Corporal Punishment & Religious Discrimination

BBC Radio 4's Law in Action was be broadcast on Friday, 5 November, 2004 at 1600 GMT.

Corporal punishment in independent schools has already been banned for over 5 years and for over 15 years in the state sector. But, is corporal punishment a religious belief?

That is what the House of Lords will be deciding upon later this year. Fifty private Christian Schools have been fighting for the right to use corporal punishment on religious grounds.

They say it is a matter of Christian doctrine to mete out physical chastisement.

Spearheading the case is Phil Williamson of the Christian Fellowship School in Liverpool. He wants to show that the ban on corporal punishment in schools is contrary to religious freedom, which is protected by article 9 of the Human Rights Act.

If the House of Lords agree, then the legislation might have to be reversed. But what exactly will he, and the other schools, have to show to convince the Lords that smacking is a religious belief?

Clive talks to barrister David Wolfe, who specialises in human rights cases.