As far as I know religious schools do not teach their religion exclusively, certainly not when I was at school. Their were separate religious education classes for catholics and other christians. The, mainly, CofE classes were taught by teachers from that denomination. Jewish girls did not have to be present at religious classes at all. Most religious schools also teach children about other faiths and religions as well as their own.
There are a few schools, almost entirely fringe fundamentalist religious schools from all faiths and denominations, which do teach exclusively their own religion, impose its strictest rules and not teach about other religions, other than in a negative way, but they are a very small proportion of all schools and educate an even smaller proportion of pupils.
The majority of faith schools are in the main stream denominations, are open to children of all denominations, and teach children about other faiths and religions with respect.
Even if faith schools are abolished, what about schools in the state sector that are religious schools because of the communities that feed that school. This arises in Northern Ireland and in some areas in the midlands and northern England.
Someone asks why this matters. The reason it matters is that when a school becomes overwhelmingly attended by children of one denomination, there is a very strong danger that it starts to become like some of the more extreme small religious schools. The religious views of the majority start to dominate the whole ethos of the school and permeate the school culture and these can be damaging to the educational progress of some pupils. We have seen this in the problems that arose in Birmingham and in other areas and it has undoubtedly been one of the factors contributing to Northern Ireland's inter-community problems.
