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Use our guide to have your say on the Scottish government’s flawed religious observance bill

July 23, 2025

Holyrood’s equality committee is currently calling for public views on a deeply flawed religious observance bill. Use this handy guide to share your story and have your say.

What is happening?

The Scottish Parliament equalities committee is consulting the public on a new religious observance bill. The proposed law would reform the opt-out system for religious worship in schools, but stops short of giving competent school pupils the independent right to opt-out. This ignores the advice of the Children’s Commissioner and the UN, and will leave non-religious pupils without the option to withdraw from worship against their parent’s wishes.

What can you do?

Please consider responding to the committee’s Call for Views before it closes on 1 September. The consultation is short, but feel free to answer as many or few of the questions as you wish. Use your own words and experiences where possible. If you are unsure about how to answer any of the questions, our guide below provides steers and tips.

The survey includes six questions. We recommend you focus on the first four. They ask about the changes to the opt-out system for religious observance (RO) and religious (and moral) education (RME/RE).

NB. In the autumn the government launched a consultation on this bill. This new call for views from the equalities committee is a different process. You are entitled to respond to both, so don’t worry if you’ve already written once about the religious observance bill!

Respond to the call for views on religious observance bill

Our tips on responding

Question 1 asks about a new requirement to inform a child or young person when their parent asks for them to be withdrawn from religious observance and religious education at school.

We support this requirement. It will give some pupils the opportunity to express their views on a decision that affects them. But we think it doesn’t go far enough with regards to religious observance. Competent school pupils should have the final say over whether or not they participate in religious observance, whether that means participating or opting out. Also, why does the wording conflate RO and RME?

When answering Question 1, you might wish to consider the following points:

Why is the government only giving due weight to children’s views on religious observance when a parent makes a withdrawal request? Most school pupils will still be denied the right to be heard, including those whose parents won’t let them opt out of religious observance.
Why does the government conflate learning about different religions (RE/RME) with organised acts of worship (RO)? Unlike RME (Religious and Moral Education), there is no evidence that RO (Religious Observance) is delivered in an objective, inclusive or pluralist way.
Modern, inclusive RME is an important part of the school curriculum that helps pupils understand the diversity of faiths, beliefs and perspectives around them. RME should not be an opt-out subject.

Question 2 asks about the proposed new withdrawal system. The Bill gives competent children and young people the right to object if their parent tries to opt them out of religious observance or religious education. In other words, school pupils would have a new independent right to opt in against their parent’s wishes. But any child who wishes to opt out will still need their parent’s permission.

We think the government should go further and give school pupils a reciprocal right to opt out of religious observance.

When answering Question 2, you might wish to consider the following points:

Children and young people will still be denied the right to be heard unless their parent makes a withdrawal request.
Non-religious pupils who don’t feel comfortable taking part in religious worship will still require their parent’s permission to opt out.
Why are the government only prepared to extend the right to have final say on participation in religious observance to pupils who actively want to participate, whilst disenfranchising those who don’t?
Why is the government ignoring the advice of the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child? The committee has twice recommended the introduction of an independent pupil opt-out for religious observance.
Why does the government conflate learning about different religions (RE/RME) with organised acts of worship (RO)? Unlike RME, there is no evidence that RO is delivered in an objective, inclusive or pluralist way.
Modern, inclusive RME is an important part of the school curriculum that helps pupils understand the diversity of faiths, beliefs and perspectives around them. RME should not be an opt-out subject.

Question 3 asks for views on the implications of the new system on schools, pupils and parents.

When answering Question 3, we ask you to consider the following points:

Only pupils who want to opt in to religious observance will be empowered. This risks sending the message that pupils who want to engage in Christian worship are more capable of making informed decisions than non-Christian and non-religious pupils.
The 2022 Census found that the school-age population is now majority non-religious (60%) and more diverse in terms of faith and belief than ever before. In non-denominational schools, it could well be practical for schools to make religious observance an exclusively opt-in activity.

Question 4 asks for views on how the right to withdraw from religious observance and religious education currently operates in schools.

Use this question to talk about your own recent experience of religious observance in school, whether as a pupil, parent, grandparent or teacher.

When answering Question 4, we ask you to consider the following point:

Only three school pupils responded to an earlier government consultation on the Bill. The equalities committee must do all it can to ensure the voices of children and young people are heard on religious observance in schools.

Respond to the call for views on religious observance bill