Though Hume was raised by strict Calvinists, he became highly critical of religion, and his subsequent work disputed religious assertions such as the existence of miracles, intelligent design, and the immortality of the soul.

Activists inspired by the ideas of social reformers such as Robert Owen, Richard Carlile, and the revolutionary thinker Thomas Paine formed the first secular societies in Edinburgh and Glasgow in 1821.

Many prominent Scottish secularists, like J. M. Robertson from the Isle of Arran, eventually gravitated towards London, where they made great contributions to the movement.

[citation needed] Prior to January 2013, Caroline Lynch, a mother from the isle of Skye, was having increasing problems with the interference of religion in her child's education.

Specifically the presentation of Christian mythology as fact by a Free Church of Scotland Minister during weekly classroom visits to the Highland school - including the significant distress caused to her child due to detailed descriptions of crucifixion, and eternal punishment in hell for non-believers.

[11] The Scottish Parent Teacher Council (SPTC) said that school communities should be free to replace religion-based assemblies with secular alternatives.

Again, Fildes and Braterman gave evidence to the Public Petitions Committee, where members expressed sympathy with that Society's concerns about the undemocratic nature of such positions within the Local Government apparatus, and complications that could arise from this arrangement.

[17] The Scottish Secular Society has called for clear guidance on creationism in schools in Scotland[18][19] and states that it should be discussed within the confines of religious education classes.

[20] In an April 2013 Radio Scotland interview,[21] then chair of the Scottish Secular Society, Caroline Lynch, discussed the continuing rise in humanist marriage ceremonies.

[25] The Scottish Secular Society is one of the founding members of Audit Scotland's Equality and Human Rights Advisory Group (EHRAG).

"[27][28] The petition against the teaching of creationism was criticised by Glasgow's Centre for Intelligent Design and by the US-based Young Earth creationist organisation Answers in Genesis[29]