A popular retired minister has died at the age of 72. The Rev Geoffrey Ferguson spent 41 years as a Methodist minister, mainly in England, before retiring with his wife Sandra to her home village of Portgordon in 1998. He continued to occupy the pulpit in retirement and regularly preached on the Methodist circuit in the north-east. He also frequently stepped in to fill temporary vacancies for the Church of Scotland in Moray and conducted services in a number of kirks in the area.
Source: Aberdeen Press & Journal.
posted at 12:21 PM

The Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, Dr Alison Elliot, who is due to begin a planned visit to India on Monday 3 January, has altered her programme to include areas hit by the tsunami. Dr Elliot will be in Chenai on 8 January and in Sri Lanka from 9 to 12 January. On Sunday 9 January she will worship with the congregation of St Andrew's Scots Kirk in Colombo where many families have lost relatives and friends.
Source: Church of Scotland news release.
posted at 10:17 PM

The Moderator of the General Assembly, Dr Alison Elliot, has visited the most senior former Moderator, the Very Rev Dr Roy Sanderson, at his North Berwick home. Dr Sanderson presided over the General Assembly of 1967, when women were represented at the Church of Scotland's highest body for the first time.
Source: Church of Scotland news release.
posted at 10:15 PM

The leader of Scotland's catholic community, Cardinal Keith O'Brien, has sent a message of sympathy and support to those affected by the recent disaster in the Indian Ocean.
Source: Scottish Catholic Media Office news release.
posted at 10:13 PM

A lone piper has marked the 1,000th anniversary of St John's Church on Mohr Head at Gamrie, founded 1,000 years ago in AD 1004 as thanks for a Scottish victory over invading Danes. The skulls of three Danish chiefs slain in battle were displayed for centuries at recesses in the kirk. The current ruined kirk at St John's dates from 1513 and was in use until 1830.
Source: Aberdeen Press & Journal.
posted at 10:09 PM

The Methodist Relief and Development Fund has launched an appeal to aid the victims of the Indian Ocean earthquake.
Source: Methodist Church news release.
posted at 11:12 PM

A Dundee minister is encouraging churches across the city to support the emergency relief effort for victims of the Asian countries which have been devastated by tsunami floods. The Rev Andrew Greaves, of Dundee West Parish Church, who is also convener of the Church of Scotland's Board of World Mission said today, "I am in the process of phoning round all the churches and suggesting to them that they have retiring collections for the next four Sundays for the tragedy in Asia."
Source: Dundee Evening Telegraph.
posted at 10:50 PM

SCIAF - the Scottish Catholic International Aid Foundation - has sent all parishes across Scotland an update on the disaster in South Asia.
Source: SCIAF.
posted at 10:47 PM

Salvation Army personnel are based in many areas of South Asia devastated by Boxing Day's tsunami, and have been in the forefront of offering aid and relief to victims. Meanwhile, in the UK, the Salvation Army's airport chaplains are providing practical and pastoral support for holidaymakers returning home from the region.
Source: Salvation Army news release.
posted at 4:44 PM

Professor Ted Cowan, of Glasgow University's history department, is to deliver the inaugural lecture to celebrate the legacy of Saint Mungo, patron saint of Glasgow. The lecture, the idea of Lord Provost Liz Cameron, will take place on January 13 at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama.
Source: Evening Times, Glasgow.
posted at 4:39 PM

The well-being of young volunteers from a Dundee-based exchange project in Sri Lanka has been quickly established following the tsunami which has devastated Asia's coasts. Three months into Link Overseas Exchange placements in a variety of projects, the nine young people from Dundee and the east coast of Scotland are now preparing to move further inland. Originally established in Angus more than a decade ago, Link is spearheaded by the Rev Andrew Greaves of Dundee West Church, and his wife, Vicky.
Source: Dundee Evening Telegraph.
posted at 4:34 PM

How can religious people explain the Indian Ocean tsunami, asks Martin Kettle in the Guardian. "Earthquakes do not merely kill and destroy. They challenge human beings to explain the world order in which such apparently indiscriminate acts can occur. Europe in the 18th century had the intellectual curiosity and independence to ask and answer such questions. But can we say the same of 21st-century Europe? Or are we too cowed now to even ask if the God can exist that can do such things?"
Source: The Guardian.
posted at 1:26 PM

The 'Thought for the Day' on BBC Radio this morning came from the Most Reverend Bruce Cameron, Primus of the Scottish Episcopal Church. "When a tragedy takes place of the appalling magnitude of that in the Indian Ocean this small global village can and does unite in a shared grief, and in a common commitment to help those who have suffered most," he said. The Primus added: "Our prayers and thoughts are with everyone who is caught up in this terrible event; the families of those who have died; those who have been injured; those who await anxiously for news of their loved ones and for all who are providing humanitarian relief."
Source: Scottish Episcopal Church news release.
posted at 1:21 PM

The wedding yesterday of Dundee couple Nicola Key and Euan McLean was a special family affair with the service taken by the bride's grandfather, retired minister Rev Archibald Millar, formerly of St Stephen's Church in Perth.
Source: Dundee Courier.
posted at 1:02 PM

The A-listed former Elgin Place Congregational Church in Pitt Street, Glasgow, which subsequently housed two nightclubs, is to be demolished because it has become a danger to the public following a fire on November 26.
Source: The Herald.
posted at 12:55 PM

A Deeside mum is to set off on a mission of mercy to one of the poorest and most dangerous countries in the world. Torphins mother-of-two Pauline Baird, 46, will be travelling to Haiti on December 30, taking vital medical supplies to children in mountain orphanages. Mrs Baird, a committed Christian and elder of Mid Deeside Parish Church, sees her trip as fulfilling a calling to help others: "I am very grateful for support, prayers and thoughts I've received from the Church, the Guild and the local community", she said.
Source: Donside Piper.
posted at 6:15 PM

The longest serving minister in Glenrothes has stepped down from his pulpit for the last time. Alistair McLeod is retiring from St Columba's Church of Scotland after 16 years. Methilhill minister Elizabeth Cranfield, has been appointed interim moderator.
Source: Fife Now - Glenrothes Gazette.
posted at 6:10 PM

Rev Robin McHaffie of Yetholm had his dog collar eaten by his dog ... Hero, the black labrador.
Source: Southern Reporter.
posted at 6:06 PM

Dr Norman Horne, a consultant physician with a high national and international reputation, especially in the field of tuberculosis, died at the age of 86 on 5 December, 2004. Motivated by a deep religious faith, he was an Elder in Greenbank Church of Scotland in Edinburgh, which also initiated and staffed the visitors' café at the City Hospital.
Source: The Scotsman.
posted at 1:56 PM

A new YouGov survey provides overwhelming evidence that the British are now a largely irreligious people. Whereas in 1968 more than three quarters of people, 77 per cent, said they did believe in God, that figure has fallen by nearly half to 44 per cent. The proportion prepared to admit that it does not believe in God has more than trebled from a mere 11 per cent in the late-1960s to 35 per cent today. However, today's religious doubt frequently amounts to just that: doubt. One in four of YouGov's sample, asked to say whether or not they believed in God, replied "Don't know" and, even among the 35 per cent who said they did not believe in Him, considerably more described themselves as agnostics rather than outright atheists. Only a minority now believes in Heaven and even fewer believe in the Devil. Curiously, the proportion believing in the existence of Hell - a quarter - has changed not at all since Gallup asked about people's belief or lack of it in the nether regions in the late-1960s.
Source: Daily Telegraph.
posted at 12:54 PM

Navy top brass organised a special Christmas ceremony for their registered satanist, Scots techician Chris Cranmer. He conducted his own ceremony complete with black robes in his own designated worship chamber. An MoD spokeswoman said: 'The armed forces regards personal beliefs as a private matter.'
Source: Sunday Mail.
posted at 2:12 PM

More than a third of Church of Scotland ministers do not believe in the virgin birth of Christ, a central tenet of Christian faith. A Sunday Times survey of 140 kirk ministers found that 37% believe the traditional story of Jesus's birth, which forms part of the nativity, should not be taken literally. Rev Peter Donald, convenor of the kirk's panel of doctrine, said he found it "concerning" that so many ministers did not believe in the virgin birth. "My own fear is that if we are free to theologise and make opinions on God that are far from where the church stands, then we run the risk of making the church in our own image - ignoring all that has gone before," he said. There was a geographical split with most ministers in the Highlands and islands favouring a literal interpretation while those in the central belt were more sceptical.
Source: Sunday Times.
posted at 2:01 PM

Those who made their annual trip to church on Christmas day will have to think again. Research shows that regular churchgoers live longer than non-believers. A 12-year study tracking mortality rates of more than 550 adults over the age of 65 found that those who attend services at least once a week were 35 per cent more likely to live longer than those who never attended church. Rev John Hardie, a Church of Scotland priest [sic; Mr Hardie is in fact a priest in the Scottish Episcopal Church] and former chaplain of St Paul's Cathedral in Dundee, celebrated his 88th birthday this year and attributed his longevity to a Christian way of life. "If you live the type of life that a Christian should live and take things in modernation, then you do live longer," he said. "I find that I can have a drop of alcohol now and then and I smoke a pipe, but I don't inhale. At the moment, I go to church once a week but I'm a bit unsteady on my pins and I find that I need another priest to help me lift the chalice when I take communion at the altar."
Source: Daily Telegraph.
posted at 10:20 PM

A full programme for the training day for Lent studies facilitators to be held on January 15, 2005, by ACTS is now available online.
Source: Action of Churches Together in Scotland (ACTS) news.
posted at 6:36 PM

The Green Party yesterday urged fellow MSPs to condemn "gratuitously insulting" remarks made at Holyrood by the leader of the Catholic Church in Scotland about homosexuals. In an address to the parliament on Wednesday, Cardinal Keith O'Brien said gays and lesbians were "captives to sexual aberrations", and compared them to prisoners in Saughton jail. Patrick Harvie, the bisexual Green MSP for Glasgow, last night tabled a motion expressing regret at the Cardinal's words, and calling for future speakers to show more enlightened views. He said: "Equality is one of the founding principles of the Scottish Parliament, and when the cardinal comes to visit he should respect that. The Catholic Church took a long time to accept reality on issues like evolution and the shape of the universe. Clearly they are also dragging their feet on human diversity."
Source: The Herald.
posted at 6:30 PM

The misunderstood inspiration for Charles Dickens' character Ebenezer Scrooge was Edinburgh merchant Ebenezer Lennox Scroggie, who was admonished by the Church of Scotland for having a child out of wedlock to a servant, and dramatically halting proceedings at the General Assembly when he "goosed" the Countess of Mansfield.
Source: The Scotsman.
posted at 6:27 PM

Roy Honeycutt, retired president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and a graduate of Edinburgh University, has died after suffering head injuries in a fall at his home in Louisville, Kentucky. He was 78.
Source: Biblical Recorder, North Carolina.
posted at 6:21 PM

North Lanarkshire Council and the Roman Catholic Diocese of Motherwell have reached agreement on the design of a joint campus for Bargeddie and St Kevin's primary schools, one of seven joint campus schools planned under the council's £150 million Education 2010 Public Private Partnership (PPP) project. Six out of the seven projects have been agreed, and further discussion on schools at Chapelhall is anticipated.
Source: Scottish Catholic Media Office news release.
posted at 8:22 PM

A grant from the Church of Scotland's Parish Development Fund has gone to the Village Storytelling Centre in Pollock, Glasgow, which holds weekly computer classes and after-school story-making groups for children as well as 'reminiscence groups' for pensioners. A befriending service for pensioners in Mount Florida has also benefited.
Source: Evening Times, Glasgow.
posted at 8:03 PM

An African preacher and his children who were due to be deported from the UK today have been given an 11th hour reprieve. Pastor Makielokele Nzelengi Daly fled war-torn Angola with his wife and children to seek asylum in the UK four years ago. The 42-year-old and his family settled in Glasgow, where he has been preaching at the Pentecostal Church of Redemption in Royston. It was originally thought Pastor Daly and his family would be deported from Glasgow Airport today. However, it emerged later that his case is to be reviewed.
Source: The Scotsman/PA News.
posted at 7:19 PM

The leader of the Catholic Church in Scotland was condemned last night for describing homosexuals as "captives of sexual aberrations" in a Christmas message to MSPs. Speaking during yesterday's Time for Reflection at the Scottish Parliament, Cardinal Keith O'Brien compared gays and lesbians to prisoners in Saughton jail. A spokesman for the church said the cardinal originally intended to refer to captives of sexual addiction but changed it at the last minute to sexual aberration. "It's not exactly a surprise if a Catholic church leader comes out and says homosexuality is a sexual aberration. I don't think anyone could claim to be surprised or shocked by his remarks - they're Catholic viewpoints."
Source: The Herald.
posted at 10:44 AM

The 2004 Christmas message from Archbishop Mario Conti is now online.
Source: Scottish Catholic Media Office news release.
posted at 10:23 PM

A senior figure in the Episcopal Church in Edinburgh has been re-appointed to a health board - and will give the money he earns back to his church. The Very Reverend Graham Forbes, provost at St Mary's Cathedral, will sit on the board of Quality Improvement Scotland (QIS) for a year. The £7305 a year he will get from health standards watchdog QIS will go directly to the Cathedral.
Source: Edinburgh Evening News.
posted at 12:45 PM

The Christmas message from the Primus of the Scottish Episcopal Church, the Most Rev Bruce Cameron, is now online.
Source: Scottish Episcopal Church news release.
posted at 8:23 PM

In a Christmas message to be broadcast on Radio 4 on Christmas Day, Cardinal Keith O'Brien will criticise the UK's asylum and immigration system, especially the "incarceration" of children in detention centres like Dungavel. Meanwhile, the national secretary of the Catholic Bishops' Justice and Peace Commission, Richard McCready, has written to the new Home Secretary, Charles Clarke, calling on the government to reconsider their policy towards asylum.
Source: Scottish Catholic Media Office news release.
posted at 9:46 AM

The Catholic Bishops' Conference of Scotland has appointed the Bishop of Aberdeen, Bishop Peter Moran, as the new president of the Justice and Peace Commission. He takes over from Bishop John Mone, who retired in October. Bishop MoranÃ,Â's first act has been to write a letter for the forthcoming day of prayer for Justice and Peace, to be celebrated in Scotland on the Feast of the Epiphany, 2nd January 2005.
Source: Scottish Catholic Media Office news release.
posted at 9:43 AM

Brechin Cathedral's 'get your goat' appeal in the autumn raised more than £440 for the provision of goats for poor families in Ethiopia.
Source: Dundee Courier.
posted at 9:29 AM

The Church of Scotland today announced a round of grant awards to 12 projects across Scotland, ranging from a new multi-media pilgrimage centre at Loch Lomond to a story-telling project in Glasgow.
Source: Church of Scotland news release.
posted at 6:41 PM

Tough new rules which could shut Glasgow pubs if they are found to be sectarian have come into force. The city's licensing chiefs insist they are not singling out football bars, but the policy will put venues popular with Old Firm fans further under the microscope. Councillor Gordon Macdiarmid said: "We're not saying Glasgow can't have football pubs. "These are part of the history of Glasgow and the west of Scotland. You may not like Celtic or Rangers but their colours are not offensive. But if they go beyond the pale, such as music glorifying violence and hate blaring out of the juke box, there is an issue which our enforcement officers or police will bring to our attention."
Source: Evening Times, Glasgow.
posted at 6:38 PM

Hundreds of Glasgow churchgoers are fighting to save a minister and his family from being thrown out of the country two days before Christmas. Pastor Makielokele Nzelengi Daly fled war-torn Angola with his wife and children more than four years ago to seek asylum in the UK. Since then, the 42-year-old has been preaching at the Pentecostal Church of Redemption in Royston. The pastor - who speaks seven languages - works with other asylum seekers who arrive in the city, acting as a link to the local community. But the family learned on Friday that they are to be deported on December 23 after an appeal to remain in the country was rejected by the Home Office.
Source: Evening Times, Glasgow.
posted at 6:29 PM

News that staff of the student newspaper at St Andrews University have been kicked out of their offices after its editor made a joke at the expense of the Welsh has delighted the Christian prayer group she was targeting. Staff of The Saint are to undergo "diversity awareness training" after being locked out of the Students' Association for being "discriminatory against minority groups". Stephen Green, national director of Christian Voice, whose protests against the play Corpus Christi in St Andrews prompted editor Jo Kerr's editorial, said today, "The student newspaper had articles running us down as fundamentalists just because we objected to a play which insulted our God and our beliefs. I saw Corpus Christi and found it fuelled by ignorance and religious hatred. "The irony is, they call us intolerant for criticising the play as homosexual propaganda, then they go on a bigoted racist rampage of their own."
Source: Dundee Evening Telegraph.
posted at 6:27 PM

Supermarket chain ASDA are looking for a chaplain to visit their home shopping customers. An in-store service in Kirkcaldy,Fife,is a success. ASDA now want a volunteer of any denomination to tour with their home delivery vans.
Source: Daily Record.
posted at 11:47 AM

A series of special events has been organised to celebrate next year's bicentenary of Macduff Parish Church.
Source: Aberdeen Press & Journal.
posted at 11:41 AM

The 2004 Christmas message from Bishop Peter Moran is now online.
Source: Scottish Catholic Media Office news release.
posted at 11:31 AM

Ron Ferguson reviews books by two "men of God and good humour" who shaped Glasgow life. The Church of Scotland has produced a number of outstanding ministers and deaconesses who have worked in tough urban situations. People of the calibre of Cameron Wallace, Geoff Shaw, Alice Scrimgeour, Walter Fyfe, Betty White, John Harvey, George Charlton, Jack Orr and Irene Bristow have pioneered forms of ministry which live on in the folklore, and occasionally the books, of modern Scotland. Another such person is Bill Shackleton, whose ministry in Bridgeton, Glasgow, has been a remarkable one. His account of his days in ecclesiastical harness, Keeping it Cheery (Covenanters Press, £14.95), is a valuable addition to the literature. Another minister who has passed the humanity test with flying colours is John Miller, whose ministry in Castlemilk over more than 30 years provides another outstanding model for would-be clerics. His latest book, Silent Heroes: Ordinary People In Times Of War (Saint Andrew Press, £8.99) is a series of stories about a number of Glaswegians who served in, or lived through, the First and Second World Wars.
Source: The Herald.
posted at 11:28 AM

Voluntary organisations working with children are losing members as a result of new legislation designed to protect youngsters against the threat of paedophiles. A freeze on new volunteers working with young people has been implemented by the Catholic Church, which has also warned that the upheaval could have a long-term effect on Scotland's "voluntary culture". Peter Kearney, spokesman for the Catholic Church in Scotland, said it had implemented the freeze a year ago, soon after the act was passed, because of delays by Disclosure Scotland in processing applications. He said it had affected church choirs, liturgy groups and youth groups, as well as the normal work of more than 500 parishes in Scotland.
Source: Scottish Catholic Media Office news release.
posted at 11:15 AM

The born-again believers: "IThis Christmas, just like last year, Kitty will enjoy a belly full of wine, spend some quality time with friends and cringe at her relatives? inappropriate jokes. But there will be one thing that?s new. For the first time, Christmas will be about God. Kitty Gordon, 34, is a Christian. This time last year, she wasn?t, so 2004 will mark the first Christmas she celebrates as a religious event. Or rather, the first time she does so through choice..."
Source: The Scotsman.
posted at 11:11 AM

The only solution to a state education system which is ''leaving young Muslims in a cultural limbo'' is separate schooling, a leading Muslim education campaigner warned yesterday. Akhtar Saeed Bhutta, director of the Muslim Education Council of Scotland, said state schools in Scotland dislocated Muslim pupils from their cultural heritage. By the age of 16 "they are not ours, neither are they theirs," he said. The closure of private Muslim schools in Dundee and Glasgow did not surprise him. For the schools to work they must be publicly funded and part of the state system.
Source: Sunday Herald.
posted at 10:17 PM

Reviewing his new book, Looking in the Distance, the Observer asks Richard Holloway, former Episcopalian Bishop of Edinburgh, why, since he no longer accepts the biblical version of God, he doesn't come out as an atheist. Meaning, he concludes, is to be found in the ways in which we relate to one another in the short time we have, without reference to eternity.
Source: The Observer.
posted at 10:13 PM

Richard Holloway, former Bishop of Edinburgh and Primus of the Scottish Episcopal Church, is being tipped as the next chairman of the Scottish Arts Council.
Source: Sunday Herald.
posted at 10:06 PM

One of Scotland?s most successful painters has invited the Prince of Wales to judge a new competition aimed at challenging the ?risible? Turner Prize. John Lowrie Morrison, a Church of Scotland lay preacher who signs his work as Jolomo and sells hundreds of paintings a year, will ask Prince Charles to join the board of judges for a new £30,000 painting award that he is setting up as an alternative to the controversial London prize.
Source: Sunday Herald.
posted at 10:05 PM

The Church of Scotland is cutting 10 missionary posts in poverty-stricken areas of the world because of a cash crisis at home. Contracts will not be renewed for an HIV/Aids worker and a lecturer in South Africa; a doctor and a minister specialising in HIV/Aids, education and church development in Kenya; two ministers and a development worker in Jamaica; a minister and a medical worker in Thailand; and a librarian in Lebanon. The General Assembly decided in May to cut the budget of the Board of World Mission, which oversees missionary work, by £426,000 as part of overall savings of more than £800,000.
Source: Scotland on Sunday.
posted at 9:58 PM

The Christmas message from the President of the British Methodist Conference, Rev Wil Morrey, is now online.
Source: Methodist Church news release.
posted at 8:29 PM

The Methodist Relief and Development Fund and Harvest Help have jointly produced Our Common Ground, a free resource for congregations and small groups designed to encourage learning, praying, giving and practical action in support of some of the world?s poorest people.
Source: Methodist Church news release.
posted at 8:25 PM

The scheme by Lothian Health Board to reduce unwanted pregnancies and abortions through giving women advance supplies of the morning-after-pill has been condemned as ?misguided and ignorant of the facts? by the Christian Medical Fellowship. Peter Saunders, General Secretary of the Christian Medical Fellowship, which claims to represent 4,500 Christian doctors in the UK, said: ?Existing government strategy is underpinned by the dangerous assumption that since young people are ?going to do it anyway?, all efforts should be focused on minimising the harm that results from unprotected sex. But rather than helping young people to make wise choices this 'values-free' policy has led to a paradoxical increase in sexual activity and a rate of unplanned pregnancies and sexually transmitted disease that is the highest in Europe. If young people are supplied with accurate information about the consequences of promiscuous behaviour, and receive the message that it is OK to say ?no?, then research has shown that a substantial proportion will delay sexual activity.?
Source: Evangelical Alliance Media Consultancy.
posted at 8:23 PM

Children from the Fintry area of Dundee who are members of the Word of Life group at Our Lady of Sorrows Church have established links with Terra Sancta School for boys and girls in Bethlehem, which is run by an Order of French nuns. Forfar woman Monica Stansfeld, following a visit to the Holy Land a number of years ago, established a trust which buys olive wood goods, produced by Palestinian craftsmen.
Source: Dundee Evening Telegraph.
posted at 8:15 PM

ABC correspondent Jane Hutcheon took a trip to the West Bank village of Idna in the company of representatives of Sunbula, a Palestinian handicrafts cooperative supported by the Church of Scotland. Among those she interviewed was Reverend Chris Wallace, a Church of Scotland minister on study leave.
Source: ABC - Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
posted at 11:59 AM

Father Michael Briody, of St Michael's in Moodiesburn, this week voiced his fears for the long-term future of Catholic schools in North Lanarkshire after last week's public information meeting on joint-campus schools. "Personally, I did not feel satisfied with the answers given by the council and there are still concerns that they will embark on a long-term plan to do away with Catholic schools," he said. Addressing the meeting were Education Convener Charles Gray and Michael McGrath, from the Scottish Catholic Education Service. Mr McGrath played down concerns. He said: "We feel we have a clear commitment from the North Lanarkshire Council and we are happy with assurances given to us over the future of Catholic schools."
Source: Kirkintilloch Herald.
posted at 8:38 PM

The history of St Margaret's Parish Church in Glenrothes is revealed in a new book, 'Faith Fellowship Friendship', rounding a special year of events to mark the kirk's golden jubilee.
Source: Fife Now - Glenrothes Gazette.
posted at 8:27 PM

Kilsyth Burns and Old Parish Church will soon have a new minister. On Sunday, the Reverend Robert Sloan preached as sole nominee for the vacancy, and at the close of the service the congregation voted to call him as their minister. Mr Sloan is at present minister of the linked charges of St Martin's and Scone New, near Perth, having previously spent almost five years in Blairgowrie.
Source: Cumbernauld News & Kilsyth Chronicle.
posted at 8:23 PM

British adults believe "Thou shalt not kill" and "Honour thy father and mother" to be the most relevant of the Ten Commandments, according to a survey carried out by YouGov for Sky Box Office to coincide with its premier of Mel Gibson?s The Passion of the Christ. The survey also revealed that keeping the Sabbath and honouring one God are considered the least relevant Commandments. Other questions in the survey, which was drawn up by the Very Rev John Drury, Chaplain of All Souls College, Oxford, included the birthplace and race of Jesus, the significance of Easter Day and the authors of the Gospels. On average 70 per cent of respondents gave correct answers.
Source: Church of England Newspaper.
posted at 8:17 PM

A leading British atheist has decided that he cannot ignore the evidence for God the Creator. But he has refused to allow God any further involvement in the world. Antony Flew, aged 81, the emeritus professor of philosophy at Reading University, has been an enthusiastic proponent of atheism. But he has now become so convinced that life could not have started or been passed on without a ?prime mover? that he is writing a new introduction to his book God and Philosophy. First published in 1966, it is being reissued next year. He has accused the atheist Richard Dawkins, the author of The Blind Watchmaker and other books that argue against religion, of ignoring Darwin?s belief that life was ?breathed? into the first organism. ?Darwin doesn?t say by whom, but it is pretty obvious what he meant.?
Source: Church Times.
posted at 8:05 PM

Profile of Margaret Walker, chorister and daughter of the director of music at St Mary's Episcopal Cathedral in Glasgow, Frikki Walker.
Source: Evening Times, Glasgow.
posted at 8:00 PM

A workman was taken to hospital with suspected back injuries after falling six feet from a ladder on to scaffolding at St Giles? Cathedral in Edinburgh, which is undergoing a multi-million-pound refurbishment.
Source: Edinburgh Evening News.
posted at 7:56 PM

Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi was has been urged to intervene in a row over a crumbling church in Edinburgh's Old Town. Heritage watchdogs have demanded that work begins on the restoration of Blackfriars Church, which is owned by the Italian government. The boarded-up former United Presbyterian church in Blackfriars Street, just off the Royal Mile, has lain empty for more than a decade.
Source: Edinburgh Evening News.
posted at 7:54 PM

A care home which has been threatened with closure for more than a year has been saved. Land on the site of the Eastwoodhill Church of Scotland home in Giffnock, near Glasgow's south side,will be sold to fund the cost of building a £2 million extension. In June 2003, the Kirk's board of social responsibility announced it planned to close several of its 31 homes, including Eastwoodhill, to address a £6 million deficit, claimed huge investment was needed to bring the homes up to standards in line with new Care Commission rules.
Source: Evening Times, Glasgow.
posted at 7:35 PM

The Christmas Eve children's service at St John's Episcopal Church in Perth church will this year be delivered by a four feet tall puppet called Brother Lee Love, the creation of the church's rector, Canon Bob Fyffe.
Source: Dundee Courier.
posted at 9:55 AM

Church elders in Kenya have begun to destroy some of the country's most valuable and historic colonial-era religious imagery after a commission ruled that early Scottish missionaries to East Africa were "probably devil-worshippers". Among the images destroyed at St Andrew's are 30 stained-glass windows, tapestries, wrought-iron grilles, Royal Air Force shields and memorials to parishioners killed in the East Africa campaigns of the two world wars. The Moderator of the Presbyterian Church of East Africa, the Rev David Githii, said a commission appointed to look at the symbols had concluded that they were masonic. Many Kenyan Christians believe there is a link between Freemasons and Satanists. The group took particular objection to the St Andrew's Cross, as well as to depictions of snakes and other wild animals in the stained glass. Mr Githii insists that since the images had been removed, the atmosphere in the church had improved dramatically. "These masonic objects gave off some kind of evil power that was affecting worship, a Satanic power," he said. "Now that we have removed them people have been revived and they are singing much more vigorously." He urged the Church in Scotland to follow Kenya's lead to stop congregations dwindling. "You know, there are a lot of Freemasons in Scotland," he said. "The Presbyterian Church in Scotland is dying because of these symbols." The congregation at PCEA's oldest church, the Church of the Torch, in Thogoto, in Kikuyu, will hold an all-night vigil on Friday and stage a sit in on Sunday, when, it is feared, a demolition team is due. "They want to destroy everything but I won't let them," said the Rev Stephen Kabuba, the minister. "This is Kenyan and Scottish heritage. There is nothing Satanic here." There are fears that the campaign could spread to the Anglican Church. A team is examining the possibility of dismantling British symbols in All Saints' Cathedral, Nairobi, which has many memorials to colonial servants.
Source: Daily Telegraph.
posted at 9:43 AM