Abbreviation SSS Headquarters Glasgow Chair Megan Crawford | Formation 2012 Region served Scotland | |
Purpose Advancement of human rights and equality, freedom of religion and freedom from religion. The removal of religious privilege in Scottish public affairs. The promotion of secular ethics in Scottish society. | ||
The Scottish Secular Society is a vocal 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.
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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
Scotland's culture has been dominated by Christianity for most of recent history. However, there has been an undercurrent of free-thought and radical secularism spanning as far back as the 17th century to the likes of Scottish student Thomas Aikenhead, who was hanged for his criticism of religion and theology, and famously David Hume in the 18th century. Though Hume was raised by strict Calvinists, he became highly critical of religion, and his subsequent work disputed religious assertions such as the existence of miracles, intelligent design, and the immortality of the soul. His suspected atheism led to him being turned down for various academic positions, and a trial against him for the crime of heresy.
In the 19th century the radical subculture of free-thought in Scotland began to take a more organised form. Activists inspired by the ideas of social reformers such as Robert Owen, Richard Carlile, and the revolutionary thinker Thomas Paine formed the first secular societies in Edinburgh and Glasgow in 1821. In the second half of the century, secular societies were thriving in Edinburgh, Glasgow, Perth, Dundee, Paisley, Greenock, and Aberdeen.
Many prominent Scottish secularists, like J. M. Robertson from the Isle of Arran, eventually gravitated towards London, where they made great contributions to the movement. Secularist thought continued in the central belt of Scotland well into the twentieth century. In 1937, the Glasgow Corporation hosted both the National and Glasgow Secular Societies. Few other cities at the time would welcome the non-religious as well as the faithful.
Prior to January 2013, Caroline Lynch, a mother from the isle of Skye, was having increasing problems with the interference of religion in her child's education. Specifically the presentation of Christian mythology as fact by a Free Church of Scotland Minister during weekly classroom visits to the Highland school - including the significant distress caused to her child due to detailed descriptions of crucifixion, and eternal punishment in hell for non-believers. After finding similar concerns widespread online, Lynch, now based in Glasgow, and a small group like-minded secularists decided to create a campaign group to lobby and spread information on issues of religion and government in Scotland.
The Scottish Secular Society has since established its place in Scottish civil society by publicly commenting on current affairs in Scotland from a secularist perspective, successfully petitioning the Scottish parliament, giving evidence to the and hosting speaking events with speakers such as Alistair McBay of the National Secular Society, Patrick Harvie from the Scottish Green Party and Rachel Thain Gray from Glasgow Women's Library.
Aikenhead Award
The Aikenhead award is the Scottish Secular Society’s annual award for commitment to secular values. It is named after Thomas Aikenhead, a Scottish student who became the last person in Britain to be executed for the crime of blasphemy in 1696.
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. Currently, religious observance is compulsory unless parents opt-out. The Scottish Secular Society want the relevant legislation – Education (Scotland) Act 1980 – 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. The Edinburgh Secular Society endorses the concerns of the petition; however, their conclusion is that RO should be removed from schools altogether. 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.
On 4 September 2014, a petition was submitted to the Scottish Parliament on behalf of the Scottish Secular Society, "calling on the . . . Scottish Government to issue official guidance to bar the presentation in Scottish publicly funded schools of separate creation and of Young Earth doctrines as viable alternatives to the established science of evolution, common descent, and deep time." The petition resulted in the then chair of the SSS, Spencer Fildes, and scientific adviser and board member, Professor Paul Braterman giving evidence to Holyrood's public petitions committee.
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. The Scottish Secular Society has called for clear guidance on creationism in schools in Scotland and states that it should be discussed within the confines of religious education classes.
In an April 2013 Radio Scotland interview, then 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. Alasdair Allan responded by stating that Creationism and Intelligent Design is not scientific theory and that is has no place within the Scottish curriculum
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.
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."