Collective Worship and Religious Observance Response by Humanist Society Scotland Gary 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 (  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, Church of ScotlandRoman CatholicOther Christian Other religionsNo Religion Source: Scottish Election surveys 1992, 1997; Scottish Social Attitudes surveys , 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 Aged Aged Aged Aged 75+ Church of Scotland Catholic Other Christian No religion Base =1,0571,3851,3971, Source: Scottish Social Attitudes combined, sourced from Dr Michael Rosie, New College Edinburgh

Survey of year olds Do you regard yourself as belonging to any particular religion? Church of Scotland7.5% (N=77) Catholic10.3% (N=105) Other Christian8.8% (N=90) No religion70.8% (N=720) ‘Protestant’1% (N=10) Other1% (N=11) (Prefer not to answer 0.6% N=6) Unweighted base = 1,018 Source: Survey of young Scots, 2013,

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. ( )  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. (  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 (  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 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.