Changes

====Religion====

====Religion====

Scotland is historically [[Christian]]; the national church is the [[Church of Scotland]]. Scotland was a [[Catholic]] nation until the time of the [[Reformation]], when many Scottish scholars returned from their travels in Germany, having studied the works of [[Martin Luther]]. This caused a religious change in Scotland where many of the lords became [[Protestant]] and ousted the Queen of Scotland, Mary Stuart ('Mary, Queen of Scots') at the time and replaced her with her infant son, [[James VI]] (later to become [[James I]] of [[England]]). Notable figures from that time include [[John Knox]] and [[George Wishart]] both of whom were pioneers of the change. For the next 250 years Scotland would be overwhelmingly Protestant with Catholicism surviving only in the remote and sparsely populated Highlands. However, from the mid 19th century until the interwar period, there were large scale immigrations of Irish Catholics to Scotland's industrial urban centres and this had a profound effect on the religious demography of Scotland. Today there are a similar number of communicants of both the Roman Catholic Church and the Presbyterian Church of Scotland although both religions have suffered considerable declines in church going attendances. The [[Episcopal]]ian Church is predominant in the north-east. There are also significant populations of [[Muslim]]s, [[Hindu]]s, [[Jew]]s and [[Sikh]]s in Scotland's major cities (Edinburgh, Glasgow, Aberdeen and Dundee).

 

Scotland is historically Christian; the national church is the [[Church of Scotland]].  

 

Scotland was a Catholic nation until the time of the [[Reformation]], when [[John Knox]] (1510-1572), George Wishart(1513-46) and other scholars returned from their travels in Germany excited by the works of [[John Calvin]] and to a lesser extent [[Martin Luther]].  

 

Many of the lords became Protestant and in 1560, the Scottish Parliament formally rejected Papal jurisdiction. The Protestants ousted the Catholic queen, Mary Stuart ('Mary, Queen of Scots') and replaced her with her son, [[James VI]] (later to become [[James I]] of England).  

 

Scotland became overwhelmingly Protestant with Catholicism surviving only in the remote and sparsely populated Highlands. About a third the Presbyterians split off in the "Disruption of 1843" to form the Free Church of Scotland.  After various other splits most of the Free Church reunited with the Church of Scotland in 1929. The Church of Scotland had about 960,000 adult members in 1980 but only 600,000 in 2006.

 

From the mid 19th century until the interwar period, there were large scale immigrations of Irish Catholics to Scotland's industrial urban centres and this changed the religious demography. Today there are a similar number of communicants of both the Roman Catholic Church and the Presbyterian Church of Scotland although both religions have suffered considerable declines in church going attendances. The Anglican (Episcopalian) Church is predominant in the north-east. Recent immigration has produced significant populations of Muslims, Hindus, Jews and Sikhs in Scotland's major cities (Edinburgh, Glasgow, Aberdeen and Dundee).

====Culture and sports====

====Culture and sports====