Scotland

Religion has played a central role in the history and politics of Scotland, a region in the northern section of the United Kingdom, and has been a dominant influence in the shaping of a distinct Scottish cultural identity and society throughout the ages. Celtic Christianity as established in Scotland by Irish monk St. Columba during the mid-sixth century evolved in many ways distinctly from the general pattern of Western Roman Christianity. The peculiarities of Scottish religious life continued until the 11th century and the advent of Queen Margaret, who opened Scottish Christianity to southern European influences.

The claim that Scotland is a special nation, called by God, can be found in many epochs and in several key episodes of Scottish history—for instance, the declaration of Arbroath (1320), in the political context of the assertion of independence from England. The rise of Protestantism during the 16th century and the Reformation provided other evidence of Scotland's “obsession” with religious quest as well as of an ethos distinct from its southern neighbor.

Following the principles expressed by John Knox, Scotland has developed alongside its own variety of Protestantism—Presbyterianism. The signing of the National Covenant (1638), stating the claims of the reformed Presbyterian church against the King's Anglicanism, demonstrated both the extent of the religious enthusiasm in Scotland and its sense of a special destiny. Scotland's religious specificity was officially recognized by the Act of Union (1707) between England and Scotland, with Scotland keeping its established Presbyterian Church as one of its key national institutions despite the political incorporation of Scotland within the United Kingdom.

During the 19th century, religion in Scotland was marked by two great events. The first was the Disruption of the Church of Scotland (1843) when the Established Church split in two, leading to the restoration of the ancient democracy of the Kirk. Religious fractiousness within the Protestant umbrella has been on the Scottish agenda since then. The other process was the great immigration of Irish Catholics, which reinstated the ancient Roman Catholic hierarchy to Rome's “special daughter” and brought with it a kind of Orange/Green sectarianism that has affected Scottish society.

During the late 19th and 20th centuries, waves of Italian, Lithuanian, Jewish, Polish, Indian, Pakistani, Chinese, and English immigrants also contributed to enriching Scotland's religious fabric. After World War I, although the authority of the churches in Scottish society declined, religion remained a major social, cultural, and political force, as demonstrated by the leading role of the annual General Assembly of the Church of Scotland or by the influence of the Roman Catholic Church via the separate and state-subsidized system of Catholic education.

In the 21st century, despite the process of secularization that has affected all developed societies over the past decades, a majority of people—nearly 6 in 10—continue to see themselves as belonging to a religion. Around one third belong to the Church of Scotland, 1 in 9 to the Catholic Church, 1 in 10 to another Christian religion, and only 1 in 100 to another religion. Around a quarter of the population goes to church at least once a week or more, and religious attendance as a whole is still higher than in England.

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