Collective Worship and Religious

ObservanceResponse by Humanist

Society ScotlandGary McLelland

Head of Communications and Public Affairs

November 13, 2015

About HSS Community of 14,000 members

Almost 15,000 members in Scotland, UK and across the world.

Part of a network of global humanist member organisations.

Community groups around Scotland.

Humanist Ceremonies

Provide over 3,500+ weddings/year.

One of only 8 countries in the world where humanist ceremonies are legal.

Campaigns and Advocacy

Campaign for inclusive, secular education.

Sponsor and conduct research and analysis (www.humanism.scot/?p=19409)

Partnership project with Malawi.

Points of Response

A review of the context of religion and belief among young people

Case study: An Edinburgh parent

Commitment to reform

Additional problems with current policy

Welcoming the report’s reccomendations

Religious identification, 1992-2012

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

1992 1997 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2009 2010 2011 2012

Church of Scotland Roman Catholic Other Christian

Other religions No Religion

Source: Scottish Election surveys 1992, 1997; Scottish Social Attitudes surveys 1999-2012, sourced from Dr Michael Rosie, New College Edinburgh

Proportion of respondents who say they are now ‘no religion’ by the religion of their upbringing…

 Aged 18-29

Aged 30-44

Aged 45-59

Aged 60-74

Aged 75+

Church of Scotland 61 58 49 30 21

Catholic 39 42 35 26 16

Other Christian 57 56 49 33 22

No religion 96 96 92 89 95

Base = 1,057 1,385 1,397 1,117 437

Source: Scottish Social Attitudes 2009-12 combined, sourced from Dr Michael Rosie, New College Edinburgh

Survey of 14-17 year oldsDo you regard yourself as belonging to any particular religion?

Church of Scotland 7.5% (N=77)

Catholic 10.3% (N=105)

Other Christian 8.8% (N=90)

No religion 70.8% (N=720)

‘Protestant’ 1% (N=10)

Other 1% (N=11)

(Prefer not to answer 0.6% N=6)Unweighted base =

1,018

Source: Survey of young Scots, 2013, http://aqmen.ac.uk/referendum/youngpeople

City of Edinburgh Petition

In February 2013 a petition was brought to City of Edinburgh Council to call a local plebiscite in order to discontinue RO.(http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-edinburgh-east-fife-21542417)

Petition was received by City of Edinburgh Council, and is still active.

Commitment to reform

In April 2012, HSS conducted a survey which found that Four out five parents (80%) were either ignorant of their rights or originally found out through a source other than school. Worryingly, 39%, over a third of parents were not aware of their right at all. (https://www.humanism.scot/?p=19555)

In January 2014 HSS & Church of Scotland agreed a joint position on RO reform:‘The Church of Scotland and Humanist Society Scotland have called for legislation to be brought forward to change Religious Observance in schools to "Time for Reflection" as a way of making these events more inclusive and clearly not gatherings where one faith or belief system is promoted over another.’

Additional problems with current policy Current opt-out covers non-denominational schools only

(https://www.humanism.scot/?p=26)

Definition of ‘spiritual development’?

One example from the RORG 2015 report is ‘sensing otherness’.

Appropriateness given changes in demographics as seen in previous slides.

Exceptionalisation of religion.

We welcome the report’s recommendations We support secular education, and do not believe there is a space for

prayer within the curriculum.

However, we do wish reform with the consensus of parents and teachers, most importantly young people themselves.

Changes to the age of majority in Scotland (and rUK) have prompted a need to address the opt-out.

Need for greater clarity in the role of assessment.

No evaluation of RO since 2005. A decade later we need a review of law and policy in this area.

We welcome a change to a more inclusive form of religious observance.

HSS is keen and willing to play a part in any future reviews of this area.