The UK Christian think tank Ekklesia and the British Humanist Association have today written to Education Minister Alan Johnson asking him to ensure that their guidelines are explicit in requiring teachers to maintain a wholly scientific perspective on the matter of the origin of species by evolution.

You cannot make Christian or any other kind of worship mandatory in public institutions, and confusing worship with a collective assembly or with broad spiritual and moral development of school children is a mistake - that has been the response of both religious and non-religious groups to a statement this week from five denominations calling on the government to strengthen daily 'collective worship' in England's publicly-funded schools.