A Church of Scotland minister has called for the term "religious observance" to be dropped in Scottish schools and replaced with a "time for reflection".
The Rev Ewan Aitken, who is the education leader of Edinburgh City Council and also education spokesman for the local authority umbrella group COSLA, said the term was "restrictive" and "carries too much baggage". His comments came two months after the Scottish Executive backed the findings of a report by its religious observance review group, which was set up two years ago by Jack McConnell when he was education minister.
Among its recommendations were calls for schools to "provide opportunities for religious observance at least six times in a school year", in addition to traditional celebrations.
At the moment, Scotland’s primary schools are supposed to hold one session of religious observance a week, with secondary schools expected to have an assembly once a month.
The Church of Scotland’s education committee backed the review group’s report, insisting that "quality of religious observance is more important than quantity".
But speaking in the latest edition of the Kirk’s Life and Work magazine, Mr Aitken says the term "religious observance" itself should be dropped.
He said schools should, instead, follow the example set by the Scottish Parliament, which has a weekly Time for Reflection, when representatives of different faiths address MSPs.
Mr Aitken said: "To build time for reflection into the rhythm of the school will be a huge boost to ethos, reflections and values and the whole idea of what it means to be in society today.
"I think religious observance is a restrictive term which carries too much baggage," he added. "We need to talk about spirituality in the broadest sense, and you just have to look at the Time for Reflection sessions at the Scottish Parliament to see what a success they have been."
Mr Aitken’s comments appear to be at odds with the Kirk’s General Assembly, which voted in May in favour of a motion which stated that not only should there be religious observance in schools, but that it should also reflect the "Christian tradition" of Scotland.
The Rev Bill Wallace told the Assembly: "We are constantly told that we are in a multi-faith society and we have to dumb down Christianity in our presentation.
"We should be bold and courageous and we should not be ashamed of Jesus. We are not doing down other people’s faiths."
Michael McGrath, the director of the Scottish Catholic Education Service, also rejected Mr Aitken’s suggestion and said it was more important than ever that school pupils were given the opportunity to think about religion.
Mr McGrath said: "We’re happy with the term ‘religious observance’. If anything, it helps people to think fully about what religion means in our society today.
"Time for Reflection could be a bit vague - it could be reflection on anything, such as political issues, rather than religious issues.
"It’s important that religion is seen to play a part in our life today and that young people are helped to understand it, especially at a time when anti-religious forces in society want to show religion to be irrelevant."
Jack McConnell established the religious observance review group following a report by Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Education, which showed that two-thirds of non-denominational secondary schools did not provide sufficient time for religious observance.
The review group delivered its findings to the Executive at the end of last year.
As well as its recommendations on religious assemblies, the group also said schools must consider requests by pupils to hold acts of worship outwith the formal curriculum. At the time, Peter Peacock, the education minister, said: "The approach to religious observance outlined in the report is one which can be embraced by all schools within our broadly Christian society. It recognises other cultures, faiths and beliefs, but will not undermine the Christian ethos which exists in many of our schools."
Yesterday, a spokeswoman for the Executive said: "Ministers have broadly welcomed the religious observance review group recommendations and will now develop a considered response in consultation with faith groups and education interests. It would be inappropriate to pre-empt this."