious. Despite yearly national surveys showing that the majority of people in the UK are not religious, I was refused membership of this publicly funded council, whose membership is almost entirely religious. By this reckoning, Scientologist have no chance.
A few years ago, I threatened WSCC with court action if they continued to block my membership of SACRE. Their argument was that Humanism is not a religion and that there aren’t many formal members of Humanists UK living in West Sussex. This was clearly in violation of the human rights of the non-religious and so I was made a full member.
Shortly after my enrolment, I tabled a discussion on collective worship. A law, dating from 1944, requires every child in every school to attend a daily act of collective worship, unless their parents withdraw them (which is not advised, for the obvious reasons). Many schools defy this oppressive and unenforceable law.
I briefed members with a detailed argument based on human rights and included a draft alternative guidance for schools (the current guidance is that schools must comply with the law).
Just before the meeting began, the Director of Education, Paul Wagstaff, took me aside to say that my agenda item would not be discussed because SACRE had no role in collective worship! His attempt to stifle debate backfired when his decision was announced at the beginning of the meeting, resulting in a lengthy discussion in which Mr Wagstaff was seen to be lying. The Chair, Councillor Burret, was gracious in allowing this discussion, to the consternation of Mr Wagstaff. Nevertheless, the members were prevented from debating this most crucial issue.
Ironically, later that day members split into subgroups. I was on the group discussing … collective worship guidance. Needless to say, my fellow members, all religious, did not agree that forcing children to take part in collective worship every day violates their human rights or those of their parents.
Even Humanists UK are afraid of challenging the members of SACRE on collective worship and so asked me to step down as their representative. Whilst I continue to be a member of Humanists UK, I was disappointed that they compromised their values by not supporting me and wasting my experience and effort over the years.
SACREs were formed in 1944 when everyone was assumed to be religious. Times have changed but SACRE has not. It supports collective worship and creates a biased religious education syllabus every 5 years (I tried in vain to change it).
It is time for the new government to scrap this dinosaur of indoctrination, end collective worship, and replace so-called Religious Education with a national curriculum subject such as Philosophy and Culture, where religious and non-religious beliefs would be discussed in context and in an unbiased manner.
The writing is on the wall for SACREs: they have no control over academies, free schools, Catholic schools and some CofE schools, and so are increasingly irrelevant. Role on their demise.
Our SACRE will be releasing its new syllabus on Religious Education and Guidance on Collective Worship next year.
If you are opposed to forcing children to attend collective worship in schools, write to your MP.
You can download a full account of my experience on SACR, PowerPoint presentation, press release and other documents regarding Collective Worship here : https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1xyikLz3x8DGNcK_PxF-9-BeCOUy83y5S?usp=drive_link
(NB: Humanists UK have closed down the Chichester Humanists website, so any links to it will not work.)
Andrew Edmondson
079 3450 8671
andrewedmondson123@gmail.com