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Scotland is historically Christian; the national church is the [[Church of Scotland]]. Scotland was traditionally a fiercely Protestant nation and was at the vanguard of the Reformation. Notable figures from that time include John Knox and George Wishart. 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. There are also significant populations of Muslims, Jews and Sikhs in Glasgow and Edinburgh.

Scotland is historically Christian; the national church is the [[Church of Scotland]]. Scotland was traditionally a fiercely Protestant nation and was at the vanguard of the Reformation. Notable figures from that time include John Knox and George Wishart. 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. There are also significant populations of Muslims, Jews and Sikhs in Glasgow and Edinburgh.

====Sports and culture====

====Culture and sports====

Scotland has given the English speaking world many of the languages finest writers, poets and philosophers. Among these are Adam Smith, David Hume, Sir Walter Scott, Robert Burns, Frances Hutcheson, James Hogg, Robert Louis Stevenson, Arthur Conan Doyle, J.M Barrie and Hugh Macdairmid. The Scottish intellectual and cultural tradition can be traced back to the Scottish Enlightenment, a remarkable period in 18th century Scotland characterized by an outpouring of intellectual and scientific accomplishments. Indeed it was Voltaire who said "we look to Scotland for all our ideas of civilisation." Scotland is also famous for its disproportionate amount of inventors and scientists such as Alexander Graham Bell (telephone), Lord Kelvin (the Kelvin si unit of temperature), James Watt (condensed steam power), John Napier (logarithms and the decimal point), Joseph Lister (pioneer of antiseptics), Alexander Fleming (penicillin) James Clark Maxwell (electro-magnetism), Robert Watson Watt (radar) and John Logie Baird (television). It is home to ancient world class universities such as Edinburgh, Glasgow and St Andrews Universities and being one of the first industrialised and urbanised nations while still preserving some of the last great wildernesses of Europe.

Scotland has given the English speaking world many of the languages finest writers, poets and philosophers. Among these are Adam Smith, David Hume, Sir Walter Scott, Robert Burns, Frances Hutcheson, James Hogg, Robert Louis Stevenson, Arthur Conan Doyle, J.M Barrie and Hugh Macdairmid. The Scottish intellectual and cultural tradition can be traced back to the Scottish Enlightenment, a remarkable period in 18th century Scotland characterized by an outpouring of intellectual and scientific accomplishments. Indeed it was Voltaire who said "we look to Scotland for all our ideas of civilisation." Scotland is also famous for its disproportionate amount of inventors and scientists such as Alexander Graham Bell (telephone), Lord Kelvin (the Kelvin si unit of temperature), James Watt (condensed steam power), John Napier (logarithms and the decimal point), Joseph Lister (pioneer of antiseptics), Alexander Fleming (penicillin) James Clark Maxwell (electro-magnetism), Robert Watson Watt (radar) and John Logie Baird (television). It is home to ancient world class universities such as Edinburgh, Glasgow and St Andrews Universities and being one of the first industrialised and urbanised nations while still preserving some of the last great wildernesses of Europe.