David Canter, a professor of investigative psychology at Liverpool University, says schools that encourage religious segregation are ”terribly dangerous” because they risk radicalizing teenagers. He is the author of a pathbreaking study of Islamic terrorists and the circumstances that led them to extremism. Canter states:

The whole idea of setting up these divisions based on faith is the starting point of these people thinking of themselves as separate and distinct. The fight against terrorism in this country will be more difficult if pupils are segregated in single faith schools. It suggests to pupils that people not of the same religion are to be despised or are second class citizens and leads to a drift towards a more fundamentalist interpretation of that religion.