Religion
Related: About this forumThe new battle over religion in schools
Secular Scotland, however, has emphasised that it wants teaching in the classroom on religious issues to continue on courses such as religious education. However, a separate petition to Edinburgh City Council by secularists is calling for an end to all religious observance in the city's schools.
In response to the moves, the Catholic Church and Free Church of Scotland have now said that secularists should set up their own "non-faith" schools instead.
Michael McGrath, director of the Scottish Catholic Education Service, said religious observance was part of the "fabric of the community life" in Catholic schools and they would contest any effort to remove the statutory requirement for it. Some commentators believe that, after gay marriage, the issue of religious observation in schools may be the next battleground when it comes to "culture wars" in Scotland.
http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/home-news/the-new-battle-over-religion-in-schools.21292976
rug
(82,333 posts)"Let the secularists have their schools, teaching their values," he said. "And let the churches return to a system where we run state-funded Christian schools. This would give parents a real choice, and offer real diversity and equality in Scotland."
It's a much different system in the UK.
muriel_volestrangler
(101,411 posts)The current position in Scotland is:
2,722 state-funded schools, of which 373 are Catholic, 1 Jewish, and 3 Episcopalian. Notice that the Church of Scotland, the largest Protestant denomination, doesn't have dedicated schools, and neither does the Free Church (though, with under 5,000 communicants, according to Wikipedia, that's not entirely surprising. They're not known as the 'Wee Frees' for nothing. Though its own website says 12,500 people attend its services each week). But in terms of significant membership, I think you'd divide Scotland into Church of Scotland, Roman Catholic, other Christian, other religions, and none (link goes to 2001 census figures; 2011 ones haven't appeared yet; as the Scottish Social Attitudes Survey, mentioned in the article, from the same years points out, the 'no religion' group is probably now at about 50%). And the Church of Scotland says it's happy with the current system, and the RCs want to hold on to their state-funded schools.
At the moment, non-denominational schools still have to provide 'religious observance', though if a child is withdrawn, then a 'worthwhile alternative activity' should be provided, which sitting in an office clearly isn't.