Montrose Churches Together has donated £500 to tsunami relief. Chairman Rev Clive Alder said that individual churches have also responded financially in the short term with longer term fundraising being considered, taking into account that reconstruction of communities is set to take years.
Source: Montrose Review.
posted at 7:49 PM

Uddingston Boys' Brigade, who meet at the town's Old Parish Church, have donated 10 canvas tents to the victims of the tsunami disaster.
Source: icLanarkshire - Hamilton Advertiser.
posted at 7:32 PM

Rev Bill Niven has died at the age of 77. Mr Niven was minister at Lesmahagow Old Parish Church for 26 years and before that held the charge at Laighstonehall Parish Church in Hamilton.
Source: icLanarkshire - Hamilton Advertiser.
posted at 7:30 PM

A church building is to be "mothballed" while the congregation plans where to locate its new worship centre. The Rev Stuart Sharp of Camelon Parish Church revealed the move for the former St John's Church in Glasgow Road. It will be last used for Sunday services next month. The congregations of St John's and Irving were united at the end of 2003 to form Falkirk's largest Church of Scotland parish, covering parts of Camelon, Bantaskine, Tamfourhill and New Carron.
Source: Falkirk Today - Falkirk Herald.
posted at 7:27 PM

A West Lothian minister is helping the stricken people of Sri Lanka after last month's devastating tsunami. The Reverend John Purves and his wife narrowly escaped with their lives after the massive tidal waves flattened the holiday resort where they had been due to stay. Had the couple not decided to postpone leaving their parish in Sri Lanka's capital Colombo, they too could have been swept away in the disaster.
Source: icWestLothian - West Lothian Courier.
posted at 7:22 PM

Big-hearted members of St John Ogilvie church in Bourtreehill have raised a staggering £9,000 for the tsunami appeal.
Source: Irvine Herald.
posted at 7:19 PM

The Rev James Guthrie is to retire from the Church of Scotland after almost 36 years. He leaves at the end of the month after five years in the charge of Corsock & Kirkpatrick Durham with Crossmichael & Parton. Mr Guthrie was the chaplain to Turnberry Golf Club and Culzean Castle.
Source: Galloway News.
posted at 7:16 PM

Duns Parish Church has a new stained glass window - the KOSB window in memory of Lt Col Peter B Gow, an elder of the church. The first new stained glass window to be installed for over 100 years was formally unveiled to the congregation which included the Colonel of the Regiment, Major General John Cooper, and Mr Gow's widow, Olive, who commissioned the work from Gordon artist Douglas Hogg. Duns Parish Church also houses the King's Own Scottish Borderers' old regimental Colours, laid there in 1996, and the church is likely to become a focal point for those determined to keep the regiment's proud history alive.
Source: Berwickshire News.
posted at 7:12 PM

Young people say God listens to them in times of trouble more than do their parents, friends, teachers and other family members, according to a survey by Youth for Christ, the UK's largest Christian youth organisation. Of the 900 people who were asked who listens to them most, 43% answered God, compared to only 28% selecting friends, 16% parents and 9% girlfriend or boyfriend.
Source: Evangelical Alliance Media Consultancy.
posted at 5:33 PM

Canon Alexander Gordon will take over as Provost of St Andrew's Episcopal Cathedral in Inverness in April. He is currently the Anglican chaplain of Strasbourg in the diocese of Gibraltar. Canon Gordon lived in Lairg, Sutherland, where he worked as community pharmacist for 16 years from 1985. During that time he also served as a non-stipendiary priest first at St Andrew's Church, Tain, and then looking after St Finnbarr's Church in Dornoch and St Columba's Church, Brora. During his time in Lairg, he also established a Mission congregation of the Scottish Episcopal Church which met in the Church of Scotland church each Sunday at the invitation of the Minister and Kirk Session.
Source: Aberdeen Press & Journal.
posted at 5:26 PM

Fort William man David Maitland is celebrating 60 years as a church organist, thanks largely to having had the chance to take music lessons in his time off from the coal pits as a wartime Bevin Boy. A choirboy throughout the 1930s at St Ninian's Episcopal Church in Prestwick, he marked the relaxation of the blackout by playing at a midnight service there on Christmas Eve, 1944 - an innovation in Scotland. Subsequently he was organist at Kingscase Church, Stair Parish Church, the old High Church and Laigh Parish Kirk in Kilmarnock, and MacIntosh Memorial Church in Fort William.
Source: Aberdeen Press & Journal.
posted at 5:20 PM

Fort William man David Maitland is celebrating 60 years as a church organist, thanks largely to having had the chance to take music lessons in his time off from the coal pits as a wartime Bevin Boy. A choirboy throughout the 1930s at St Ninian's Episcopal Church in Prestwick, he marked the relaxation of the blackout by playing at a midnight service there on Christmas Eve, 1944 - an innovation in Scotland. Subsequently he was organist at Kingscase Church, Stair Parish Church, the old High Church and Laigh Parish Kirk in Kilmarnock, and MacIntosh Memorial Church in Fort William.
Source: Aberdeen Press & Journal.
posted at 5:20 PM

St John's Kirk, which is synonymous with Perth - the church gave rise to Perth's alternative name of St John's toun - has been undergoing some high profile restoration and upkeep.
Source: Dundee Courier.
posted at 5:04 PM

Report from the tsunami zone by Dr Alison Elliot, Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland. "It's still a mystery why people have responded so generously in this case. Somehow this has penetrated our self-absorption so that we want to try to identify with complete strangers in their grief. Perhaps the basic ingredients of the tragedy are so fundamental that they sweep aside the differences in circumstances between people."
Source: The Scotsman.
posted at 5:01 PM

The fate of a Glasgow preacher threatened with deportation could be decided this week. Lawyers representing Pastor Makielokele Nzelengi Daly were understood to be meeting with Home Office chiefs this week to discuss his case. Pastor Daly, who preaches in Royston and helps asylum seekers, is being held in Dungavel detention centre in Lanarkshire after being transferred from a London centre where he was detained over Christmas. Campaigners for the family say their lives could be at risk if they return to Angola.
Source: Evening Times, Glasgow.
posted at 11:00 PM

Generous donors from Charlotte Baptist Chapel in Edinburgh have raised £608,000 in only six weeks to help build a new church in one of the capital's most deprived areas. Niddrie Community Church will replace the Chapel's "sister" church, Niddrie Mission, which was demolished on Tuesday after falling into severe disrepair. The building fund was kick-started by a legacy from the American widow of the Rev Sidlow Baxter, who served as minister at Charlotte Chapel between 1935 and 1953. Rev Peter Grainger, senior pastor at the Charlotte Chapel, said: "The Niddrie Mission building was in a bad state. It was important to us as Christians to help Niddrie, an area of urban deprivation."
Source: Edinburgh Evening News.
posted at 10:55 PM

A Dundee-based international relief and development charity has launched a fundraising campaign to help victims of the Asian tsunami disaster. Signpost International is raising cash to send an aid container to Sri Lanka next week and embarking on a longer-term fundraising appeal for the disaster victims.
Source: Dundee Evening Telegraph.
posted at 6:41 PM

Donations to the Scottish Catholic International Aid Fund for tsunami relief today passed the £1 million mark. SCIAF has already sent assistance to southern India and Sri Lanka, two of the areas worst affected by the disaster.
Source: Evening Times, Glasgow.
posted at 6:28 PM

The 150th anniversary of Scotland's system of registering births, deaths and marriages has been marked by an open day at the General Register Office for Scotland in Edinburgh. Introduced on January 1, 1855, civil registration replaced the system dating from 1551 whereby parish churches were supposed to keep a register of baptisms and marriages (and, later, burials). The 1801 Census found out that, of the 850 parishes in Scotland, not more than 99 had regular registers, the rest having only occasional entries or no register at all.
Source: Scottish Executive news release.
posted at 6:26 PM

Patricia Ferguson MSP, who has responsibility for co-ordinating the Scottish Executive's work with overseas aid organisations, said during a visit to Save the Children in Edinburgh that she was proud of the Scottish public's response to the Boxing Day tsunami disaster and of the work being done here and abroad to help victims. The Executive has seconded eleven members of staff to work with Mercy Corps, the Red Cross and the Scottish Catholic International Aid Fund in Edinburgh.
Source: Scottish Executive news release.
posted at 6:30 PM

The second and final instalments of a three-part feature on faith and the impact of Alzheimer's disease, focusing on the life of United Methodist Church minister Charles Music, who lived in Edinburgh in the 1960s with his wife Jane while he studied at theology school.
Source: Louisville Courier-Journal, Kentucky.
posted at 5:41 PM

Second instalment of a three-part feature on faith and the impact of Alzheimer's disease, focusing on the life of United Methodist Church minister Charles Music, who lived in Edinburgh in the 1960s with his wife Jane while he studied at theology school.
Source: Louisville Courier-Journal, Kentucky.
posted at 5:38 PM

The Church of Scotland is to devote £60,000 to relief and reconstruction efforts in countries affected by the Indian Ocean tsunami disaster in addition to cash already collected by congregations and individual members throughout Scotland.
Source: Church of Scotland news release.
posted at 5:21 PM

Forty clergywomen from all over Scotland will gather in Edinburgh on Thursday to show their support for tsunami victims and others who suffer from poverty throughout the world. They will meet First Minister Jack McConnell and members of the Parliament's Cross Party Group on International Development to give them a copy of the Make Poverty History report. Organised by Christian Aid the event involves ministers from the Church of Scotland, the United Reformed Church, the United Free Church, the Methodist Church, the Presbyterian Church of the USA and the Scottish Episcopal Church.
Source: Church of Scotland news release.
posted at 5:18 PM

Rangers fan Stuart Davies, from Kilsyth, has been jailed for 22 months at Airdrie Sheriff Court following a "vicious" attack on a Celtic supporter which the jury found took place because of religious prejudice. Sheriff Alfred Vannet ordered that Rangers FC be informed of the conviction. The club said Davies was not a season ticket holder. A second Rangers fan, Stephen Baxter, also of Kilsyth, will be sentenced next week. Three others charged with singing sectarian songs and with the attack on Mr McGhee walked free after being found not guilty.
Source: Evening Times, Glasgow.
posted at 5:00 PM

Young Taysiders are preparing to embark on volunteer projects which will take some of them to the tsunami ravaged island of Sri Lanka. The 19-strong contingent are heading abroad in February with Link Overseas Exchange. Link had nine volunteers on Sri Lanka when the giant waves struck, but all escaped unscathed from the horror. "The welfare of our volunteers was very quickly established and we were able to give assurances to their parents that the young people were fine within hours of the terrible news coming through," said the Rev Greaves, minister of Dundee West Church, who established Link with his wife, Vicky, when minister at Glamis.
Source: Dundee Evening Telegraph.
posted at 4:45 PM

Action of Churches Together in Scotland (ACTS) has collated information about church responses to the Boxing Day tsunami, including a prayer by a Christian Aid worker in Sri Lanka.
Source: Action of Churches Together in Scotland (ACTS) news.
posted at 9:28 PM

Police made 27 arrests after yesterday's Old Firm clash and today confirmed 19 were for sectarian offences. It is believed this is the first time religious offences have been the main source of arrests, which came after a high-level meeting on bigotry with First Minister Jack McConnell on Friday.
Source: Evening Times, Glasgow.
posted at 9:25 PM

The Rev Robert Howieson, the last provost of Newport and one of the farthest travelled members of Dundee Presbytery, having served in south-east Asia, Africa, London and Edinburgh as well as in north-east Fife, has died aged 94.
Source: Dundee Courier.
posted at 9:21 PM

Grants to community groups and churches to fund vital disabled access upgrades are being held up for months after Edinburgh city council's investments failed to reap as much interest as expected. The congregation at the city's South Leith Parish Church has spent two-and-a-half years raising more than £4500 to install a lift at the rear of the historic Kirkgate building. When the council promised an additional £5000 for the project and a building warrant was obtained, parishioners expected to be able to complete the scheme by late last year. They paid more than £1500 in architects fees. But the congregation was left "downhearted" after being told by the council that the money was no longer available.
Source: Edinburgh Evening News.
posted at 9:19 PM

An Edinburgh man has admitted carrying out a sex attack on a woman at knifepoint as she read her Bible at a beauty spot on Edinburgh's Blackford Hill. During the attack, he asked if she had her mobile phone in her pocket. She replied that it was in fact her Bible and told him that that was what he needed. Despite her terror, the victim remembered details of the distinctive ring he was wearing which helped police to track him down. He was subsequently charged with that offence, and a string of other indecent acts in front of women aged 13 to 34 at various locations across the capital.
Source: Scottish Television News.
posted at 9:01 PM

Angus Council is set to take enforcement action against a Carnoustie church group. Councillors will be asked this week to agree a course of action in respect of the extension to the Christian Fellowship's premises in High Street, which has not been constructed in accordance with planning consent.
Source: Dundee Evening Telegraph.
posted at 8:59 PM

The Moderator of the Church of Scotland's General Assembly has been describing the "wounded communities" she has encountered on a visit to the tsunami disaster zone. Dr Alison Elliot has been meeting aid workers and victims of the Boxing Day earthquake in India and Sri Lanka.
Source: BBC Scotland News.
posted at 8:57 PM

A bizarre mental syndrome that has seen scores of visitors to Jerusalem become convinced they are characters from the Bible is the subject of a major new exhibition in Scotland. Artist Nathan Coley has turned his attention to Jerusalem syndrome, a travel psychosis affecting people hypnotised by the Holy City who start to preach and behave as biblical characters, from King David to John the Baptist, the Virgin Mary and Jesus himself. Coley's 20-minute film, backed by the Scottish Arts Council and British Council, is at the Cooper Gallery at the University of Dundee on 21 January.
Source: The Scotsman.
posted at 8:50 PM

It is at the centre of a literary sensation, but now one of Scotland's leading tourist attractions is to impose restrictions on visitors. Historic Scotland is keen to protect Rosslyn Chapel, near Penicuik, Midlothian, from the "Da Vinci effect". Nick Bridgeland, inspector of ancient monuments, said: "This is a completely unique building that has baffled architectural historians for centuries. It is a great treasure and it deserves the best protection we can give it." Rosslyn Chapel was founded in 1446 by Sir William St Clair, the last St Clair prince of Orkney, and has been linked to biblical and Masonic legend throughout its history.
Source: The Herald.
posted at 8:47 PM

The Independent's media section praises the Scottish Catholic Observer and its editor, Harry Conroy, for the paper's coverage of the Boxing Day tsunami.
Source: The Independent.
posted at 8:42 PM

Rev Paul Watson, a former curate at St Ninian's Episcopal Church in Glasgow now ministering in Sri Lanka, narrowly missed the Indian Ocean tsunami together with his parents, wife and children. They had been due to go to one of worst affected areas on the island on Boxing Day but postponed their arrival by a day because of some preaching engagements. The family was in Colombo en route to the coast when the tidal wave struck. The hotel next door to the one they were booked into has been completely destroyed.
Source: Scottish Episcopal Diocese of Glasgow & Galloway.
posted at 5:29 PM

Da Vinci Code fever is threatening the fabric of Rosslyn Chapel, the Scottish church reputed to be the resting place of the holy grail and featured in the bestselling book. Fears that the building and its unique stone carvings are being put at risk by an influx of visitors will lead to tourists being banned from making unsupervised visits to the medieval chapel. Since The Da Vinci Code was published in 2003, visitor numbers at the 15th-century chapel have risen by 56%. Last year almost 70,000 visited the building in Midlothian, making it one of the country's most popular tourist attractions.
Source: Sunday Times.
posted at 11:06 AM

Scotland's appalling health record and high rates of premature death cannot be blamed on poverty, according to the country's most senior public health expert. Instead, Professor Phil Hanlon believes a sense of fatalism makes Scots drink and smoke heavily and eat dangerously unhealthy food. He also suggested Scots' notoriously dour, pessimistic demeanour - characterised by television characters such as Victor Meldrew and Rev I M Jolly - is to blame. It is a view shared by Dr Carol Craig, chief executive of the Centre for Confidence and Well-being, a Glasgow-based think tank. She believes widespread pessimism has hampered attempts to shake off Scotland's reputation as the 'sick man of Europe'. "Not only do we have very high mortality rates in Scotland but our rates of depression and suicide are high too. For many hundreds of years Scotland was one of the main countries that people were emigrating from. The vast majority of people who left Scotland were probably the most optimistic, adventurous and most likely to believe they could have a better life in another country. Our most optimistic and upbeat people were routinely taken out of the culture."
Source: Sunday Times.
posted at 10:55 AM

First instalment of a three-part feature on faith and the impact of Alzheimer's disease, focusing on the life of United Methodist Church minister Charles Music, who lived in Edinburgh in the 1960s with his wife Jane while he studied at theology school.
Source: Louisville Courier-Journal, Kentucky.
posted at 10:51 AM

She went to Hungary to convert young Jews to Christianity in a Scottish mission. But when she refused to abandon them for her own safety, she was arrested by the Nazis as a spy and died at Auschwitz. Now, a film is being developed to tell the story of Jane Haining, a Scottish martyr who died in the notorious Nazi death camp in Poland because of her dedication to the 400 children in her care. Haining should be recognised as 'Scotland's Schindler' according to director Mark Littlewood, of Pelicula Films.
Source: Sunday Herald.

posted at 10:32 AM

A drop-in centre for the homeless in Edinburgh is set for a major revamp under £2million plans announced today. Greyfriars Kirkhouse at the foot of Candlemaker Row could be gutted and refurbished for the Grassmarket Mission as part of the proposals unveiled by the Church of Scotland.
Source: Edinburgh Evening News.
posted at 8:49 PM

Lord Mackay of Clashfern has been appointed the Queen's representative at this year's Church of Scotland General Assembly. Lord Mackay left the Free Presbyterian Church in 1989 after attending a Roman Catholic mass at a fellow peer's funeral.
Source: The Scotsman.
posted at 8:47 PM

Scottish Executive first minister Jack McConnell has met members of Celtic and Rangers supporters clubs to discuss ways of tackling sectarianism. The number of fans from both sides was carefully balanced so there were two supporters from the Celtic Supporters Association, one from the Association of Irish Celtic Supporters Clubs, one from the Affiliation of Registered Celtic Supporters Clubs and four from the Rangers Supporters Assembly.
Source: BBC Scotland News.
posted at 8:37 PM

The Church of England claimed a small increase in church attendance figures yesterday after years of decline, bringing Sunday worship back to the million mark. Even so, the latest figures show that the church manages to attract fewer than 4% of those claiming to be Anglicans through its doors on a weekly basis.
Source: The Guardian.
posted at 8:27 PM

Profile of Church of Scotland lay preacher John Lowrie Morrison, whose brightly coloured Scottish landscapes, signed with his 'Jolomo' trademark, have been bought by Madonna and Sting, Rick Stein, Gregor Fisher and Chris Patten. The book John Lowrie Morrison: Retrospective is published by Kranenburg & Fowler, priced £35. New Work by John Lowrie Morrison is at the Torrance Gallery, Edinburgh, from 15 January to 5 February.
Source: The Scotsman.
posted at 8:24 PM

The Blythswood Care charity is urgently appealing for people in the Highlands to fill banana boxes with aid for survivors of the Asian tsunami disaster.
Source: Highland News.
posted at 8:36 PM

Dunfermline's Salvation Army shop has warned potential shoplifters they'll receive no charity and will be reported to the police if they're caught stealing from the premises. David Miller, who manages the shop, said, "Thefts from charity shops are coming to light more and more and we're sick and tired of it. We bust a gut to provide a service to Dunfermline so I'm not going to accept stock just walking out the door."
Source: Dunfermline Press.
posted at 8:32 PM

Church leaders in Badenoch and Strathspey are leading efforts to send aid from the area to help survivors of the tsunami disaster in southern Asia. The Presbytery of Abernethy have linked up with Ross-shire-based overseas care charity Blythswood Care so that local people can provide essential items as part of a co-ordinated local response to the tragedy. Rev David Whyte, minister for the parish of Boat of Garten, Carrbridge, Kincardine and Duthil, who has helped to get the appeal off the ground locally, said: "We know people are being generous with money, but there is a gut feeling that they want to do something more."
Source: Strathspey & Badenoch Herald.
posted at 8:28 PM

Wishaw woman Margaret Sneddon has been awarded the MBE in the New Year Honours list for services to the Girls Brigade in Wishaw and Shotts. Margaret retired in June after 50 years in the Brigade.
Source: icLanarkshire - Wishaw Press.
posted at 8:14 PM

Thieves this week smashed a stained glass window to break in to Boghall Parish Church and steal cash from a charity box.
Source: icWestLothian - West Lothian Courier.
posted at 8:01 PM

An Irvine priest whose native land was devastated by the Boxing Day tsunami is pulling out all the stops to help his countrymen who lost everything in the disaster. Fr Con Botter, of St John Ogilvie's Church, was born in Padang on the island of Sumatra, but even though he's spent most of his life in Scotland he's never forgotten his roots and, within hours of the tragedy, was on the phone to see just how he could help.
Source: Irvine Herald.
posted at 7:58 PM

Rangers last night threatened to issue life bans to supporters who step out of line during Sunday's Scottish Cup clash with Celtic at Parkhead. The Ibrox club have decided to adopt a hardline stance in the battle against bigotry ahead of this weekend's third round meeting. Rangers' warning comes just 24 hours after Jack McConnell ordered a summit to tackle Scotland's sectarian shame. And today it emerged that a Rangers fan who was convicted of sectarian abuse has been banned from Ibrox - after a request from a Glasgow sheriff. Scott Primrose, from Bannockburn, was caught singing a sectarian song at Ibrox at an Old Firm game last year. After admitting breach of the peace, aggravated by religious prejudice, he was given a year's probation and 240 hours community service.
Sources: Daily Record, Evening Times, Glasgow.
posted at 7:33 PM

The Episcopalian Diocese of Brechin said farewell to its bishop, the Rt Rev Neville Chamberlain, at a special service in St Paul's Cathedral, Dundee, last night. He is retiring after serving the diocese since September 1997. Before his consecration he was rector of St John's, Princes Street, Edinburgh, for 15 years.
Source: Dundee Courier.
posted at 7:21 PM

Professor Alan Main - a former Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland used to be the minister at St Andrew's Church in Colombo - is flying to Sri Lanka to offer aid to crisis-hit communities there.
Source: BBC Scotland News.
posted at 7:20 PM

Feature on the work of the Church of Scotland Guild - formerly the Women's Guild - and some of the men who have joined its ranks.
Source: The Herald.
posted at 7:01 PM

Scotland's International Catholic Aid Agency, SCIAF has issued an appeal for donations to help with the relief effort in the Indian Ocean region following the recent disaster. SCIAF has already sent funds to Asia and has raised over £400,000 in the last nine days. If you would like to make a donation to the Asia appeal you can do so by calling 0845 456 0018, by visiting SCIAF's website at http://www.sciaf.org.uk/ or by post to SCIAF, 19 Park Circus, Glasgow, G3 6BE.
Source: Scottish Catholic Media Office news release.
posted at 7:20 PM

Glasgow stained-glass artist Ralph Cowan has died at the age of 100. His work survives in many city churches, including Broom Parish in Newton Mearns. Mr Cowan was also responsible for the stained and etched glass which decorated the interior of the Queen Elizabeth liner, built on the Clyde.
Source: Evening Times, Glasgow.
posted at 3:04 PM

Around 200 followers of the Baha'i faith are to stage a pilgrimage to Edinburgh this weekend to retrace the footsteps of their founder's son, who visited the capital almost 100 years ago. They will discuss plans for a new national centre in Edinburgh for adherents. A morning service at St Giles' Cathedral is also planned, along with a series of talks, presentations and musical performances at venues across the city. Edinburgh's ties with the Baha'i faith date back to 1913 when founder Baha'u'llah's eldest son, Abdu'l Baha, gave several lectures. Around 60 members of the community now live in the city.
Source: Edinburgh Evening News.
posted at 2:57 PM

First Minister Jack McConnell is to host an anti-sectarianism "summit" involving football clubs, church leaders and local authorities. The meeting, which will be confirmed later this week, is part of a drive to combat a problem which Mr McConnell has described as "Scotland's shame". Details will be announced ahead of the Scottish Cup clash between Celtic and Rangers on Sunday.
Source: BBC Scotland News.
posted at 2:42 PM

Interviewed in The Spectator magazine about the decline of Methodism in Britain, the Rev David Deeks, general secretary of the Methodist Church, said history had taught that they had reached a place "where we can't go on as we are". One of the most alarming statistics showed that "just in the last three years we have had a 30% reduction in the numbers of children and young people attached to the Methodist Church - that is devastating". He added: I am more aware than ever before in my ministry that people are saying the game's up, in the way we're currently playing the game." But he said: "I think we can change to a culture more innovative, more competent, more willing to take risks in new ways of being a Church. In that sense I am quite hopeful. Whether we can deliver enough change quickly enough when the situation is as urgent as it is, that is a more difficult question." Mr Deeks also said that the Prime Minister faces a constant problem over his religious beliefs. He said that Mr Blair, "a deeply religious person", was aware that if he placed that in the wrong environment he would be "finished politically".
Source: The Scotsman/PA News.
posted at 2:41 PM

The BBC yesterday promised to press ahead with plans to transmit the award-winning West End show Jerry Springer - the Opera this Saturday in the face of concerted complaints by outraged Christians led by the Bishop of Manchester. The Rt Rev Nigel McCulloch, who speaks about broadcasting on behalf of the Church of England, complained that the BBC had refused to show him a tape of the show. He said: "Freedom of expression is not at issue here. My worry is that this programme is a major departure from the current high expectations of viewers regarding offensive material on a publicly funded channel. I remain hopeful that the programme is not as described and the BBC will be mindful not only of its duties and responsibilities, but also to its repeated commitments on taste, decency, harm and offence in the past." The Radio Times has been boasting that the corporation's switchboard faces meltdown this weekend and claimed the show contained 3,168 uses of the word f*** and 297 references to c***. An email message circulating among protesters claims the show depicts Jesus, Mary and God as "self-centred sexual deviants who give and receive extreme verbal abuse and a horrific series of blasphemies all in the name of comedy". It says: "Programme makers know they cannot get away with being offensive against Islam; Christians need to let them know that we will not sit back and just let this sort of thing happen without making our views known." The message calls on recipients to complain directly to Ofcom and to John Ploughman, the BBC's head of entertainment and comedy.
Source: The Guardian.
posted at 2:33 PM

Ronald Barclay, son of the writer and broadcaster Professor William Barclay, has died. Ronnie Barclay worked tirelessly to promote the work of his father, regarded as 'the supreme communicator of the New Testament gospel in our time'.
Source: William-Barclay.com.
posted at 4:51 PM

Scotland's first topless barber's shop - A Bit Off the Top, in Paisley - has closed just five months after its controversial opening. Retired minister Reverend Tom Cant, who was one of the shop's fiercest critics, added: "The closure of this enterprise is the best belated Christmas present we could have wished for. As far as I'm concerned it's goodbye and good riddance."
Source: Evening Times, Glasgow.
posted at 5:28 PM

A woman was seriously injured this morning after strong gales knocked down scaffolding outside St Mary's Episcopal Cathedral in Edinburgh.
Source: Edinburgh Evening News.
posted at 5:24 PM

The Kirk's most senior figure flew to Asia yesterday to visit some of the communities devastated by the tsunami. Dr Alison Elliot, moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, flew to Mumbai. She will visit Madras on Friday and Sri Lanka the next day, worship on Sunday the congregation of St Andrew's Scots Kirk in Colombo, and complete her Asian visit in Calcutta and Bangladesh.
Source: The Herald.
posted at 5:22 PM

Rev Graham Beebee of the Church of Scotland in Guernsey has joined with other church leaders on the island in calling for support for countries devastated by the Boxing Day tidal wave.
Source: Guernsey Weekly Press.
posted at 5:02 PM

Church leaders angrily condemned Channel 4 last night over plans to broadcast a live exorcism. The programme, called Exorcism, will be shown next month. An insider said: 'The aim is to test the science involved. It would involve officials from the church and leading scientists and we would monitor precisely what happens during the process.' Taste Sky TV are planning a separate show called When Exorcisms Go Wrong, featuring amateur videos of rites from around the world. A spokesman for the Catholic Church in Scotland branded the show 'a ratings-grabbing attempt to push the boundaries of taste'. He said: 'Each exorcism deals with very complex psychological, spiritual and emotional issues which cannot be easily monitored or measured. To try to analyse some kind of scientific results would be a non-starter.'
Source: Daily Record.
posted at 5:00 PM

The late Cardinal Thomas Winning has a place in the latest online version of the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, updated today.
Source: The Herald.
posted at 4:57 PM

A Lewis woman is part of a Scottish team heading to Cambodia to see the work carried out by relief and development organisation Tearfund. Anne Macleod of Aird Tong, a former nurse at the Western Isles Hospital, said the exploitation of children in Cambodia was a huge problem. She is Tearfund's representative in the APC church in Stornoway.
Source: Aberdeen Press & Journal.
posted at 7:50 PM

Richard Holloway, former primus of the Scottish Episcopal Church, attempts to address the question of how a loving God can permit events like the Asian tsunami to happen.
Source: The Herald.
posted at 7:40 PM

Scotland united in prayer at a special Mass to commemorate victims of the Asian tsunami disaster last night. The 500-strong congregation at St Mary's Cathedral in Edinburgh heard Cardinal Keith O'Brien, the leader of Scotland's Roman Catholics, say differences in faith were not important at such times. Dr Allison Elliot, Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland who leaves today for India and Sri Lanka - both hit by the tsunami - and Episcopalian Bishop of Edinburgh, the Right Rev Brian Smith, offered prayers at the service. Members of other faiths, including those from the city's Sikh, Moslem, Hindu and Buddhist communities also took part.
Source: Aberdeen Press & Journal.
posted at 7:37 PM

A historic church on Glasgow's south side is set to be turned into luxury flats selling for up to £300,000 each. The cash raised from the sale of disused New Cathcart Church will be used for a two-phase refurbishment at Cathcart Trinity Church on Clarkston Road.
Source: Evening Times, Glasgow.
posted at 7:25 PM

Former Scottish Secretary Gordon Campbell put pressure on the Post Office to reverse a controversial ruling not to issue a stamp commemorating John Knox, it has been revealed. The Church of Scotland formed a committee to help commemorate the 400th anniversary of Knox's birth, which took place in 1972. The Post Office decision not to produce a stamp, made amid fears it would inflame sectarianism, sparked fury among Kirk ministers, who flooded the Post Office with complaints. Now secret papers released by the National Archives of Scotland reveal that Lord Campbell asked for "sympathetic consideration" for the case, adding that Knox - who lived most of his life in Edinburgh - had a standing "comparable with Robert Burns".
Source: The Scotsman.
posted at 7:22 PM

Breakdown of where the Disasters Emergency Committee charities are operating following the Asian tsunami. The DEC includes Christian Aid, Tearfund and World Vision.
Source: The Herald.
posted at 6:27 PM

Orange and republican organisations may face fines for sectarian behaviour during parades under plans to curb religious hatred in Scotland. The proposal, from anti-sectarian organisation Nil By Mouth, is being considered by Sir John Orr, the former chief constable of Strathclyde, who is carrying out a review of marches and parades for the Scottish executive.
Source: Sunday Times.
posted at 4:02 PM

The Asian tsunami disaster should make all Christians question the existence of God, Dr Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury, writes in The Telegraph today. Prayer, he admits, provides no "magical solutions" and most of the stock Christian answers to human suffering do not "go very far in helping us, one week on, with the intolerable grief and devastation in front of us". Dr Williams, who, as head of the Church of England, represents 70 million Anglicans around the world, writes: "Every single random, accidental death is something that should upset a faith bound up in comfort and ready answers. Faced with the paralysing magnitude of a disaster like this, we naturally feel more deeply outraged - and also more deeply helpless." He adds: "The question, 'How can you believe in a God who permits suffering on this scale?' is therefore very much around at the moment, and it would be surprising if it weren't - indeed it would be wrong if it weren't." Dr Williams concludes that, faced with such a terrible challenge to their faith, Christians must focus on "passionate engagement with the lives that are left".
Source: Sunday Telegraph.
posted at 3:40 PM

Norma Forbes from Spittalfield, near Dunkeld, is one of four volunteers from the charity Scottish Churches World Exchange who have begun work on the relief effort in eastern India to help those affected by the tsunami disaster. Norma had been working in India with SCWE's Sumanahalli society, a project of the RC Archdiocese of Bangalore. She travelled through the night on December 27 to arrive at the devastated coastline early the next morning.
Source: Dundee Evening Telegraph.
posted at 7:30 PM

Cardinal Keith O'Brien will celebrate a special Mass for the victims of the Indian Ocean disaster in St Mary's Cathedral in Edinburgh on Sunday 2 January at 7.30 pm. The service will be attended by Sikh, Muslim, Hindu and Buddhist members of Edinburgh's Interfaith Council. Participants will include the Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, Dr. Allison Elliot, and the Episcopalian Bishop of Edinburgh, the Right Rev Brian Smith. [Full text of the Cardinal's sermon.]
Source: Scottish Catholic Media Office news release.
posted at 2:31 PM

The Reverend Prebendary Richard Thomas Bewes, author of many books about Christianity and rector of All Souls, Langham Place, London, has been awarded the OBE in the New Year honours list for services to the Church of England. The Reverend Inderjit Bhogal, former President of the Methodist Conference of Great Britain, receives the OBE for services to inter-faith relations.
posted at 2:25 PM