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Children and Young Persons Bill [HL]

I shall raise something completely different. I have a small but, I think, significant amendment to the set of new clauses. I find myself nodding sympathetically to my friend on the Opposition Benches on many issues, but that is not what I am going to talk about. I want to talk about Amendments Nos. 62 and 63, which are about placing children with carers who are of the same religion. I want to add, ““or of no religion””. I would prefer that there were no reference to religion in the Bill, but here it is. I must declare an interest as patron of the British Humanist Association and the National Secular Society. When a large number of people in this country profess no religious belief and do not attend any place of worship, they cannot be discounted. I therefore think that the words, ““or none””, should be included and should be standard parlance when we talk about religion in any legal document. When I sat on the Religious Offences Select Committee, we were very careful to respect the rights and feelings of those who professed no religion. We should do so again here. I commend the amendments.