Scottish Secular Society
 | |
| Formation | 2012 |
|---|---|
| Purpose | State/Church separation |
| Headquarters | Glasgow |
Region served | Scotland |
Chairman | Spencer Fildes |
Key people | Ramin Forghani (Vice-Chair), Garry Otton, Caroline Lynch, Paul Braterman, Christopher Orrett |
| Website | scottishsecularsociety |
| Part of a series on |
| Irreligion |
|---|
The Scottish Secular Society is the largest secular organisation in Scotland and is based in Glasgow. It promotes the separation of church and state and educates the public on matters relating to the interface of religion and politics.[1]
The Scottish Secular Society does not campaign to eradicate or prohibit religion, arguing that freedom of religion, as well as freedom from religion, is a human right and that state sponsorship of selected religions encroaches upon that right. It holds that belief should be a private matter for the home or place of worship and should not have a place of privilege in society. The Scottish Secular Society is often critical of what it sees as the damaging effects of religion.
History
The Scottish Secular Society started life on Facebook as an offshoot of the Not the Scottish Catholic Observer Facebook group.
On 12 April 2012, a new Facebook group Secular Scotland was created by ScotsGay columnist Garry Otton to spread the message of Secularism to people across Scotland. Initially a discussion group, rising membership showed a feeling that secular issues in Scotland were prevalent. In January 2013, Secular Scotland decided to formalise into a campaign group to lobby on issues of religion and the state in Scotland.
On 12 April 2013, Caroline Lynch was elected as the first chair. A constitution was enacted, and work started to identify the priority issues within Scottish society that need to be addressed.
On 11 July 2013, Secular Scotland rebranded as the Scottish Secular Society.
On 19 November 2013, Christopher Orrett was voted in as the Vice Chair.
Political lobbying
On 3 June 2013, Secular Scotland announced that they had co-authored along with an Inverclyde parent, Mark Gordon, a petition to the Scottish Parliament asking for the implementation of Religious Observance in Scottish schools to be changed.[2][3][4][5][6] Currently, religious observance is compulsory unless parents opt-out. The Scottish Secular Society want the relevant legislation – Education (Scotland) Act 1980[7] – to be changed so that parents have to opt in to Religious Observance for their children rather than it being assumed they wish to do so.[8][9] The Edinburgh Secular Society endorses the concerns of the petition; however, their conclusion is that RO should be removed from schools altogether.[10] The Scottish Parent Teacher Council (SPTC) said school communities that no longer wanted a religious element to meetings such as assemblies should be allowed to replace them with secular alternatives.[11]
Whilst all schools have an obligation to inform parents that removing their child from religious observance is a right, this is often not done or is only mentioned briefly in the school handbook. A 2012 opinion poll conducted by YouGov found that of 1000 parents surveyed most were not being adequately made aware of their right to withdraw. Four out of five parents were either ignorant of their rights or originally found out through a source other than school. 39% of parents were not aware of their rights at all.[12]
Other activities
The Scottish Secular Society is also concerned with the rise of creationist or intelligent design organisations such as the Centre for Intelligent Design (C4ID), or the American Discovery Institute. It was, in part, responsible for the leaking of information to the Scottish Daily Record about creationism being promoted in an East Kilbride primary school.[13] The Scottish Secular Society has called for clear guidance on creationism in schools in Scotland[14][15] and states that it should be discussed within the confines of religious education classes.[16]
In an April 2013 Radio Scotland interview,[17] chair of the Scottish Secular Society Caroline Lynch discussed the continuing rise in humanist marriage ceremonies.
On 1 October 2013, the Scottish Secular society wrote to Michael Russell requesting that creationism and intelligent design be specifically excluded from the educational setting outside of RME classes in the Scottish Educational system.[18][19] Alasdair Allan responded by stating that Creationism and Intelligent Design is not scientific theory and that is has no place within the Scottish curriculum [20]
On 23 October 2013, Caroline Lynch was invited to talk at an event sponsored by the Scottish Government and hosted by the University of Edinburgh entitled 'Religion In Scotland – Current Trends & Future Trajectories'. The meeting had representatives from faith groups and other political and legal contributors. The Scottish Secular Society were invited to make contributions on the growing role of secularism and the petition under consideration within the Scottish Parliament.
On 5 November 2013, the Scottish Secular Society formally responded to the Scottish Government draft guidance on Conduct of Relationships, Sexual Health and Parenthood Education.[21]
Criticism
The Scottish Secular Society have been criticised by the Free Church of Scotland, who state that "their belief and intention is that there should be no religious worship in state schools at all. They just see this as a first step."[22][23]
See also
References
- ^ "Scottish Secular Society : About Us". Scottish Secular Society. Retrieved 23 October 2013.
- ^ "PE01487: Religious observance in schools - Getting Involved : Scottish Parliament". Scottish.parliament.uk. Retrieved 2013-08-17.
- ^ "BBC : Parent calls to remove 'religious observance' in non-denominational schools". BBC. Retrieved 24 October 2013.
- ^ "PE01487: Public Petitions Committee video footage 03/09/13". Scottish.parliament.uk. 2013-09-03. Retrieved 2013-08-17.
- ^ "Claim over religion in schools – Herald Scotland". Herald Scotland. 2013-09-04.
- ^ "Call to make school religious events opt-in – The Scotsman". The Scotsman. 2013-09-03.
- ^ "Education (Scotland) Act 1980".
- ^ "STV News : Secular society wants law change for religious observance at school". STV. Retrieved 24 October 2013.
- ^ "Times Educational Supplement: Religion - Parent group backs end to forced worship". Times Educational Supplement. Retrieved 25 October 2013.
- ^ "Edinburgh Secular Society : Response to petition 1487" (PDF). Edinburgh Secular Society. Retrieved 24 October 2013.
- ^ "SPTC : Call for end to RP". Heraldscotland.com. Retrieved 26 October 2013.
- ^ "Humanist Society Scotland : A Survey into Parental Knowledge and Attitudes towards RME and Observance in Scottish Schools" (PDF). Humanism-scotland.org.uk. Retrieved 2013-08-17.
- ^ "Parents' outrage as extremist US religious sect hand out creationist books and preach to kids at Scottish school".
- ^ "Secular society calls for a ban on creationism". Heraldscotland.com. Retrieved 2013-10-24.
- ^ "Secular society calls for a ban on creationism". BBC. Retrieved 2013-10-24.
- ^ "Calls for probe into creationist physics teacher". Heraldscotland.com. Retrieved 2013-10-24.
- ^ "Humanist Society Scotland | News | Humanist Weddings on BBC Radio Scotland". Humanism-scotland.org.uk. 2013-04-29. Retrieved 2013-08-17.
- ^ "Scottish Secular Society: Open Letter to Mike Russell". Scottish Secular Society. Retrieved 25 October 2013.
- ^ "The Darwin Delusion". Centre for Intelligent Design. Retrieved 25 October 2013.
- ^ "Alasdair Allan: Creationism has no place in the Scottish Curriculum". Scottish Secular Society. Retrieved 3 November 2013.
- ^ "Response to draft guidance on sex education". Scottish Secular Society. Retrieved 5 November 2013.
- ^ "Free Church of Scotland : News 04/09/13". Free Church of Scotland. Retrieved 23 October 2013.
- ^ "Christian Today : Full statement from Free Church minister David Robertson on religious observance in schools". Christian Today. Retrieved 24 October 2013.