indicative of the decline in them.24 While Bruce, et al, cite such disdain for and condemnation of discrimination as confirmation of declining sectarianism, that argument assumes much about the correlation between structural and individual discrimination. However, compounded with the other evidence provided of the growing generational similarities among Catholics and Protestants in socioeconomic class and in values, the decline in sectarian discrimination in Scottish society can be considered quite palpable. This societal shift would be expected to decrease the desire and weaken the justification for religious schools, as Catholics feel less compelled to seek rectification of past wrongs and, generationally, feel closer in values, norms, and even identities to their Protestant counterparts.
VVParallel to the modern trend away from sectarian discrimination, moral differences, and likely identification in Scotland runs a trend toward secularization. This second shift poses problems of justifiability for both state-funded religious schools - along the lines of what Scottish Bishops feared in 1872 - and for the mandated regular religious observance period. The increasingly secular nature of the Scottish populace and of Scottish identity can be seen initially in declining attendance at Catholic Mass and Protestant religious services. By the late 1990s, Catholic attendance at Mass had dropped, and many Catholics reported visiting a church “only on special occasions.”25 Similar trends exist within Scottish Protestant communities. Most notably, membership in Presbyterian churches dropped by approximately three percent per annum from 1975 to 1995.26 While church attendance and membership are useful statistics for considering the extent to which a society is becoming either more secular or religious, they are not wholly conclusive; individuals—and particularly young ones—might seek religious guidance through other means. However, other statistics confirm the trend away from religion. One that is particularly notable is the dramatic rise over the past four decades in Catholics marrying outside the Catholic community.27 Not only does this continued change indicate that the Catholic population is distancing itself from the religious leadership’s demands, the pairing of individuals of different religious background also indicates in advance, to a degree, the continuation of a less religious society in the coming generation. Church attendance and membership, marriage outside of one’s religious sect, and other statistics indicate a trend since the creation of Scotland’s two multiculturalist education policies away from both regular religious practice and religious motivations for action in Scotland.
88824. Bruce, et al, 110-111.
88825. Iain Paterson, “The Pulpit and the Ballot Box: Catholic Assimilation and the Decline of Church Influence,” in Scotland’s Shame: Bigotry and Sectarianism in Modern Scotland, ed. T.M. Devine (Edinburgh: Mainstream Publishing, 2000), 221.
88826. Davie, 150.
18. Zingel 200
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