Posted in the wrong section by Veronika W - posting this again so it may gain a wider audience. I quote:
"A petition to remove religious observance from Edinburgh?s non-denominational schools has been submitted and is available to sign on the City of Edinburgh Council website: www.edinburgh.gov.uk/directory_record/219097/remove_religious_observance_from_non-denominational_schools.
Religious observance (not to be confused with religious education) has nothing to do with education, but everything to do with religious indoctrination.
It is indoctrination in the same sense that it would be if we allowed, for example, the SNP to enter our schools and tell the children who they?re going to vote for when they?re 18.
Imagine if the children in our state-funded schools were made to sing songs in praise of the SNP manifesto? Imagine if they were given pictures of Alex Salmond to colour in? Imagine if they were having to sit in assembly listening to an SNP member telling them how the SNP was associated with light and hope and all things positive, and that to be a good person you really ought to be an SNP supporter?
All of this is going on in our schools. All you need to do is replace the political references with religious ones.
Church ministers and members of evangelising organisations such as Scripture Union Scotland and Prayer Spaces in Schools and others, who want every child to remain automatically enrolled in RO in our schools, would tell me that as a parent I can choose to withdraw my child from RO.
But I can only do so at considerable disadvantage to my child and to myself. No child wants to be singled out and segregated from the rest of their class. In fact this makes children so uncomfortable that it is often used as a method for dealing with misbehaviour.
As for myself, I would have to declare my position on religion to the school - akin to having to publically declare one?s political affiliation.
So, parents are in effect forced to give the Church of Scotland and like-minded organisations, ?shared custody? of their children, in exchange for a state education. This is of course a completely outrageous, intolerable situation.
I can think of better ways for our children to spend their valuable time at school and so can 63% of the Scottish respondents to a recent YouGov poll who gave their support for a secular education system.
I would urge any Edinburgh resident who is registered to vote to sign the petition and would be very grateful for your support."