Scottish Conservative justice spokesperson John Lamont has said the
west of Scotland school system contributes to the "conditioning of
sectarian attitudes".
Mr Lamont's comments have produced a furious backlash from the
Catholic Church, but television interviews in the region indicated that a
significant number of ordinary people share his worries.
The remarks came as Scottish MSPs debated emergency laws to increase
jail terms for sectarian-related behaviour connected to football -
persuading first minister Alex Salmond that it would be sensible to
allow further time to consider the nature and impact of legislation in
this area.
Mr Lamont said that segregating children in Catholic and
non-denominational schools contributed to the problem of sectarianism
and lack of community cohesion.
Speaking from first-hand experience of growing up and attending a
non-denominational school in Kilwinning, North Ayrshire, Mr Lamont said
tensions with a local Catholic school resulted in pupils spitting and
throwing stones and eggs at school buses.
Turning to the bill to outlaw sectarianism in sport, he said: "The
reality is that young men who are at these football matches are acting
in a way that is a result of the conditioning that is started at a very
early age.
"I would argue that certain parts of society, admittedly small, in
west Scotland have promoted the culture, including partly through our
education system. This segregation of our young people has brought them
up to believe that the two communities should be kept separate."
The education system of west central Scotland has "produced many, if
not all, of those who are responsible for the shocking behaviour which
we have witnessed in recent months", said the MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh
and Berwickshire. "[It] is effectively the state-sponsored conditioning
of these sectarian attitudes."
He went on: "I say this as someone who believes, as a Christian
country, we should do more to promote Christian values in our young
people and support religious education in schools. Clearly these
attitudes are being entrenched at home and the wider community in these
small pockets of west central Scotland."
The Catholic Church has branded his remarks "offensive" and "malicious".
Community Safety minister Roseanna Cunningham also attacked Mr Lamont's "astonishing diatribe".
The Catholic Bishop of Motherwell, the Rt Rev Joseph Devine, said
evidence pointed to an overwhelming majority of Catholic parents, as
well as many parents of other denominations, choosing to send their
children to Catholic, rather than non-denominational, schools, reports
the BBC.
"The claim that Catholic schools are the cause of sectarianism is
offensive and untenable," said the bishop, also president of the
Catholic Education Commission. "There has never been any evidence
produced by those hostile to Catholicism to support such a malicious
misrepresentation. Is Mr Lamont really claiming that he knows better
than parents what is in the best interests of their children? Is it
arrogance or ignorance on his part?"
Simon Barrow, co-director of the Christian thinktank Ekklesia, which
promotes community schooling and the reform of faith schools, commented:
"This war of words indicates that we need a more rational debate about
the short- and long-term impact of religious selection and segregation
in schooling in Scotland, as in other parts of Britain and Ireland.
"There is well-researched evidence in the UK, including the Cantle
Report, which suggests that separating or selecting pupils on the basis
of religion can contribute towards lack of cohesion, lack of real
contact between children from different communities, and in some cases
the kind of lack of empathy or antipathy that contributes towards direct
conflict," said Barrow.
"This is a legitimate concern to raise in Scotland too, and a debate
about the kind of state-supported schooling needed to break down
sectarian attitudes should not be turned into a 'taboo' by accusatory
denunciations directed towards anyone who suggests there is an issue
here. The Conservative justice spokesperson may or may not have used
what others would regard as judicious language in parts of his speech -
but his preparedness to name a difficult issue openly is surely
courageous and necessary.
"If Mr Lamont's critics believe that there is insufficient verified
evidence on the issue of the relation between religiously segregated
schooling and lack of community cohesion or sectarian attitudes, then
that suggests the need for more research, not the silencing of the
concern," said the Ekklesia co-director.