Cardinal Keith O'Brien will this week court controversy by asking Scotland's local authorities to place nativity scenes in town centres to ensure that bargain-hunting shoppers cannot avoid the real reason for the festive season. The head of Scotland's Catholic Church also wants civic Christmas cards to display an explicitly Christian message, rather than simply "Season's Greetings," to remind the public about the Christmas story.
Source: Scotland on Sunday.

Scientists at the Newcastle Centre for Life should not have been given permission last week by the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority to create the first human clones in Britain, according to Dr Donald Bruce, director of the Society, Religion and Technology Project of the Church of Scotland. He said: "The researchers claim that it could eventually lead to the production of genetically matched replacement cells - so called therapeutic cloning. Such claims are now increasingly criticised in the scientific community for being impractical. It is of concern to see claims about therapeutic cloning continuing to be made when it seems unlikely ever to become a clinically reality."
Source: Scotland on Sunday.

Rutherglen woman Margaret Ann McShane has witnessed first hand the plight of the people of Sudan's war-stricken Darfur. The 29-year-old communications officer with leading humanitarian charity the Scottish Catholic International Aid Agency (SCIAF) was visiting refugee camps in the conflict-ridden region. She said: "Aid is definitely making a difference to the lives of the people in the camps. However, more help is needed before the rainy season begins in earnest and the camps become inaccessible."
Source: icLanarkshire - Rutherglen Reformer.

A disturbing world in which a religious guru convinces British women they are pregnant by God with a "miracle baby" was exposed today in a radio investigation. The claims prompted fears of child exploitation and baby trafficking. Both the Church of England and the Royal College of Obstetrics and Gynaecology have called on the Metropolitan Police to investigate the claims involving members of one of Britain's fastest growing Evangelical churches - the Gilbert Deya Ministries. Dominic Walker, the Bishop of Monmouth and the Church of England's spokesman on deliverance, said: "Charismatic church leaders are very powerful. And they can abuse that power."
Source: The Scotsman/PA News.

Thieves have stolen a painting of a laughing Jesus by artist Jennifer Mole from an Festival Fringe exhibition.
Source: Edinburgh Evening News.

This Sunday, 15 August 2004, will mark the return of the congregation of the Kirk's Sandyford Henderson Memorial Church to their completely redesigned building at Glasgow's Kelvinhaugh Street.
Source: Church of Scotland news release.

An Aberdeen man who gave up the priesthood to marry a widow has died. Michael Fitzpatrick was vicar-general of the Aberdeen diocese when he decided to leave the Catholic Church in 1979, marrying Maureen Grant in quiet ceremony conducted by a Church of Scotland minister in a hospital church in Dumfries.
Source: Aberdeen Press & Journal.

Californian Carole Spencer was "overwhelmed" today when Pastor David Taylor, chaplain of the City of Dundee branch of the Royal British Legion Scotland, led a commemorative service near the unmarked grave of her relative, Peter Grant, a private awarded the VC during the Indian Mutiny of 1857.
Source: Dundee Evening Telegraph.

Rev Ray Sowersby, who with his wife Caroline originally hails from Scotland, has become pastor of Peace United Church of Christ in Browntown, Wisconsin.
Source: Monroe Times.

Hundreds of rural churches, often with dwindling and elderly congregations, are struggling to pay for wheelchair ramps and lavatories required by changes to the Disability Discrimination Act which come into force on October 1. The Church of Scotland, which has a large number of rural churches, has estimated that the total cost of changes for its 1,500 places of worship is £8.8 million, but most churches cannot afford to cover the cost from meagre congregation collections.
Source: Sunday Telegraph.

More than 1000 victims of institutionalised abuse in Scottish children's homes run by churches and charities have accused the Scottish Executive and the First Minister of insulting and betraying them by refusing to set up a public inquiry into the ill-treatment and sexual assaults they suffered while in care.
Source: Sunday Herald.

St Columba's day, in mid-June, would make a better national holiday for Scotland than wintry St Andrew's day, writes Murchadh MacLeoid, while delightfully lampooning those who "maintain that Columba and the Celtic Church as a whole was some kind of cuddly, politically correct, green, hippie organisation which would never bother anyone".
Source: Scotland on Sunday.

Prince Charles and Camilla Parker Bowles today attended a service at Canisbay Church, near the Castle of Mey, in Caithness, during a visit to the north of Scotland. The service was focused on Psalm 130, which talks about God's answer to the despair of man. Speaking after the service, Rev Dr Iain Macnee said: "I think Prince Charles genuinely enjoys coming here because I think it's a bit more relaxed than some of the more pompous ceremonies he goes to."
Source: The Scotsman/PA News.

The Queen will break with tradition tomorrow when she takes a chauffeur-driven round-trip of 16 miles to attend Sunday morning service for the first time at Braemar Parish Church instead of following her practice of half a century by attending morning worship at Crathie Church while staying at Balmoral Castle.
Source: The Scotsman.

The Prince of Wales and Ms Camilla Parker Bowles, who have been staying at the Castle of Mey, are expected to attend a service at nearby Canisbay Church tomorrow.
Source: The Scotsman.

Women who have had infertility treatment in Scotland have had children born to the wrong fathers because of mistakes at IVF clinics, according to the president of the British Fertility Society, Dr John Mills, a gynaecologist since 1968 and lecturer at St Andrews University. A spokesman for the Catholic Church in Scotland said: "For three decades the Catholic Church has pointed out to scientists that procedures which are technically possible are not necessarily morally ethical."
Source: The Scotsman.

The most common religious affiliation in Scotland is with the Church of Scotland (44%), according to 15,000 interviewees taking part in the 5th annual Scottish Household Survey.
Source: The Herald.

A public appeal was launched yesterday to restore part of a historic kirk once destroyed by Bonnie Prince Charlie's Jacobites as they fled from the Duke of Cumberland. The medieval tower is all that remains of the original St Ninians Old Parish Church, Stirling, after it was used as a munitions store for the Jacobite forces in 1746, just before the Battle of Culloden. The Rev Gary McIntyre, who is working with Historic Scotland on restoring the 80ft tower, said: "The original medieval church was a magnificent structure, but sadly it was demolished by a gunpowder explosion on 1 February, 1746."
Source: The Scotsman.

Borders MSP Jeremy Purvis is standing by his call for mercy killings to be made legal in Scotland. But Hugh Brown, Communications Officer for the Church of Scotland's Board of Social Responsibility, said: "The Church of Scotland's position is quite clear - we are against euthanasia in all circumstances." He conceded, however: "We haven't discussed or debated the issue in over ten years. "Things have moved on since then and there is certainly an argument to be made that perhaps it is time that the Church of Scotland looked at the issue again on the floor of the General Assembly. But that would involve our Board conducting a new survey on euthanasia and at the moment this is not on the cards."
Source: Peeblesshire News.

Inverness couple Karen Sloan and Jacqui Clark spoke of their joy last night on their return from honeymoon after becoming "bride and bride" in the city's first lesbian 'wedding', blessed by a local church minister who does not want to be identified. Not everyone was celebrating. The Rev Hugh Watt, Moderator of the Inverness Presbytery of the Church of Scotland said: "The Church's position is, and always has been, fairly clear since the inception of the Christian Church, namely that marriage should be between two people of opposite genders and should be for life. That's the ideal given in the scriptures, and I don't think I would veer from that in any way."
Source: Aberdeen Press & Journal.

Cardinal Bernard Law, who was forced to resign as archbishop of Boston over a sexual abuse scandal, has held his first public mass since taking up a prestigious new post in the Rome Basilica of St Mary Major, the ornate church which Pope John Paul entrusted to him earlier this year. Visiting Catholic Donald Lundy, who lives near Glasgow, said: "It's an abomination. He shouldn't be allowed to be a spiritual guide."
Source: Reuters.

A special play will be performed free for visitors this weekend to help celebrate the 500th birthday of the Castle Semple Collegiate Church, near Lochwinnoch in Renfrewshire, which was founded in 1504 by John, first Lord Sempill, who died at Flodden in 1513.
Source: Evening Times, Glasgow.

Iain Connon, who lives in Edinburgh and is soon to retire from his post as research officer with the Church of Scotland's Church and Nation Committee, is going to work for three months in Israel/Palestine in communities that are suffering under Israel's occupation of the West Bank and Gaza. He will be part of the Ecumenical Accompaniment Programme requested by churches in Jerusalem.
Source: Church of Scotland news release.

Council tax payers could be hit with higher bills if a multi-million-pound project to build seven mixed-faith, joint-campus schools in North Lanarkshire is delayed following the Roman Catholic Church's decision to withdraw support for the scheme, it was claimed last night by a council spokesman. North Lanarkshire has submitted a ten-page document to the First Minister urging him to reject the Church's concerns and warning that the scheme could fail to meet its timetable if a final decision is delayed.
Source: The Scotsman.

The Rev Alan Greig, convener of the Church of Scotland's Board of World Mission, has condemned bomb attacks on Christian churches in Iraq and offers his thoughts and prayers to the injured and bereaved.
Source: Church of Scotland news release.

Closure of Wick Maternity Unit would be the "tip of iceberg", claims Caithness Presbytery.
Source: Church of Scotland news release.

A new exhibition at the Edinburgh Fringe is about to challenge the artistic traditions of centuries, and depict a Christ full of the joys of life. The display is masterminded by Harry Wallace, an Australian entrepreneur of Scots descent, who was inspired by his youth work with the religious community of Iona. Wallace has spent the past year commissioning 50 artists from as far apart as Papua New Guinea, Pakistan and Scotland to imagine "the laughing, happy, loving Jesus". The results will be displayed at Greyfriars Kirk in Edinburgh from August 16 to 20, before being toured around Scotland and abroad.
Source: Sunday Herald.

A Bill to legalise so-called "mercy killing" is to be drafted by Liberal Democrat MSP Jeremy Purvis based on the law in the US state of Oregon, where the practice is legal. Peter Kearney, a spokesman for the Catholic Church in Scotland, said: "If the issue was debated we would come out very clearly against euthanasia. It's fraught with dangers. It would give a licence for the legalised killing of people, possibly against their will."
Source: Sunday Herald.

The Catholic Church will launch an unprecedented court fight to stop plans to force it to share schools in North Lanarkshire. Church leaders have warned they will seek an injunction halting council plans for seven new shared schools, arguing that they would breach the Education (Scotland) Act 1980 by bringing about a deterioration of educational standards in Catholic schools.
Source: Sunday Herald.

A row which has caused a bitter split in the Free Church of Scotland is to go to mediation. The dispute between the Free Kirk and the Free Church (Continuing) had been expected to go to the Court of Session in the autumn. However, they have agreed to appoint a mediator in an effort to put a halt to the expensive legal proceedings. The church split four years ago after the Free Church theologian Professor Donald Macleod was cleared of sexual assault charges.
Source: BBC Scotland News.