A Roman Catholic bishop was forced to explain himself to MPs over fears that he is imposing religious "fundamentalism" on children.
Patrick O'Donoghue, the Bishop of Lancaster, was questioned over his ban on what he calls "values-free" sex education in Catholic schools in his diocese and his order to put up crucifixes in every classroom.
His summons to appear before the House of Commons select committee on children, schools and families follows a 66-page document he produced last year which angered some MPs because of its strict line on sexual morality.
In the document, called Fit for Mission?, Bishop O'Donoghue wrote: "The secular view on sex outside marriage, artificial contraception, sexually transmitted disease, including HIV and Aids, and abortion, may not be presented as neutral information."
He said "so-called" safe sex was based on the "deluded theory that the condom can provide adequate protection against Aids".
And he added: "Schools and colleges must not supuseful-port charities or groups that promote or fund anti-life policies, such as Red Nose Day and Amnesty International, which now advocates abortion."
Although sex education is mandatory in all secondary schools, Bishop O'Donoghue insisted that in every lesson - even science classes - it must be taught solely in the context of "the sacrament of marriage".
The bishop has been criticised by Barry Sheerman, the chairman of the schools select committee.
"A lot of taxpayers' money is going into church schools and I think we should tease out what is happening here," said Mr Sheerman, the Labour MP for Huddersfield.
"A group of bishops appear to be taking a much firmer line and I think it would be to call representatives in front of the committee to find out what is going on.
"It seems to me that faith education works all right as long as people are not that serious about their faith.
"But as soon as there is a more doctrinaire attitude questions have to be asked.
"It does become worrying when you get a new push from more fundamentalist bishops. This is taxpayers' money after all."
The bishop said that his document had been in response to pressure from parents.
"Many parents go to great lengths to bring up their children properly and they feel that schools are not cooperating with them as well as they should," he added.
He said Whitehall's sex education policies had failed and 30 years of "throwing condoms at children" had simply resulted in increasing levels of teenage pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases.
Bishop O'Donoghue added: "But they (the MPs) see me as a fundamentalist and that is a pejorative word these days with connotations of terrorism, violence and irrationality. I will say I reject these connotations."
As part of their inquiry, the MPs will consider whether faith schools should be publicly funded and whether they should continue to control their own pupil admissions.
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