This newspaper has long held the view that all schools should be secular, and a new report published yesterday suggesting that faith schools can encourage social and economic segregation certainly does nothing to alter that view.

There should be no place for religious indoctrination in our schools, and there should be no processes in place whereby pupils can be selected on the grounds of their faith alone.

The report by the Fair Admissions Campaign Group states that faith schools typically admitted 27 per cent fewer children eligible for free school meals, which certainly indicates a clear link between religious segregation and socio-economic selection.

While local education leaders do not believe it is a major issue in Bradford because of the relatively small number of secondary school faith schools, we would reiterate the view that there is no place for the teaching of a specific religious faith in schools.

Instead, there should be classroom lessons which focus on good citizenship for pupils and which look at the value and teachings of all religions without preaching one particular faith.

The places for teaching adherence to and practice of a particular faith are our churches, temples, mosques, synagogues and other places of worship. And of course, for parents at their homes.

Only by excluding specific teaching in the ways of one religion can we work towards a level-playing field for children of every background in every school.

That is how we will encourage our children to create a society where people are judged by their common decency, humanity and citizenship and not on misconceptions about what their faith, or lack of it, dictates.