The Freethinker reports that Yemi Adedeji of the Evangelical Alliance supports the opening of a faith school in Kent by a witchcraft-besotted Nigerian church, and that human rights campaigner Leo Igwe strongly opposes it.

According to this report, Winners’ Chapel International – currently under investigation by the Charity Commission – wants to open the school at its Dartford site, but human rights campaigners such as Igwe, as well as the National Secular Society, are urging the government to turn down the school bid.

The proposed Kingdom Heritage Model School is intended for children aged four to seven.

The church links child “disobedience” to witchcraft.

Uh oh. UH OH. DANGER DANGER.

No, UK, you should not have a state school that links disobedience to witchcraft. You shouldn’t have any school that does that, but especially not a state school.

Stephen Evans, from the NSS, said the Metropolitan Police had investigated 27 cases of child abuse related to witchcraft this year. He said:

There’s a need to be vigilant and there’s a need to tackle this. You don’t do this by allowing organisations that believe in witchcraft and are associated with witch-hunting to open in the UK.

The Department for Education (DfE) said it had received an application and was aware of concerns. A spokeswoman said:

All independent schools must meet stringent standards before they are registered. These include tough rules on welfare and safeguarding. Police intelligence and criminal record checks are also carried out on the proprietor of the school, and any links to organisations which suggest the school might not meet the standards are investigated.

Well…sometimes it takes years before those investigations happen. Let’s hope the DfE does better than that with the proposed Kingdom Heritage Model School.