- Target:
- First Minister of the Scottish Parliament
- Region:
- United Kingdom
- Website:
- www.humanism-scotland.org.uk
Within state schools in Scotland there is a promotion of specific religions (dependent on the school) above others or irreligion. My belief is that there should be laws in place to prevent an unbalanced religious education for the children of Scotland as it goes against a diverse religious society in Scotland. Those who wish to follow their religion should do it in their own time and if they must during school day, they should make the choice to remove themselves from the class to do so.
To force those who don't wish to be part of a religious observance to leave the educational environment is discriminatory and ostracising against someone who has not made a religious choice at all.
Despite the majority of the country coming from Christian families, this does not mean we are a purely Christian country, 40% of the country follow no religion at all. Even if we are a 'Christian country' there is no reason for our faith to permeate into the educational system unless it is in a fair and balanced learning environment.
Everyone who has signed this petition believes that is should be made unconstitutional for the Scottish Government to specifically endorse any religion above another or irreligion. This has become especially apparent in the education system where Christianity is promoted as our nations one true faith. This is not an attempt to dissolve religious education as this is very important in a child’s upbringing.
We believe that no part of a state-school ceremony should take place in any religious building or environment and that no member of the clergy should be allowed to promote their religion within schools as faith should be studied in a purely education fashion.
Currently the legislation in Scotland gives pupils the option to opt-out of religious observance in the Provision of Religious Observance in Scottish Schools 2005 under ‘Parental Right to Withdraw’ This ostracises those who choose not to support the particular religion of the school, or those who make no choice at all and are not religious. Pupils who wish to take actions to follow their specific religion should be the ones who opt-in and such occurrences should take place outside of the general classroom or educational environment.
We also believe that in order to maintain that every pupil in Scotland gets a fair and balanced education in religion, the government should gradually withdraw support from state faith schools if they continue to create their own unmonitored religious education curriculum as it goes completely against the concept of a diverse Scotland. They teach religion from a bias point of view. If Parents wish for their children to receive an education in the teachings of their religion EVEN during their school life, they should investigate private options. Public money should not be spent on the indoctrination of children from a young age.
You can further help this campaign by sponsoring it
The Stop Scottish State-Schools from Endorsing Specific Religions petition to First Minister of the Scottish Parliament was written by Euan Colley and is in the category Education at GoPetition.