A SYSTEM of secular schools is needed in Scotland which would change the way pupils participate in religious activities, church leaders have warned.

More than 1100 names have signed a petition to Holyrood calling for parents to be allowed to opt-in – rather than opt-out – if they want their offspring to participate in religious observance.

A similar system is in operation in France but in Scotland, parents cannot request their child does not take part.

Secular Scotland wants teaching in the classroom on religious issues to continue on courses such as religious education. A separate petition to Edinburgh City Council by secularists is calling for an end to all religious observance in schools.

The Catholic Church and Free Church of Scotland have now said that secularists should set up their own "non-faith" schools instead.

Michael McGrath, director of the Scottish Catholic Education Service, said religious observance was part of the "fabric of the community life" in Catholic schools and they would contest any effort to remove the statutory requirement for it.

Reverend David Robertson, minister of St Peter's Free Church in Dundee, called for a "root-and-branch" reform of the system. He added: "Let the secularists have their schools."

Caroline Lynch, chair of Secular Scotland, said: "We wish to see children of all faiths schooled together to promote understanding of each others' views."

The Church of Scotland said it was committed to "generally inclusive" religious observance.