Alex Salmond has revealed that he prefers "people of faith to people of no faith or people who have lost their faith".

The former First Minister, who is now the SNP's foreign affairs spokesman at Westminster, hailed his early victory over Donald Dewar in providing a weekly platform for religious and humanist speakers at Holyrood.

In a video for the Church of Scotland, Mr Salmond recalled how the late Labour first minister opposed the proposal as he "was sceptical of religion and he wanted to avoid having the same parody of prayers that they have in the House of Commons".

Mr Salmond created the video with Rev Stuart MacQuarrie, Church of Scotland chaplain to the University of Glasgow, who delivered the opening Time For Reflection of the new session of parliament this week.

Mr Salmond said: "I am biased, of course, because I am a Church of Scotland adherent and I prefer people of faith to people of no faith or people who have lost their faith.

"All denominations have a key role to play in society and we are very fortunate in Scotland because we have a tremendous ability, among religions and denominations, to come together and support good causes."

He added: "A long time ago I had a hand in establishing Time for Reflection in the Scottish Parliament, back in 1999.

"Indeed, it was the only vote I won against the late Donald Dewar because he was somewhat sceptical of religion - a great man incidentally - but sceptical of religion and he wanted to avoid having the same parody of prayers that they have in the House of Commons.

"So, we came up with Time for Reflection where all religions and the humanists get a shot.

"It provides a good way to start the parliamentary week or, in this case, the parliamentary session."

Spencer Fildes, chair of the Scottish Secular Society said today: "For Alex Salmond to say he prefers people of faith is a controversial comment to make.

"With one sentence he has separated the religious and none religious, affording special place to the religious in his own world view; preferring one half of the country to the other.

"Would it be OK if he said he prefers white people to black people?"

He said Mr Salmond's comment is "incredibly ill-thought and divisive" and "can only be described as discriminatory and bigoted".

"You are left to consider just how much of this affected Salmond's judgment and decision making processes, especially where religion is concerned. Look at the sheer volume of cash spent on Interfaith; unelected religious candidates on all our education committees and his support for faith schools," he added.

Responding to the chair of the Scottish Secular Society, a spokesman for Mr Salmond said: "Mr Fildes is fundamentally mistaken. Mr Salmond was talking about faith, not religion.

"It is unfortunate that Mr Fildes hasn't taken the time to look at the interview which was in the context of the Scottish Parliament's Time for Reflection.

"The Time for Reflection is an inclusive, not exclusive, forum for people of a diversity of faiths and none to share in ideas, thoughts and prayers. The Scottish Secular Society would be welcome to contribute to a future session.

"The message delivered by Rev Stuart MacQuarrie on Tuesday was an important and universal one: 'Regardless of what religion, belief or position people hold, we're all human beings together'."