Parliament Workbench

Petition · PE01623 · Session 5

Unelected church appointees on Local Authority Education Committees

Closed Submitted 7 Oct 2016 People & Communities
Signatures
0
706 online signatures with a country
Comments
48
Considered
4 meetings
in the Official Report

What it asks

Calling on the Scottish Parliament to urge the Scottish Government to remove the constitutional anomaly that imposes unelected Church appointees on Local Authority Education Committees.

What the petitioner did first

We have written to all MSPs, and discovered that a number were unaware of the situation, or assumed that the matter already was, as we maintain it should be, within the discretion of individual Councils. We found widespread interest in the points we raised, with a clear majority of respondents supporting change.

Where it was considered

Official Report
  1. 24 Nov 2016
    Public Petitions Committee
    New Petitions
    1 mention
  2. 2 Feb 2017
    Public Petitions Committee
    Continued Petitions
    1 mention
  3. 27 Apr 2017
    Public Petitions Committee
    Continued Petitions
    1 mention
  4. 29 Jun 2017
    Public Petitions Committee
    Continued Petitions
    1 mention

Signatures by country

706 online signatures
  1. Scotland491 69.5%
  2. United Kingdom170 24.1%
  3. England24 3.4%
  4. United States8 1.1%
  5. Australia2 0.3%
  6. France2 0.3%
  7. Spain1 0.1%
  8. Northern Ireland1 0.1%
  9. Iran1 0.1%
  10. Taiwan1 0.1%
  11. 5 other countries5 0.7%

Comments

48 comments, oldest first
  1. john macgregor 6 Oct 2016
    Church appointees have no relevance in modern Scotland.
  2. Alistair McBay 6 Oct 2016
    This is a constitutional anachronism and a front to democracy, exploited by the churches for their own advantage. Long past its sell-by date
  3. Sean Dodds 6 Oct 2016
    Schools should be secular.
  4. Graham Barrie 6 Oct 2016
    Religion has no place in education
  5. Coel Hellier, Professor of Astrophysics, Keele University 6 Oct 2016
    Religion still has too much automatic privilege in the UK. Non-religious people should have equal citizenship and equal status.
  6. Neil brown 7 Oct 2016
    Religious representatives have no place on Council Education Committees.
    Religious observance has no place in schools.
  7. William Meikle 7 Oct 2016
    It is totally unacceptable that some positions
    on CECs are reserved for representatives of religion.
  8. Robert Williamson 7 Oct 2016
    I feel very strongly that education should be secular. There should be separation of church and state. Children should be educated together in a secular environment of reason, not separated along religious lines and indoctrinated into whatever religion their parents happen to follow. I believe that Scotland's future as an integrated society where people work and live together in peace depends on separation of church and state and secular education for all. Tax payer money should not be used to create segregation.
  9. David Simpson 8 Oct 2016
    1. No. 2. Yes, but as non-voting advisers. 3. No. 4. Yes. 5. Don't know. 6. Publicise issue. 7. I cannot see how appointing more non-elected members could redress democratic imbalance.
  10. Elias James Whitelaw 9 Oct 2016
    No unelected authority or body not directly subject to a government body should have any possible influence on eduction.
  11. Jim wilson 9 Oct 2016
    With over 50% of Scots claiming to have no religion why are the religious allowed to have a misappropriate amount of influence?
  12. Lisa Patton 10 Oct 2016
    Democracy in our education system.
  13. Tony Williams 12 Oct 2016
    This barely scratches the surface of the privileged place religion has in society. Nothing less than total separation will do. No tax breaks, no charitable status.
  14. Chris white 12 Oct 2016
    Bigotry under the guise of religion is still bigotry & has no place in children's education within a multicultural Scotland in the 21st century.

    Unelected privilege to a minority religion is against democracy and of no educational value.

    Religion is to science & knowledge what alchemy is to chemistry & astrology is to astronomy.

    It's not the iron age & we've evolved (pun intended).
  15. Dawn Gyles 12 Oct 2016
    It seems crazy that this was ever allowed to happen.Everyone should have to be elected. That's called fair.
  16. Norry Passway 13 Oct 2016
    I don't think anybody should have an automatic right to a place on an Education Committee simply because they are a representative of a particular religion. Why should they? What has religion got to do with education in general?
  17. Jane Napper 13 Oct 2016
    Religion should have no place in education in a secular country.
  18. Frank Stevenson 13 Oct 2016
    If Churches wish to participate on local education committees they can support their members to stand for election and let democracy prevail. The current position is out dated, undemocratic and needs to change.
  19. Ross Happer 13 Oct 2016
    There is no place for religion in a modern democratic country.
  20. John Warburton 14 Oct 2016
    Unelected religious members on education committees! It's the 21st, not the 19th century.
  21. John Arthur Turner 15 Oct 2016
    Children need to learn how to discuss,with peers, open ended questions. They should not be deprived of the hard task of developing their own ethical concepts supported by well reasoned arguments and evidence.
  22. Robert Lindsay 15 Oct 2016
    I see no reason that representatives of a religion should be accorded any favored status or influence in shaping the course of education, simply for the fact that they hold to a faith that requires the suppression of their faculty of reason.
  23. Richard Leslie 15 Oct 2016
    Time to remove the interference of all religious organisations from the daily life of schools.
  24. Megan Crawford 15 Oct 2016
    No religion should ever be privileged over others, nor the non-religious. Scotland deserves better. The Scottish people deserve equality in their education.
  25. Jack Coll 17 Oct 2016
    Secular matters should be just that.
  26. Martin Marley 17 Oct 2016
    In the 21st Century, it is preposterous that unelected religious members should sit on our education committees. If we are truly a democracy then we should remember that the majority in Scotland claim to have no religious affiliation.
  27. paul widdop 19 Oct 2016
    Religious ethos should be left at the school gate!!
  28. Norah Speirs 20 Oct 2016
    The education system should be not influenced by any religious denomination having a say in how children are educated as it takes away the fact that many people have chosen not to have their child or children follow any specific religion as they have either chosen not to follow any religion or have chosen to let their child find their own path when they are ready to .
  29. Daniel Ortiz 20 Oct 2016
    Its a shame I have to do this on behalf of the Scottish Secular society...
  30. gerald robertson 22 Oct 2016
    I find it totally abhorrent that in this day and age we are still accomodating religious thought designed to brainwash another generation of our children
  31. Gail Addis 29 Oct 2016
    If Scotland is really 'progressive' it would enact this.
  32. Willie Ross 30 Oct 2016
    This is an anachronism. This is the 21st century. Let the children make their own minds up rather than the brainwash of myth and legend.
  33. James McKenna 30 Oct 2016
    Remove ALL religious influence from schools.
  34. Agnes Boyle McKenna 30 Oct 2016
    Remove ALL religious influence from schools NOW !
  35. Andrew Downie PhD 30 Oct 2016
    When the education system perpetuates this notion of developing children as Critical Thinkers why do we still have religion in schools especially when they are not allowed to analyse it CRITICALLY. Where does one religion have any more evidence, or any for that matter, that it is more credible than any other mythology? We live in the 21st century not the 12th.
  36. Gavin hunter 31 Oct 2016
    No religion in politics please, it's time we stopped letting ancient mythology trump science and research.
  37. Ruth Law Gregory 31 Oct 2016
    Has our government the courage to stand up to the entrenched interests of the established churches?the present situation is an offence to the democratic rights of those who hold non-creedal views on religion.
  38. Janet Briggs 1 Nov 2016
    As a Unitarian for some 50 years, I should like to see Education separated from Religion, so no mandatory religious representatives, but rather consultation as appropriate.
  39. Heather Wilson 2 Nov 2016
    This is certainly a concern for us all, in a modern democratic country which we aspire to and which by and large, the Scottish government works hard at ensuring that Scotland progesses in all areas if society. Education must be progressive, and must not cling onto any old fashioned, antiquated ideas of how our young be educated. Religion should be a choice, especially in schools. Children are not there to be indoctrinated, committee members should be elected on merit, with an emphasis on a modern inclusive education system. This anomaly has to be challenged and changed to reflect the equality in education, that is required in vastly important decision making processes.
  40. Clive Briggs 2 Nov 2016
    I believe that spirituality is important and that the variouse faith groups each have much to offer. Education should teach children to think for themselves and provide a start to the teaching of a large selection of the different faith groups in our society
  41. Kenneth James Bruce 3 Nov 2016
    Unelected and represent only a minority of the population of Scotland.
  42. Margaret Cameron 4 Nov 2016
    All positions on Council Edication Committees should be contestable and all members democratically elected.
  43. Muriel Mackenzie 6 Nov 2016
    About time the Isle of Lewis! Got into the 21 century! Stop the churches ruling our Island!!
  44. DRD Woodward 6 Nov 2016
    Real leadership steers safe passage through uncharted places ... time to leave the dark ages behind.
  45. David M. Kiely 6 Nov 2016
    Do please leave the theocratic option to Iran and similar primitive nations. Scotland deserves better.
  46. Ruth Norton 6 Nov 2016
    Democratic representation is required for other governing bodies and is a fairer approach.
  47. Doug Clark 6 Nov 2016
    There are thousands of distinct religions, all claiming to hold the ''truth''. Hence, at most one of them can be valid. Religion is important to those who choose freely to subscribe to it, but intellectually vulnerable children are not in a position to make such a commitment. Religion should be taught by experts outwith the school environment and in appropriate environments. There should be an age of consent for religion.
  48. Amanda Darling 7 Nov 2016
    Religious morals belong in the church, not imposed upon anyone outwith that.