The Church of Scotland has spoken out against plans to allow children to overrule their parents if they withdraw them from religious education.
The Education (Scotland) Act 1980 permits parents to take their children out of religious education and acts of religious observance at school.
This arrangement went on undisturbed until last year when Scotland passed a law that incorporates parts of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child into Scots law. One such provision is the right for children to be heard.
This has left Scotland with a legal contradiction. The 1980 Act gives parents the right to decide on behalf of their child whether they will be withdrawn from religious education, but currently gives no weight to the opinion of the child on the matter.
To resolve this, the Children (Withdrawal from Religious Education and Amendment of UNCRC Compatibility Duty) (Scotland) Bill 2025 was proposed in April of this year.
Currently at Stage 1 of the legislative process, various experts and interested parties have been invited to give evidence on the matter.
Speaking on behalf of the Church of Scotland, the Reverend Stephen Miller said that opting out of religious education left children at risk of having no knowledge of the beliefs and practices which have shaped the society around them.
Despite this, he said that the Church supported the right of parents to withdraw their children from religious education and observance.
“The bill’s aim of ensuring that a child’s voice is heard in discussions about withdrawal is welcome, and we fully support this. However, the proposals go further: they would allow a child’s view about potential withdrawal … to override that of a legally responsible parent/carer," he said.
Rev Miller noted that the plans are unclear as to the level of maturity a child would need in order for their views to be taken into account and added that the bill could lead to the exacerbation of tensions between schools, students and parents.
“We also fear that legislating as suggested could effectively tie the hands of schools, learners and parents/carers to be able to have constructive conversations on this matter and could exacerbate potential disagreements between parents/carers and children – and even, possibly, between parents or carers," he said.
"To introduce two conflicting priority rights does not seem sensible or desirable in obtaining a harmonious solution.”
Sandra Blair, Youth for Christ Scotland Lead and Christian Values in Education Scotland Management Committee member, said it was to be welcomed that children's views could be heard and that the bill "is not pushing for automatic removal of all religious observance/education".
However, she voiced concerns about the implications for schools having to "follow the child’s wishes" and striking a balance, noting that a lot of teaching to pupils about their rights "has missed the messaging about how ‘with rights come responsibilities’".
"Sometimes parents are trying to do what is best for their child when the child doesn’t see it that way so I don’t think it should be an automatic default to whatever the child wants," she said.
She added that having to facilitate conversations between parents and pupils could lead to extra administrative burdens for school staff, adding to "an already heavily loaded amount of school paperwork".
