Government plans to make personal, social and health education (PSHE) compulsory from the age of five , published yesterday, include a clause allowing schools to apply their “values” to the lessons and another allowing parents to opt their children out on religious grounds.

It means that all state secondary’s in England – including faith schools – will for the first time have to teach a core curriculum about sex and contraception in the context of teenagers’ relationships, but teachers in religious schools will also be free to tell them that sex outside marriage, homosexuality or using contraception are wrong. Sexual health campaigners warned that such an approach could confuse teenagers, but Catholic schools welcomed the move. Polly Curtis, The Guardian.

Now what on earth’s happening here? Religious sensitivity gone mad – religion has no place in PSHE – do we want our children growing up believing for instance that condoms increase their risk of HIV/AIDS? Of course not, but Pope Benedict XVI preached just that in his first papal visit to Africa just last month – and don’t get me started on homosexuality or sex outside marriage or …there’s hundreds of reasons why religion should be kept out of schools let alone PSHE lessons.