A report exploring the characteristics of each of the religion groups in Scotland using information collected from the 2001 Census in Scotland was published today. According to Analysis of Religion in the 2001 Census, just over two-thirds (67%) of the Scottish population reported currently having a religion. More than six out of ten people said that their religion was Christian (65%): 42% Church of Scotland, 16% Roman Catholics and 7% Other Christian. The Other Christian group includes a wide range of groups which can be very different from each other in terms of their approaches to key issues. Examples of the write-in answers include the Church of England, Evangelical, Greek Orthodox, Jehovah's Witness, Methodist, Spiritualist and many others. After Christianity, Islam was the most common faith with 42.6 thousand people.
. Full report on the web.
. Download report as pdf.
Source: Scottish Executive news release.
posted at 6:03 PM

Churches Together in Britain and Ireland today launched their pre-election discussion document, Prosperity with a Purpose, which calls for an attack on poverty to be driven by wealth creation based on market economics. They say the fundamental principle of "nobody left behind" demands a new and wider sense of solidarity in modern Britain, together with a deep renewal of civil society. Wealth creation is a continuation of God's creative action, the document argues, provided it is governed by a strong commitment to social justice. Work is the participation in this divine action, which must therefore enhance human dignity and creativity. It is crucial to readjust the work-life balance to restore respect for personal and family values. Otherwise increased prosperity will be a hollow achievement.
Source: Action of Churches Together in Scotland (ACTS) news.
posted at 12:30 PM

Last night's Panorama documentary about Old Firm sectarianism, screened across the UK, received a mixed reaction. Joseph Devine, Bishop of Motherwell, said he viewed with "concern" comments by Brian Quinn and David Murray, the chairmen of Celtic and Rangers, that the problem of sectarian chanting at Old Firm games was practised by a minority. "Panorama showed this clearly was not the case," Bishop Devine said, adding that "the onus is on both Rangers and Celtic to do more".
Source: The Herald.
posted at 12:10 PM

Feature on Christian Voice pressuring Maggie's Centres not to accept cash from a charity performance of the Jerry Springer musical. Did the Voice's Stephen Green threaten to picket the centres, places where, after all, very sick people go to seek some semblance of peace in the last stages of their life? "I don't know if I said that would happen or not but people hold their religious faith very strongly in Scotland. I was more concerned at the offence that would be caused and the effect on the charity's reputation," he said. The Rev Jim Cowie, head of the Church of Scotland's Board of Social Responsibility, said: "What this group has done seems to be extremely negative ... It is very easy for a group to think they are sincere and take a stand but they are manipulating publicity. Intimidation, threatening ... they have no place in the Christian scheme of things."
Source: The Herald.
posted at 11:58 AM

Feature on hospital chaplains and NHS policies on spiritual care, ahead of a BBC Radio Scotland programme on Wednesday. "The image of hospital chaplains as dog- collared volunteers, dispensing cheery words here and there, is rapidly being dispelled as they become as integrated into the NHS as another group of health-care professionals."
Source: The Scotsman.
posted at 11:48 AM

As the 300-strong assembly of Churches Together in Britain and Ireland (CTBI) drew to a close in Swanwick on Friday, guests from different parts of the world called on church leaders in England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales to look beyond their own concerns to the needs and opportunities of the wider world.
Source: Action of Churches Together in Scotland (ACTS) news.
posted at 11:45 AM

On the eve of a major new report on the ethics of affluence, church representatives at the Swanwick assembly of Churches Together in Britain and Ireland have been given the opportunity to sign up for economic and environmental justice. At a seminar whose organisers included the United Reformed Church and the Church of Scotland, the Accra Confession on Covenanting for Justice in the Economy and the Earth was introduced as a feasible step forward towards theologically grounded right-relationships.
Source: Action of Churches Together in Scotland (ACTS) news.
posted at 11:37 AM

Rev Steve Clipston has resigned from his Church of Scotland post at St John's, Galashiels, following allegations of an inappropriate relationship with a parishioner.
Source: Sunday Mail.
posted at 6:22 PM

As evangelical Christians force a Scottish cancer charity to refuse money raised from a benefit performance of controversial show 'Jerry Springer - The Opera', Iain S Bruce reports on the emergence of new militant faith groups who are no longer prepared to turn the other cheek.
Source: Sunday Herald.
posted at 6:10 PM

A BBC Panorama investigation is set to pile pressure on Scotland's Old Firm football clubs to do more to eradicate sectarian abuse within their support. The hard-hitting documentary, to be screened tonight, accuses Rangers and Celtic of failing to do enough to stamp out bigotry and hatred among Scotland's Catholic and Protestant communities.
Source: Sunday Herald.
posted at 5:53 PM

The Catholic church has called on Scottish police forces to conduct a Northern Ireland-style religious audit of their officers amid fears of sectarianism in the ranks. Senior figures in the church say they have received complaints from people who claim they have been victims of sectarian discrimination by the police. Police officers are also said to have claimed that they are being denied promotion because of a "stained-glass ceiling" that bars Catholics from top jobs. The call for an audit is backed by the anti-sectarian charity Nil by Mouth.
Source: Sunday Times.
posted at 5:52 PM

Some 100 years before Saint Columba established his monastery at Iona, St Ninian arrived in Galloway and established a religious community among the Celtic peoples of what would later become southern Scotland. Around 1600 years later, what has been termed the cradle of Christianity in Scotland is about to get the setting it is due. Historic Scotland, in charge of the country's ancient monuments, has conducted a £250,000 renovation of its Whithorn site to help promote Scotland's earliest connection with the Christian faith.
Source: Sunday Herald.
posted at 5:50 PM

The uncertainty in the Catholic Church resulting from the Pope's frailty is heightened by the fact modern medicine can keep the elderly alive far longer than before. "He's down to one decision a day, but the Church can't function efficiently on one decision a day," said John Haldane, a philosophy professor at Scotland's University of St Andrews.
Source: Reuters India.
posted at 1:23 AM

The Anglican Communion does not face a split following this week's meeting of Primates, according to the Primus of the Scottish Episcopal Church, the Most Rev Bruce Cameron. "We did not solve all our differences on the issues of sexuality but did find a way which respected the integrities of both sides of the argument and set in motion a process that will allow us to keep talking together," he said. "Despite our differences we were able to affirm the place of homosexual people within the life of the Church and it is my hope that the Scottish Episcopal Church will continue to be open and inclusive to all those who want to follow Christ." He added: "The Scottish Episcopal Church remains in communion with the churches of USA and Canada as well as our brothers and sisters in the churches in Africa."
Source: Scottish Episcopal Church news release.
posted at 9:10 PM

The Church of Scotland's education committee has welcomed the Scottish Executive's circular on religious observance in schools.
Source: Church of Scotland news release.
posted at 9:04 PM

Longside minister Rev Norman Smith was invited to Pitfour School last week to give his final assembly before leaving the area to take up a new charge in Granton, Edinburgh.
Source: Buchan Observer.
posted at 8:59 PM

Health care professionals and tradesmen from across north east Fife are being sought to take part in a South American mercy mission. Cupar Old Parish Church is exploring two sponsorship schemes which will enable both the congregation and the wider community to provide aid to poverty-stricken areas of Peru. Cupar Old minister, Rev. Dr Ken Jeffrey, and Rev. Sheila Blount of St John's Church recently spent two weeks in Peru.
Source: Fife Free Press.
posted at 8:52 PM

Rev Alex Strickland is to retire at the end of March as minister of the linked charge of Dairsie, Kemback and Strathkinness, after almost 35 years in the ministry.
Source: Fife Free Press.
posted at 8:50 PM

A man is next week due to appear at Hamilton Sheriff Court charged with headbutting his wife, a minister at a Lanarkshire church. Charles Blackwood (45), who had been a trainee minister, is accused of carrying out the assault on the Rev Sandra Blackwood, minister of Burnhead Parish Church, at her Viewpark Manse on April 12, 2004.
Source: Hamilton Advertiser.
posted at 8:45 PM

Rangers ace Marvin Andrews is visiting Irvine as part of a weekend of Fitba', Faith and Pints of View organised by Fullarton Church. Minister Neil Urquhart, who is also chaplain to Kilmarnock FC, has pulled a few strings to attract Trinidad and Tobago captain Marvin and John Boyers, long time chaplain of Manchester United to the town for a unique double-header at to Irvine Sports Club.
Source: Irvine Herald.
posted at 8:39 PM

A report commissioned by the Ecumenical Research Committee has found that a lack of apologetics and reduced pastoral care are significant factors
in the reduction of church attendance. The year-long 'Let the People Speak' survey into the reasons why churchgoing is declining cost £20,000.
Source: Church of England Newspaper.
posted at 8:21 PM

A new study published this week reveals higher levels of psychological burnout in Roman Catholic priests in England and Wales than among male Anglican clergy. The study has been conducted by the authors of The Naked Parish Priest, Prof Leslie J Francis and Mgr Stephen H Louden, and is being published in the USA in the journal Review of Religious Research.
Source: Church of England Newspaper.
posted at 8:18 PM

A cross-party group of MEPs is calling for greater religious freedom throughout the European Union. They believe that a ban on demonstration of personal faith, as in France, to be an infringement of human rights and in particular the rights guaranteed by Article Nine of the European Convention on Human Rights. Baroness Ludford, Liberal Democrats' European Justice minister, said: "Bans like the French one in the name of secularism may be well intentioned but they operate in an authoritarian manner, failing to acknowledge individual preferences and the diversity in Europe's population."
Source: Church of England Newspaper.
posted at 8:15 PM

A new £21million Catholic super-school in East Kilbride is to be named after the late Cardinal Thomas Winning.
Source: Edinburgh Evening News.
posted at 8:11 PM

Tourists flock to Glasgow to watch Orange walks that cause no more trouble than the average football match, says the Grand Orange Lodge. Officials also said the parades helped ease sectarian tensions. The responses were made when Glasgow City Council launched a public consultation ahead of a crackdown on sectarian parades across the city.
Source: Evening Times, Glasgow.
posted at 8:09 PM

A new visitor centre which opened to the public today at St Andrew's Auld Kirk in North Berwick tells the history of the church from its earliest beginnings in the seventh century up to modern times. The Kirk sparked witch hunts across Scotland and England in the late 16th and 17th centuries.
Source: Edinburgh Evening News.
posted at 7:58 PM

Reverend Alistair Bennett of Melrose Parish Church has been appointed to the NHS Resource Allocation Committee, a new body set up to improve the allocation of resources in the Scottish health service.
Source: The Scotsman.
posted at 7:54 PM

A Christian pressure group was accused in the House of Commons yesterday of using strong-arm tactics to pressure a Scottish cancer charity into refusing a £3000 donation from the controversial Jerry Springer - The Opera. John Cryer, Labour MP for Hornchurch, described members of the Christian Voice as "fundamentalist thugs". Stephen Green, national director of Christian Voice, confirmed that he had warned the Maggie's Centres organisation that, if it were to accept the donation, then Christians might decide to picket its three premises in Scotland.
Source: The Herald.
posted at 7:51 PM

Peter Kearney, the spokesman for the Catholic Church in Scotland, said of the Pope's return to hospital: "Our hopes and prayers are with the Pope. The affection in which he is held by Scotland's Catholics is undiminished, 23 years after his memorable visit to our country."
Source: The Scotsman.
posted at 7:49 PM

The leaders of Anglican churches in the United States and Canada were told to take time out to explain their attitude towards homosexuality, following a meeting of 38 church primates from around the world. In a surprise move last night, members of the Anglican Communion called on the Episcopal Church in the United States and the Anglican Church of Canada to voluntarily withdraw their members from a consultative council until the next Lambeth Conference. They issued the call at the meeting in Northern Ireland amid controversy over the ordination of the first openly-gay Anglican bishop, Gene Robinson, as Bishop of New Hampshire in the United States. And they also called for a moratorium on the blessing of same-sex unions and the ordination of bishops involved in gay relationships.
Source: The Scotsman/PA News.
posted at 7:46 PM

Official communiqué following the Anglican Communion Primates' meeting in Newry.
Source: Anglican Communion News Service.
posted at 7:44 PM

The Churches' Commission for Racial Justice today launches 'Sanctuary, Guidelines for Churches offering Asylum Protection'. The document provides churches and others with guidance when asked to protect people seeking refuge and safety, particularly those who have not had a fair opportunity for a hearing in the immigration courts.
Source: Action of Churches Together in Scotland (ACTS) news.
posted at 6:50 PM

Churches collaborating together in Britain and Ireland have a "unique" contribution to make in supporting the huge growth and development of Christianity in China, according to the coordinator of an ecumenical programme that forges links with both Catholics and Protestants there.
Source: Action of Churches Together in Scotland (ACTS) news.
posted at 6:25 PM

A Scottish Churches' Rural Group has been formed which aims 'to engage with the changing rural scene and to consider the role of the church in the rural environment'. The new bodys will enable the Scottish Churches to express and adopt an ecumenical approach to rural issues, have an annual presence at the Royal Highland Show and share in ecumenical work on rural issues taking place throughout Britain and Ireland.
Source: Action of Churches Together in Scotland (ACTS) news.
posted at 6:23 PM

Police are appealing for information after windows were smashed by vandals in the latest in a string of incidents at Bervie Parish Church in Inverbervie, Aberdeenshire.
Source: Aberdeen Press & Journal.
posted at 6:09 PM

The Scottish Civic Forum, established as part of the devolution settlement aimed at making politics "accessible" to the public, has lost its £200,000-a-year funding from the Scottish Executive. The Episcopalian Bishop of Edinburgh, the Rt Rev Brian Smith, said: "Building a new democracy is not just about commissioning Parliament buildings but also about encouraging new ways of engaging the citizen. The forum has been doing that and in the current climate of cynicism we cannot afford to dispense with any body offering solutions to voter disengagement."
Source: Edinburgh Evening News.
posted at 5:59 PM

A book of photographs of homelessness in Scotland is to be published to mark the 10th anniversary of Scottish Churches Housing Action. The book was produced in association with photography students at Edinburgh College of Art, who undertook the assignment as part of their course work. Churches Housing chief executive, Alastair Cameron said: "It demonstrates that homelessness is about more than people sleeping on the streets in cardboard boxes."
Source: Edinburgh Evening News.
posted at 5:30 PM

A new evangelical pressure group inside the Church of Scotland is to look at whether the Kirk should set up its own schools. Forward Together, which aims to reverse the Kirk's liberal stance on issues like sex education, said it had not yet taken a view on the possibility of Protestant "faith schools". But the Rev Gordon Kennedy, the group's chairman, said it was a subject they planned to examine.
Source: Edinburgh Evening News.
posted at 5:26 PM

Colin Dishart, 37, who indecently assaulted a student nurse at knifepoint as she read her Bible on Blackford Hill, Edinburgh, was yesterday jailed for six years. He will be kept under close supervision for a further eight years when the jail term expires.
Source: The Scotsman.
posted at 9:14 AM

Difficulties surrounding the wedding arrangements for Prince Charles and Camilla Parker Bowles could be solved at a stroke if the couple chose to marry in Scotland, legal experts said yesterday.
Source: The Scotsman.
posted at 9:12 AM

The liberals who dominate the Church of Scotland "have had it far too easy", writes Harry Reid. "The emergence of a schematic and coherent body to oppose them will concentrate their minds, and perhaps encourage them to communicate more effectively. In sum, Forward Together will change nothing overnight, but in the mid-term the conservative evangelicals will either become much more influential within the Kirk and more vocal outside it - or there could well be a schism."
Source: The Herald.
posted at 8:58 AM

The Old Firm match between Celtic and Rangers on Sunday saw 12 arrests for acts of "religious prejudice".
Source: BBC Scotland News.
posted at 6:45 PM

Exhaustive feature about Pastor Makielokele Nzelengi Daly, the refugee preacher now living in Glasgow who with his family faces possible repatriation to Angola.
Source: The Herald.
posted at 6:41 PM

Rev Gordon Irving has resigned as minister of Old Kirk, Kilmacolm, following disputes with parishioners.
Source: Daily Record.
posted at 6:22 PM

A Scottish cancer charity last night defended its decision to turn down a donation from a special performance of the controversial stage show Jerry Springer: The Opera after pressure from a militant Christian organisation. Maggie's Centres, a charity with bases in Edinburgh, Glasgow and Dundee, was to have used the £10,000 towards setting up a centre for cancer sufferers and their families in London. But a telephone call from the Christian Voice group led the organisation to fear a religious boycott of its fundraising activities if it accepted the cash. A spokeswoman for Maggie's Centres said: "This isn't about us. They [Christian Voice] are seeking to publicise their activities by this initiative."
Source: The Scotsman.
posted at 6:16 PM

Another look at the ten commandments ahead of Channel 4's revelation of ten new ones arrived at in a survey of 45,000 Britons. Do they really need updating? "No," says Rev Mike Parker, the general secretary of the Evangelical Alliance in Scotland. "I think they have a timeless relevance. They show us what matters to God and make us aware of how we fall short. They are unashamed standards for living, not just for believers, for everyone." If they've gone out of fashion, Parker holds, it might be because we don't like the idea of being accountable to a higher power. Dr David Reimer, senior lecturer in biblical studies at the University of Edinburgh, is more cautious. "If we look at who's addressed, these were land-owning males who had parents and children and slaves and property. Maybe they do need some updating." David Fergusson, professor of divinity at the University of Edinburgh, says: "The idea of updating them for a secular society is bizarre, possibly meaningless. You lose the original context in which the law was expressed, the tradition in which it's historically located. It's less a case of updating them than replacing them with an alternative moral code."
Source: The Scotsman.
posted at 6:13 PM

An appreciation of Buckfast tonic wine, made by Benedictine monks at Buckfast Abbey in Devon and "the serum of choice for Scotland's young teams of troublemakers, illegal fuel for 'antisocial activities' on Friday nights". Stephen Phelan writes: "I sat and drank it in the quiet physic garden of the abbey. It went to my head like a fuzzy hat, and I felt the exact opposite of antisocial, as blessed as Jesus on a moonbeam, unconvinced by the argument that Buckfast makes the world a worse place."
Source: Sunday Times.
posted at 9:48 PM

The Scottish Executive's high-profile summit to end sectarianism was last night dismissed as tokenism by the SNP, who claimed that prejudice was inevitable as long as legislation banning Catholics from the throne remained on the statute book. In what could be seen as an attempt to woo more of Labour's Catholic voters, the Nationalists echoed calls made by Cardinal Keith O'Brien last week for urgent action to repeal the 300-year-old Act of Settlement.
Source: The Observer.
posted at 9:30 PM

Feature on exorcism prompted by a live deliverance on Channel 4 this weekend. Father James McManus, a monk at St Mary's monastery in Perth, has performed simple exorcisms, involving sitting with a person and reciting prayers for deliverance. "I think there's a growing awareness that this might be needed," McManus remarked of new course on Satanism and exorcism for priests. "But there needs to be an awareness of all the mental health issues because there's a fine line. That's why there's lots of nervousness about it." The Catholic Church in Scotland would not comment. In 1976, Church of Scotland guidelines on how to help the possessed dismissed exorcism as causing more harm than good. But last year it revisited the subject when it was found that two-thirds of almost 400 ministers and chaplains surveyed had been approached by people who believed themselves to be possessed.
Source: Sunday Herald.
posted at 9:28 PM

St Andrews woman Maureen Jack sets off for Iraq tomorrow as leader of an eight-strong Christian Peacemaker Teams group.
Source: Church of Scotland news release.
posted at 8:22 PM

Peterhead minister Rev Pauline Steenberger has paid tribute to Crimond woman Patricia Russell who has died just before her 80th birthday. "Patricia lived and breathed Crimond Church, serving as organist, Sunday School teacher, minister's wife, elder, session clerk and presbytery elder and guild president. She would, herself, have made a fine minister."
Source: Buchan Observer.
posted at 8:15 PM

A Wester Ross community has declined the offer of a 19th-century village church as a gift from the Church of Scotland. Lochcarron Community Council unanimously rejected the Kirk's plan for disposing of the East Church, fearing it would be a huge financial burden in repair and maintenance costs.
Source: Aberdeen Press & Journal.
posted at 7:42 PM

Catholic businessman Sir Tom Farmer has left Edinburgh for a personal visit with the Dalai Lama in India along with Victor Spence of the Edinburgh Inter-Faith Association.
Source: The Herald.
posted at 9:00 AM

A bell-ringer has been convicted of sexually abusing a young girl at his former church. James Black, 61, of Kilmarnock, abused the girl from the age of eight at Henderson Church in the Ayrshire town.
Source: Daily Record.
posted at 8:55 AM

Philip Esler, professor of biblical criticism at St Andrews University, and artist Jane Boyd believe they can shed new light on a famous work by Spanish master Diego Velazquez. The 17th century painting 'Kitchen Scene with Christ in the House of Martha and Mary' hangs in the National Gallery in London, where it is classed as a "puzzling painting." By recreating the layout of the artist's studio and using a mirror, the researchers believe they have cleared up many misconceptions about the famous piece of art.
Source: Dundee Courier.
posted at 8:38 AM

The BBC has apologised after a contributor to Radio 4's Thought For The Day recounted an unsubstantiated story about a Muslim conscripted into the Israeli army and imprisoned for refusing to shoot Palestinian schoolchildren. The Rev Dr John Bell, a Church of Scotland minister and worship leader of the Iona Community, told listeners he met the 19-year-old former corporal two years ago. But the BBC received dozens of complaints from members of the Jewish community who pointed out that elements of the account could not be true. Israeli Arabs are exempt from conscription, and it would be all but impossible for a 19-year-old to reach the rank of corporal. Dr Bell said his story contained factual errors and acknowledged that "at a time when Jewish sensitivity in Britain is running high because of anti-semitism, that part of my remarks might have been interpreted as furtive racism".
Source: The Scotsman.
posted at 8:21 AM

The Primus of the Scottish Episcopal Church, the Most Rev Bruce Cameron will take centre stage at next week's meeting of Anglican Communion leaders in Newry when he presents a summary of responses from around the world to the Windsor Report, presented by Archbishop Robin Eames last October. The report addresses the consecration of the American gay Bishop Gene Robinson, and the future pattern of how the Communion deals with divisive issues. Bishop Bruce said: "The responses received from many in the Scottish Episcopal Church reflect a wide diversity of view and opinion. There has been particular concern about the sense of centralisation of authority to which the Anglican Communion may be moving. However, in the Scottish responses and those from across the world, there is a genuine desire for the Anglican Communion to stay together and find a way through its present difficulties."
Source: Scottish Episcopal Church news release.
posted at 10:27 PM

Royal Bank of Scotland marketing manager Neil Graham has helped raise more than £100,000 and given up eight weeks of holiday to help build homes for deprived youngsters in the Amazonian jungle. Last night, he was named Individual Volunteer of the Year at the first Royal Bank of Scotland Chairman's Awards for Community Excellence. The honour has netted another £1000 for the work Mr Graham does with Bo'ness charity The Vine Trust.
Source: Edinburgh Evening News.
posted at 10:17 PM

Sister Mary of the Child Jesus, who spent almost half a century at the Carmelite Monastery in Glasgow, including 12 years as prioress, has died at the age of 87.
Source: The Herald.
posted at 10:43 AM

Only eight cases out of about 8,000 employment tribunal applications in the past 13 months in Scotland have been brought under new laws governing religious liberty, with fewer than half that number basing their claims on sectarianism. Diane Nicol, head of employment at leading law firm McGrigors, writes that the statistics suggest sectarianism in the workplace may not be on the scale feared by politicians.
Source: The Scotsman.
posted at 10:30 AM

The chief executive of the Scottish Refugee Council, Sally Daghlian, is profiled in the March issue of Life & Work, the Church of Scotland's magazine. In an Easter message to readers, the Moderator, Dr Alison Elliot, urges readers to have confidence in their faith. And some of the Church of Scotland's oldest records are being brought to life by a modernisation project at the National Archives of Scotland.
Source: Church of Scotland news release.
posted at 8:58 PM

The historic Assembly Hall in Edinburgh's New College on The Mound, home to the Church of Scotland's General Assembly each year and used until recently as a debating chamber by the Scottish Parliament, is to be marketed by the Kirk and the University of Edinburgh as a venue for conferences, annual general meetings, product launches, music and drama.
Source: Church of Scotland news release.
posted at 8:57 PM

Christian mission agencies Feed the Minds and SPCK Worldwide today launched their 2005 Lent and Easter appeal to raise £50,000 to help rebuild lives and hope for people in war ravaged countries - such as Sudan, Sierra Leone, Iraq, Democratic Republic of Congo, Namibia and Rwanda.
Source: Evangelical Alliance Media Consultancy.
posted at 8:52 PM

Pubs in Glasgow that flout new anti-sectarian guidelines are likely to receive formal warnings rather than face immediate closure.
Source: Evening Times, Glasgow.
posted at 8:52 PM

A church organist who claimed she was unfairly sacked after 17 years' loyal service has had her complaint rejected by an employment tribunal. Mary Boyd took St Cyprian's Episcopal Church in Lenzie to an employment tribunal after her services were terminated following an unspecified problem between herself and the Rev John Marsburg, the rector at St Cyprian's. However, the tribunal in Glasgow has ruled she was not an employee and so was not entitled to fight her claim before it.
Source: The Herald.
posted at 8:50 PM

Sectarian bigotry is no myth - it's a very real problem, says Tom Devine, director of the Centre for Irish and Scottish Studies at the University of Aberdeen, contradicting his colleague Prof Steve Bruce, who yesterday claimed that sectarianism in Scotland is a "social myth".
Source: The Scotsman.
posted at 8:49 PM