Scottish Secular Society

Scottish Secular Society

Abbreviation	SSS
Formation	2012
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.
Headquarters	Glasgow
Region served	Scotland
Chair	Douglas McLellan
Key people	Robert Canning (Vice-Chair), Garry Otton, Caroline Lynch, Paul Braterman
Website	scottishsecularsociety.com

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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.^[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.

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.

• The inaugural Aikenhead Award 2015 was given to Raif Badawi ^[2]

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.^{[3][4][5][6][7]} Currently, religious observance is compulsory unless parents opt-out. The Scottish Secular Society want the relevant legislation – Education (Scotland) Act 1980^[8] – 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.^[9][10] The Edinburgh Secular Society endorses the concerns of the petition; however, their conclusion is that RO should be removed from schools altogether.^[11] 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.^[12]

On 4th of 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." ^[13] 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.^[14] The Scottish Secular Society has called for clear guidance on creationism in schools in Scotland^[15][16] and states that it should be discussed within the confines of religious education classes.^[17]

In an April 2013 Radio Scotland interview,^[18] 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.^[19][20] Alasdair Allan responded by stating that Creationism and Intelligent Design is not scientific theory and that is has no place within the Scottish curriculum ^[21]

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.^[22]

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."^[23][24]

References