observations

I live in a country that has a fascinating and peculiar relationship with religion. At least in regards to how it meshes with government institutions. There is a rather secular attitude through-out much of the country and yet a number of the primary schools are run in conjunction with the Church of England, and of course the Queen herself is head of the Church of England, but she can also have influence in political decisions. (though obviously she can't dictate most things but she can give a good lean on how things might go, because she is the Queen and frankly she probably has a lot more insight into how shit can play out considering she has been in the fray for 60 years.) So of course religion (namely Christianity) of some kind or another is taught to many kids -which isn't a bad thing in many ways. (a nice little introduction to religion/creation stories, though I think they should branch out and touch on other major religions, but that is okay, we can take care of that at home.) In that it can be a good conversation with children and at least based on what I have observed from Senor Onion's experience at school, it still has that detached humanistic C of E (most of us don't really believe in God but we like churches, fetes, and community) approach.
Of course it took several hundred years and a fair amount of bloodshed for the UK to reach this place. (and even then it is still incredibly complicated, and folks are STILL working on the sensitivity of the whole thing and how it works with people of other faith, and so on. So it isn't perfect by any stretch of the imagination.)

Then there is where I come from where religious feeling is much more....fervent. (though there are just as many people who don't have any formal faith or any faith at all in the US.) Yet there are a lot of pretty strict rules about religion in a state institution -but even that is rather muddled at times. (just take a look at our money, and the common tradition of saying a prayer in a number of institutions.) Most schools starting about 20-25 years ago began to set aside a lot of religiously influenced celebrations. I recall being in elementary school and singing Christmas Carols that specifically mentioned Jesus, but over time (as I was right in school, when the serious shift began) that was set aside to be a little more culturally neutral. (which I entirely get, because not everyone is Christian.)
And I totally GET where some of the founding attitudes about religion intersecting with the state. While C of E had a knack for the high church (which is pretty darn close to the Catholic Church mass) and the state at times had a real love for it (depending on which monarch was in charge at times.) and it wasn't exactly friendly toward those who had a real zeal for what others might term low church or more reformation-heavy faith. (they liked to keep it simple, and didn't like the whole Vegas floor show side of a service. Though being a cultural Catholic, I will always love a good floor show with great costumes. I can never have too much gold lame, exciting music, and ritual.) And really we have the Dutch to thank with their attitudes about religion/state. The pilgrims got a taste for that, brought it with them, and it spread in the New World. "Do what you want on your own time, just don't make everyone join your club." YET I don't think we (or even the Dutch to a certain point, when you consider their current relationship with fundamentalist Muslims in the country) ever really hashed out in an honest manner how we feel/approach Fundamentalist religious fervor, because sometimes people of intense faith want to spread that business into other parts of life. (which if you have paid attention to American politics in the last 35 years, the culture wars have been much about some who want to let it spread into political life and one party in particular has begun to pay for this strange common-law marriage.) I sort of want to ask/encourage fundamentalist folks to read a little history and say, "hey, by keeping certain things free from a lot of religious input, it benefits you, because sometimes there is a shift in dogma and that shift might find you on the wrong side of things."

Anyhow, back to my kids' school and that slight religious theme that pokes through, we are at the beginning of Holy Week and really what this means is that there are Easter Egg hunts and Spring Fairs. It is all about chocolate, sweets, and cake. Which was the same deal at Christmas. And I think I have figured out UK's game. These lovely sweet crazy people, have just enough religion going on because they want an excuse to have cake. Eddie Izzard was right; cake or death. One could take the fundamentalist approach which seems to lead to a lot of anger, and sometimes death. OR one could be a little more tolerant and have a slice of Victoria sponge, some scones with clotted cream & jam, possibly a cupcake, oh and how about a chocolate Easter egg, and then round all of that out with a cup of tea, and maybe one or two biscuits for the road.

England: we will eat our way into religious tolerance