The commission was chaired by a senior legal figure Baroness Butler-Sloss and its 20 members included an Orthodox rabbi and academic, Rabbi Dr Norman Solomon.
Its wide-ranging recommendations include calls for national and civic events that reflect religious diversity and for the next Coronation ceremony to have a pluralist character rather than be simply a Church of England event.
While not opposed to faith schools, the report states that “selection by religion segregates children not only according to religious heritage but also frequently, and in effect, by ethnicity and socio-economic background.”
Bodies responsible for school admissions should “take measures to reduce selection on grounds of religion in state-funded schools”.
The government should introduce a statutory requirement for all state-funded schools to teach about “religious and non-religious worldviews.” Its content should be “broad and inclusive in a way that reflects the diversity of religion and belief in the UK and the subject should have the same status as other humanities subjects.”
It also wants the Ministry of Justice to publish guidelines to ensure that religious tribunals such as Batei Din or sharia courts comply with equality
