Letters / Undue influence over education

Shetland councillor Gary Robinson is absolutely right to highlight the absurdity of laws requiring religious representatives to sit on local authority education committees (Councillors make religious appointment ‘not because we want to, because we are required to’, 17 August).

Religious representatives should of course be able to feed their views in through the normal democratic process, but their views should not be given any special or institutional weight. Doing so runs counter to democratic principles.

The law requiring the appointment of religious reps to education committees gives religion undue influence over the education of Scottish children and undermines efforts to make Scotland more inclusive and equal. The Scottish government should repeal it as soon as possible.

Until such time, councillors across Scotland can limit the influence of this undemocratic law by voting to remove religious appointees’ voting rights.

Stephen Evans

Chief executive officer
National Secular Society