Humanist Society Scotland has called for a judicial review to challenge ministers over the right of young people to opt out of religious observance.

The organisation claims the parental right to remove pupils from religious and moral education should be extended to pupils over 16.

It said that the Scottish Government has "potentially acted unlawfully" by not allowing the opt out, which is currently available to young people in England and Wales.

Humanist Society Scotland officials have submitted papers to the Court of Session in a bid to challenge ministers on the issue.

They said on Monday that they had made the move after seeking "expert legal advice".

A UN children's rights committee review recently called on the Scottish Government to extend the parental opt-out right to young people.

In June, the Scottish Government said that it did not consider it necessary to update its guidance.

It said that Section 9 of the Education (Scotland) Act 1980 gave parents the right to withdraw their child from religious and moral education.

The society's chief executive Gordon MacRae said that young people "deserved better".

"Today in Scotland young people are trusted to get married, join the army and vote in elections and for the constitutional future of Scotland.

"However, Scottish Ministers still do not trust them to make their own decisions about attending religious observance or to give young people the same rights as those living in England and Wales.

"For sometime now Humanist Society Scotland has been calling on the Scottish Government to update its policy on religious observance."

A Scottish Government spokeswoman said: "Religious and moral education enables children and young people to explore, debate and more importantly understand the world's major religions - as well as approaches to living independent of belief.

"Religious observance is a whole school activity which should be sensitive to traditions and origins, and should seek to reflect these but it must equally be sensitive to individual beliefs, whether these come from a faith or non-faith perspective.

"We encourage schools to discuss options with both parents and their children, particularly in the senior years."