A Telegraph article about some problems:

And yet…more problems!

All new faith schools will have to offer up to a quarter of places to non-believers in a move ministers believe will promote integration and ease growing fears that British society is splintering on religious and race grounds.

Alan Johnson, the Education Secretary, is expected this week to announce the plans in changes to the Education and Inspection Bill.

The move follows warnings from David Davis, the shadow home secretary, that the country was slipping into a system of "voluntary apartheid" in which there was a danger of creating "a series of closed societies within our open society."

The Church of England has already announced it will set aside a quarter of places at its new schools for people outside the Church.

However, under Mr Johnson’s plans Roman Catholic, Jewish and Muslim institutions will be asked to do the same. Where local authorities choose not to invoke the powers, there will be a facility for individuals to appeal to the Education Secretary.

A reader remarks:

As I am sure you know, the UK has an extensive system of (partially) state-funded faith-schools that are allowed to select pupils on the basis of the religion. Theoretically in response to fears of community fragmentation, both major parties in the UK are now demanding that faith-schools set aside a significant percentage of places for children of other faiths or for children from secular families. Of course, this demand is being articulated in politically correct generalities but the political parties are clearly stoking a fear of Muslim faith-schools which will then be used to drive broader acceptance of the legislation. There are a couple of ways to take this. First, one can see it as an example of political correctness gone mad, precipitating what amounts to the destruction of the Catholic, Anglican, and Jewish state education systems out of a fear of directly confronting real or imagined pathologies peculiar to the rather tiny number of Muslim faith schools. Second, one can see it as an example of the dangers of giving essentially secular states with no love for religion in general the power to curb Muslim religious practices. As you have implied, I think, a number of times with regard to the apparent weakness of the Vatican’s stance on the Muslim world, expressions of anger against Islam can be easily morphed into an across the board attack on religious life and communities. The secular West (particularly outside the US and some Latin countries) is no friend of the Catholic Church and will happily use anger directed at Islam (however legitimate that anger might be in itself) as a tool to damage the Church.

Update: Joanne Bogle on the schools issue:

Meanwhile, our Bishops, who thought they had reached some understanding with the Govt on the question of Catholi schools, seem to have been double-crossed. It does seem that any new "faith school" (ie a Catholic or C of E school) will have to allocate a quarter of places to non-church applicants, if neccessary turning away practising Church members. And the matter of giving full legal force to all over-16 year olds to boycott any religious worship in school looks set to be part of the new law….