The Catholic Primate, Archbishop Seán Brady, has expressed surprise to a House of Commons committee at a decision to cease state funding of the Churches' Peace Education Project in the North.
Speaking before the Northern Ireland Affairs Committee in Belfast yesterday, he said that in the North law enforcement on its own would not solve "hate crimes" problems.
"Education in mutual understanding and tolerance and respect must remain a normal part of the educational programme for children at all levels," he said.
In that context, he found it "very surprising" that last April the North's department of education decided to stop funding for the Churches' Peace Education Project which had "carried out 26 years of pioneering work in this area".
It was the only such project to have the backing of the main churches and access to the North's schools, he said. At present, materials it had produced were being used in 500 out of 800 primary schools in the North.
He was contributing to the committee's Hate Crime in Northern Ireland inquiry.
He welcomed legislation being considered that proposed an offence would be considered aggravated by hostility if its perpetrator demonstrated hostility to the victim based on the victim's religious group. "True religious belief is absolutely incompatible with the attitude that underpins 'hate' crimes," he said.
The hearing in the Europa Hotel was also attended by the Church of Ireland Primate, Archbishop Robin Eames, the Moderator of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland, the Rev Ken Newell, and the Rev Winston Graham, of the Methodist Church in Ireland.