Our schools are being targeted and exploited by evangelical groups as part of their missionary work.
We help parents challenge these attempts at indoctrination.
The legal obligation on all state schools to provide a daily act of worship provides a foot in the door to organisations with evangelistic intentions.
The ambiguity about the specific aims and purpose of religious education, and its low status in schools, also creates an ideal environment for evangelical groups to exploit.
- In our survey of 300 schools, only 16% of schools had a policy or policies concerning the partisan promotion of religious or political beliefs by external speakers.
- No policies of schools surveyed requires parents to be informed of visitors in advance, and no policies clearly prohibited religious proselytising.
Schools which invite external evangelists may have good intentions, but are often unaware of the group's agenda and unprepared to set appropriate boundaries. Our research has found only a minority of schools have adequate policies in place to ensure inappropriate evangelism doesn't take place. Meanwhile, parents are too often not informed of the visits of the backgrounds of evangelical groups.
External groups can make a valuable educational contribution to schools. With the right boundaries in place, staff and parents can be assured of no inappropriate proselytising.
Take action!
1. Challenge inappropriate evangelism in your school
Is evangelism happening at your school? Read our guide to challenging proselytisation.
2. Write to your MP
Ask your MP to support a code of practice so external groups can contribution to schools without evangelism or proselytization.
3. Share your story
Tell us why you support this campaign, and how you are personally affected by the issue. You can also let us know if you would like assistance with a particular issue.
4. Join us
Become a member of the National Secular Society today! Together, we can separate religion and state for greater freedom and fairness.
Latest updates
Scottish secularists accuse churches of proselytising in schools
Posted: Mon, 2 Sep 2013 13:07
The Edinburgh Secular Society (ESS) has published a report criticising the increasing levels of religious proselytising and evangelising going on in Scottish schools.
The report comes after a year of research by the group, with some input from the NSS Scottish spokesperson Alistair McBay. It says that non-denominational schools in Scotland are being targeted by religious groups that aim to make converts.
The Times Educational Supplement Scotland (TESS) carried an article about the report in the latest edition, with comments from various religious groups.
A Scripture Union Scotland spokesperson said that her organisation agreed with the ESS that "pupils have a right to hear about different faith perspectives, and that proselytising within a school context is wholly inappropriate".
But the ESS's report says of the Scripture Union:
"The Scripture Union's website recently, on its home page, stated: 'Help us plant seeds of faith in children and young people living near you! Do you long for more children and young people in your local area to know about God, and how much he loves them?'"
Further, in a recent interview, Wayne Dixon, a Scripture Union development worker, stated:
"Generally speaking our children / young people aren't coming to our churches but 99% of them are in school. We do well to be there and to encourage others to be there serving in a variety of ways.
"My hope — prayer — is that by being in school and being myself I can share something of Jesus that will connect with some of this 96% [sic.] and my feedback — gut reaction — is that this is welcomed. I'm just an ordinary guy who is a Christian and I want to dispel some of the misconceptions young people have about Jesus and Christianity so at least they will give Jesus a thought. I thank God that schools have been welcoming and allowed me and others in to do just this."
Moreover, the Scripture Union openly promotes a programme within schools called 'Hanging About Ministry' ('HAM').
Worryingly, this programme encourages Christian volunteers, who often gain access to school under a Religious Observation (RO) remit as 'Youth Workers', to address and interact with pupils, unsupervised, in areas of the school such as common rooms, dining halls, sports days and class registration.
Wayne Dixon, a strong proponent of HAM, states: "I turn up, sign in and have a 'plan'. Usually I start in the common room before lunch, as there are usually students around and we chat about, well, anything and everything! Then the lunch bell goes and I'm out of the common room and starting my routine. I may start with lunch, where I sit with some students and chat and eat. Then I go on a walk about. There are usually some specific groups of young people whom I try to meet up with and catch up with, and this is just great. Then there is the unusual – the unplanned, but always very interesting. You should always expect the unexpected!"
In Larbert High School the full-time youth worker has been given an office within the school and is part of the 10 strong Chaplaincy Team. Worryingly, he states that: "Since taking on the new office it has enabled us to make contact and build relations with students of the school who would not normally seek us out. We have a small group of about 15 students who now come in every day at the start of school and during break time and lunch. Amazing opportunity to sow seeds!!"
Jon Reid, headteacher at Larbert, again denied to the TESS that there was any "hidden agenda" in the huge number of religious representatives operating in the school.
The Church of Scotland was equally miffed by the ESS's report. The Rev Sandy Fraser, convener of the Church of Scotland's education committee, told the TESS: "The Church of Scotland is increasingly disappointed in the nature of these comments by the Edinburgh Secular Society," he said.
"It is extremely inaccurate to suggest chaplains inveigle their way into schools. Chaplains and other community figures are in schools by invitation of the headteacher to assist in whatever way the headteacher feels is helpful to the school. Chaplains are very clear that their job is not to impose their views on the school community."
Terry Sanderson, President of the National Secular Society, said: "This report touches on something very important that is happening in schools all over the country, not just in Scotland. With the absence of young people in their churches, religious organisations are engaging aggressively in 'outreach' work in schools, a place where pupils are bound by law to attend and from which there is no escape from the proselytising intentions of these religious groups.
"There is an acceptance from Governments that it is automatically 'a good thing' for evangelical groups – some of them quite extreme – to freely march into schools and use manipulative techniques to make new recruits. Reading Wayne Dixon's account of how he opportunistically inveigles himself into the confidence of pupils is really quite chilling."
Mr Sanderson said that the Church of Scotland's stated "disappointment" at the ESS's comments are an attempt to deflect attention away from their activities in schools. "It's very easy for these religious representatives to deny that they have any proselytising intentions, but their activities clearly indicate otherwise."
Read the ESS report here
Edinburgh secularists challenge religious interference in schools
Posted: Wed, 17 Jul 2013 16:29
Edinburgh Secular Society has published full details of all 91 unelected religious representatives sitting on the education committees of Scotland's 32 local authorities.
The representatives are appointed after nomination by their local churches and have full voting rights on all educational issues coming before their local authority. Their expenses are paid for by council-tax payers. The undemocratic nature of the appointments has angered many elected officials.
In a significant number of areas of Scotland, these unelected representatives hold sway. Church of Scotland's Church and Society Council, in a report earlier this year to their General Assembly, claimed "We estimate that... Church Representatives hold the balance of power on 19 Local Authority Committees (of 32)."
The Local Government (Scotland) Act 1994 requires local authorities to appoint a representative of the Church of Scotland, an official from the Roman Catholic Church, and another religious figure to their education committees.
Edinburgh Secular Society has argued that continuing with this practice is damaging to local democracy in Scotland, and politics in general.
Patrick Harvie, MSP for Glasgow, said: "In a society in which increasing numbers of people don't practice any religion, it's high time that we questioned a practice which gives religious hierarchies an influence over every child's education. I'm particularly concerned at the involvement of people who would promote utterly unscientific notions like creationism; pushing this absurd ideology at children is the very opposite of education."
Bailie Dr Nina Baker, Glasgow City councillor (one of two Scottish Green Party seats on the city council's executive), told the ESS: "Whilst I can see that representatives of major world faiths might have a role in advising on curriculum content for the teaching of comparative religion in schools, I believe they should have no right to vote on councils' decision-making bodies. Those votes should be reserved for accountable, elected members only. A recent contribution from the Roman Catholic representative on Glasgow's executive was to make clear his church could never accept the principle and practice of shared-campus schools, a policy with full cross-party support."
Commenting on the presence of unelected religious representatives on local authority education committees, City of Edinburgh Councillor Sandy Howat added: "Unelected, unaccountable and I would suggest untenable? Undemocratic influence over public education is fundamentally at odds with the principles of respect, equality and shared freedoms. All contributions to committee deliberations should be welcomed, yet continued undemocratic privilege of the few over the many is an outdated tradition we should remove. As we look to create a fairer Scotland with liberty at its core, we need to ask ourselves what this 'privilege' says about our values; it's time for a new enlightenment."
Edinburgh Secular Society point out that the 'religious representative' placements are not open to those without any declared religious beliefs, nor to humanists, or to the many minority religious faith groups, as the law calls for representatives to have a recognised 'place of worship'.
Edinburgh Secular Society is calling on the Scottish Government to review the clause, with a view to removing it from the Act. The group also believes that it is not compliant with the Equality Act 2010.
More information
Evangelism In State Schools report (PDF, 493 Kb)Read our 2013 report on the activities of evangelical organisations in state schools.
