Full statement from Free Church minister David Robertson on religious observance in schools

We are of course interested in the Scottish Secular Societies petition to seek to remove the opt-out system for religious worship in public schools.

On the face of it, it appears reasonable. After all who can argue against statistics which show the number of religious people in Scotland declining, the few horror stories of where things have gone wrong, and the bogey man of European Human Rights legislation?

But when you look at the facts in more depth you find that the statistics go against the Scottish Secular Society - they are a tiny group of people who are seeking to impose their will and their philosophy on the vast majority of Scottish parents. It is the tyranny of the minority.

The Human Rights legislation is irrelevant because there is a genuine right already to opt-out.

But more seriously we do not believe that the Scottish Secular Society just intend to create an opt-in system of religious worship.

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.

In a move loaded with irony, the Edinburgh Secular Society issued a report on 30th August in which they attack School chaplaincies and work of groups such as Scripture Union. It is clear that the secular society wish to eradicate any form of religion in any public school.

Solas CPC, the Free Church, and many other Christian churches and organisations will resist this secular tyranny as much as we possibly can.

We urge the Scottish Parliament to be aware of the wider agenda of the more militant secularists and to stand up for the wishes of the majority of their constituents, who wish to see the traditional link between education and Christianity continued in 21st Century Scotland.