A bid to turn closure-threatened Woodlands Primary into Scotland's first state-funded Muslim school was launched today.
Source: Evening Times, Glasgow. posted at 7:25 PM

Profile of the Very Rev Dr William Morris, who retires today at the age of 80 after 38 years as minister of Glasgow Cathedral, the High Kirk of Glasgow.
Source: Evening Times, Glasgow. posted at 7:23 PM

The Vatican is to ban gay men with what the Catholic Church describes as "deep-seated" homosexual tendencies" from being ordained as priests, according to a new document published yesterday. Peter Kearney, spokesman for the Catholic Church in Scotland, said the important issue was the ability of each candidate to devote himself to a life of celibacy and that: "The bishops' conference will be discussing the new Vatican document at their next meeting in December."
Source: The Scotsman. posted at 6:51 PM

Rev J Philip Newell's teaching of Celtic Christianity has taken him to St Peter's Episcopal Cathedral in St Petersburg, Florida.
Source: St Petersburg Times. posted at 6:48 PM

Idiosyncratic profile by John Gibson of Cardinal Keith O'Brien, more or less marking his two years in office. We learn that the Cardinal wore red socks during the interview.
Source: Edinburgh Evening News. posted at 6:44 PM

Former Zambian president Dr Kaunda has thanked the United Church in Zambia (UCZ) for having organised a centenary celebration of the founding of Lubwa Mission in Chinsali district. He said the centenary celebrations brought together thousands of worshippers and missionaries from the Church of Scotland, who travelled for the event. "It was a joyous moment, which brought back fond memories of the years I spent there as a youth. As you know Lubwa Mission was founded by my father Reverend David Julizya Kaunda in 1905 under the auspices of the Church of Scotland," he said. Dr Kaunda also said it was wrong for Britain to condemn President Mugabe over the land crisis in Zimbabwe and wondered why British Prime minister Tony Blair was silent over his country's failure to honour its promise to fund Zimbabwe's land reforms.
Source: All Africa.com. posted at 6:40 PM

Cardinal Keith O'Brien has restated his support for St Andrew's Day national public holiday.
Source: Scottish Catholic Media Office news release. posted at 7:23 PM

This year's Evangelical Alliance Advent Prayer Guide, which focuses on bringing a new vision of respect to Britain, is the most popular ever with 46,000 sold so far. The growing demand "challenges the view of many local councils who believe people increasingly want 'Christ' taken out of Christmas, so as not to cause offence to religious minorities and secularists", says the Alliance.
Source: Evangelical Alliance news release. posted at 8:28 PM

A mural that has baffled the art world will take pride of place when one of Aberdeen's best-kept architectural secrets reopens to the public today. The decoration, showing fishermen watched over by a host of shimmering angels, will greet visitors to St John's Scottish Episcopal Church when it is officially opened following restoration. The mural, painted in the French impressionist style, is believed to date from the early 20th century but records are incomplete and there is no indication when the mural was commissioned or who painted it.
Source: Aberdeen Press & Journal. posted at 8:06 PM

Almost 40 members of a church group have made a 36-hour bus and train journey home to Scotland after being stranded at a German airport. The 38 members of the group from St Thomas' Church in Muirkirk were among 130 passengers stuck at Hamburg Lubeck on Sunday when Ryanair cancelled their flight to Prestwick due to technical problems.
Source: BBC Scotland News. posted at 6:39 PM

Events are taking place all across Scotland this week to bring faiths together as part of Scottish Inter Faith Week, Sunday 27 November to Sunday 4 December.
Source: Christian Today. posted at 6:38 PM

The Church of Scotland is helping its ministers to deliver sermons in Scots dialect amid concerns that God is being portrayed as a speaker of the Queen's English.
Source: Sunday Times. posted at 7:42 PM

Leading figures from Scottish public life are calling for more powers to be given to the Holyrood parliament. Cardinal Keith O'Brien is one of a group of politicians, businessmen, church leaders, artists and academics who favour a re-examination of the devolution settlement to make MSPs more accountable.
Source: Sunday Times. posted at 7:40 PM

More than 140 same-sex couples have applied to be "married" under next month's new civil partnership legislation. Neil Fletcher and John Stewart will be among the first couples undertaking the ceremony on December 20. The Liberal Democrat councillors on Aberdeen City Council have been together for 13 years and say the civil partnership will "ensure we have equality". As civil partnerships cannot legally have any religious content or be held in a religious place, Fletcher and Stewart are also having a blessing. Fletcher explained: "I'm a Christian, and it wouldn't feel right if I hadn't got God's blessing, and that's a very personal thing for me. We are having a blessing in a church and halfway through, where you normally sign a register, we nip next door to the registry office and then back again to the church. It would have been nice to be able to do the legal thing in the church. It's a bit disappointing they're being so pedantic, but that's life."
Source: Sunday Herald. posted at 7:38 PM

Hindu and Muslim leaders are urging the Kirk to boost religious teaching in schools in order to counter the "secular society". David Lacy, the Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, said senior clerics from other faiths were now telling him to offer a more "strident" view of Christian beliefs, in order to provide young people with more moral teaching. The non-Christian leaders added that the Kirk had been "too concerned" with being inclusive at the expense of laying down its own beliefs in schools.
Source: Scotland on Sunday. posted at 7:34 PM

The school where teenage murderer Colyn Evans was sent was plagued by "a culture of bullying", drug abuse and chronic truancy while he was a pupil. A Care Commission report following an inspection in August 2003 of Geilsland residential school in Beith, which is run by the Church of Scotland, found that staff were afraid to challenge unruly youngsters and that children were "drawn into activities" that made addressing their behaviour even harder. A further inspection in March 2004 found much of the commission's concerns had been addressed. Inspectors praised the school for its "appropriate" standards of care and protection and "good" staff morale.
Source: The Scotsman. posted at 4:21 PM

James Phillips, 24, of no fixed address, has been charged with stealing from or attempting to break into 12 churches across Ayrshire: High Kirk and Livingston churches in Stevenston; St Brides, West Kilbride; St Johns, Largs; St Brendans and North Parish churches, both Saltcoats; St Meddans, Troon; St Nicholas and Monkton and Prestwick parish churches; St Andrews, Ardrossan; South Beach Baptist church, Saltcoats; and St Winnings, Kilwinning.
Source: Ayrshire Post. posted at 6:34 PM

The ideal vicar is a woman under the age of 45 who plans to stay in the same parish for at least 10 years, according to church growth guru Bob Jackson. He claims that many of the reasons for the Church of England's decline can be explained by detrimental church policies favouring team ministries above single incumbencies, leaving parishes vacant for longer, and penalising growth through unfair systems of church quota. Jackson says that the small amount of research which has been done on women clergy shows that they are, on average, "leading growing churches and being rather more successful in this than men."
Source: Church of England Newspaper. posted at 6:07 PM

Can gays be Roman Catholic priests? The long-awaited Vatican document on homosexuality in the priesthood, due to be published next week, has been substantially leaked. Timothy Radcliffe, former Master of the Dominicans, assesses what it has to say about gay men and their suitability for holy orders.
Source: The Tablet. posted at 6:03 PM

The Church of Scotland is looking for a winner in its second Photographer of the Year competition. Closing date for entries to the competition in Friday 30 December. Voting will begin online in early January 2006.
Source: Church of Scotland news release. posted at 6:01 PM

A dozen street traders accused of 'making a living from the cancer of sectarianism' have been given a last chance to clean up their act. They were hauled before Glasgow City Council to explain why they were selling offending items at Ibrox and Celtic Park in April and May, and warned that if they were caught again their trading careers would be over. One trader, Russell Campbell, tried to argue Rangers fans "associated with badges with slogans such as No Surrender" and that he had been selling them for 20 years. But Councillor Gordon Macdiarmid said: "I am a Rangers fan and this is not anti-Rangers, but in 21st century Glasgow this is just not acceptable." But according to sources, all the traders would have had their licences suspended if they hadn't been given "mixed messages" by police over what they were allowed to sell. One source said: "It seems the cops may have led these traders to believe some stuff was OK but when the trading standards checked it the next week they weren't."
Source: Evening Times, Glasgow. posted at 5:59 PM

Profile of Jeremy Balfour - Baptist minister, Parliamentary Officer for the Evangelical Alliance in Scotland, and now, following a byelection on November 7, Conservative member for Murrayfield ward on Edinburgh City Council.
Source: Edinburgh Evening News. posted at 2:06 PM

Taxi drivers in Edinburgh could soon be handing out free condoms to couples on their way home after a night out. The manufacturer behind the Safe Ride scheme hopes to have it operating by January and talks have been taking place about a similar scheme in Glasgow. Council officials have yet to give their approval. The scheme has been welcomed by the Family Planning Association (FPA) in Scotland but the Catholic Church has voiced condemnation. Spokesman Peter Kearney said: "This will give the green light to casual sex. It's also very dangerous to suggest condoms absolutely prevent sexually transmitted infections as they don't."
Source: BBC Scotland News.
posted at 8:54 PM

Two Old Firm internet forums have been shut down after fans traded sectarian insults and posted death threats online. The Follow Follow and Come on the Hoops messageboards, which are unofficial and run independently of both clubs, were suspended after a cartoon of Celtic's Neil Lennon being hanged was posted onto the Rangers' forum.
Source: Evening Times, Glasgow. posted at 10:14 PM

An Inverness man who agreed to temporarily become a church officer in the 1950s will next month celebrate his 50th year in the job. Dick Douglas, 75, has held the position of beadle at Ness Bank Church for an unbroken half-century. In that time, the retired upholsterer has served with four ministers, six session clerks and four organists, and led in 1,003 babies for baptism. Dick was persuaded to take up the post by the previous incumbent, his father-in-law, who resigned in 1955 after serving as beadle in the old Union Street Church for four years and becoming the first beadle at Ness Bank when the church was opened in 1901.
Source: Aberdeen Press & Journal. posted at 10:09 PM

New mums suffering severe symptoms of post-natal depression are to be treated at a dedicated unit set to open at St John's Hospital in Livingston with support from the Church of Scotland's Postnatal Depression Project.
Source: Edinburgh Evening News. posted at 8:55 PM

"The team is having a bad time and the only person that can change things for Rangers is the Almighty God," said Marvin Andrews of tonight's match with Porto, building up to a veritable outpouring of evangelical zeal before a coterie of increasingly flummoxed journalists, writes Graham Spiers.
Source: The Herald. posted at 8:48 PM

The Scottish Redundant Churches Trust, which has never paid more than a token £5 to save a church from demolition or the developer, is to bid to purchase Benholm church, near the Kincardine coast between Gourdon and Johnshaven. Built in 1832 and put up for sale last year by the Church of Scotland, its interior features a number of artefacts from an earlier church on the site, including a 2.5-metre sandstone monument, erected in 1620. It is covered in carvings with symbolic references to death, fertility, power and the monarchy which have defied interpretation by historians.
Source: The Scotsman. posted at 8:45 PM

A campaign was launched today to save the Alexander Elder War Memorial Chapel in Glasgow's Western Infirmary,which is to close within five years.
Source: Evening Times, Glasgow. posted at 7:27 PM

Vandals torched a Boys Brigade bus just yards from Springburn Parish Church in Glasgow, where youngsters from Stornoway BB were sleeping.
Source: Daily Record.
Correction
Dear Webmaster/Editor
The Record report of this incident is inaccurate and I have contacted them to ask for a correction. The incident happened at Springburn Baptist Church, not Springburn Parish Church. Springburn Baptist Church is in fact about a mile away from us!
Rev Alan Ford
Springburn Parish Church posted at 4:36 PM

Difficult passages in the Bible should be read as part of the whole story of salvation and not misused, a leading Catholic biblical scholar told an ecumenical audience in London. Father Henry Wansbrough, general editor of the New Jerusalem Bible, and a Benedictine from Ampleforth Abbey, was speaking at the launch of The Gift of Scripture, the new teaching document by the English & Welsh bishops and Scottish bishops, at the British Library. "There has been sufficient confidence to admit that the Bible contains difficult, even shocking and scandalous passages," said Father Wansbrough. "The narratives of the entry into Canaan raise serious theological questions. God is presented as commanding the Israelites to annihilate their enemies by inflicting the ban or curse of destruction. Of the psalms, too, some contain the language of hatred and violence. In the New Testament also some passages in the Pauline writings suggest a subordinate role for women."
Source: Ekklesia. posted at 12:57 PM

The last known veteran of the First World War's Christmas truce has died aged 109. Black Watch veteran Alfred Anderson died at a care home in Angus, Scotland. Born in Dundee on June 25, 1896, Mr Anderson was until earlier this year a member of the congregation at Alyth Parish Church whose minister, Rev Neil Gardner, is a former Black Watch chaplain. Mr Gardner said: "Alfred passed away peacefully in his sleep. He was Scotland's oldest man but he remained lucid almost until the end. He was a very gracious and unassuming man. He was the last surviving veteran anywhere to have served in the First World War in 1914 and lived a truly remarkable life."
Source: The Scotsman/PA News. posted at 12:53 PM

Young Scottish women have become the first in the UK to be given a controversial vaccine designed to eradicate cervical cancer. Scotland on Sunday can reveal that 360 young women from Glasgow were chosen for clinical trials because of the city's high levels of underage sex and related sexual health problems. Aged between 16 and 23, the women are the only patients in the UK to be given Gardasil, the first vaccine in the world to provide protection against the cancer. It works by giving women immunity to different types of a sexually transmitted virus that causes around 70% of cervical cancers. Manufacturers say it is vastly more effective if given to patients before they are sexually active and should therefore be prescribed to girls as young as 10. But this has angered some critics who claim it will encourage children to have underage sex because it will make them believe it is safer. A spokesman for the Catholic Church said: "To mass-vaccinate all 10 to 15-year-old girls has the potential to send out the wrong signals. There are other sexually transmitted diseases besides HPV that can be spread by casual sex, and by eliminating one element of risk it might act as a green light for promiscuous behaviour."
Source: Scotland on Sunday. posted at 8:35 PM

Labour is preparing to do a U-turn over plans to introduce 'quickie' divorces, in a move set to trigger fresh acrimony within the coalition Lib-Lab Scottish Executive. Sources in the Labour group say McConnell and other Labour ministers are expected to back a compromise, thereby heading off a potentially damaging row with church groups.
Source: Scotland on Sunday. posted at 8:32 PM

Thousands of churches across the UK will shortly be displaying glossy posters for the forthcoming Disney movie The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe, and ministers will even be encouraged to work Narnia-related themes into sermons. The deal has been arranged with Christian Publishing and Outreach (CPO), a company that sells printed materials and other resources to 20,000 UK churches. The Church of Scotland Moderator, the Rev David Lacy, said of the film: "If it is going to happen anyway then the Church would be daft not to capitalise on any benefits it can get out of it." Dr Jolyon Mitchell, senior lecturer in media ethics at Edinburgh University, said: "The box office success of the Passion of the Christ has led film companies to work out that by galvanising a particular constituency they can increase the number of people attending a particular film. That is probably why Disney are interested because it is likely to increase their ticket sales. But the church groups that are involved in this want to use it as an opportunity to teach, to connect what will be a big, cultural phenomenon."
Source: Scotland on Sunday. posted at 8:29 PM

A church supported by the late Queen Mother and Prince Charles has had £40,000 of church funds go missing. Both royals poured cash into Canisbay Church of Scotland. Last night, Northern Constabulary confirmed the probe and a spokesman said inquiries were continuing.
Source: Sunday Mail. posted at 8:26 PM

The head of the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland has intervened in the growing row over plans for quicker divorces by praising MSPs who have stood up against the changes. Cardinal Keith O'Brien's move will heighten tensions at Holyrood, with the Labour and Liberal Democrat partners in the ruling Executive coalition trying to find common ground on the issue. Jack McConnell, the First Minister, will be keenly aware that with the coalition operating on a slim majority of five, it will take only two or three Labour MSPs to desert for the divorce proposals to be scuppered. If this happened, it would fuel Lib Dem MSPs' anger that Labour was not abiding by the terms of the partnership agreement and Nicol Stephen, McConnell's Liberal Democrat deputy, would face assertions from his backbenchers that they were not bound to vote for Labour-led issues in the agreement.
Sources: Sunday Times, Scottish Catholic Media Office news release. posted at 8:57 PM

Stornoway has been named as Scotland's second most festive town this Christmas, beating cities including Glasgow and Stirling. According to the results of a survey by Woolworths, Stornoway has sold the second highest number of Christmas lights in Scotland, behind Edinburgh.
Source: Stornoway Gazette. posted at 10:17 PM

Six votes defeated a motion before Western Isles Council to permit Sunday work on a contract for a new care home in Daliburgh, South Uist. Councillors were informed that the policy on Sunday working had been agreed in 1988. This required a clause in building and civil engineering contracts prohibiting Sunday work except in cases of emergency, legal obligation or essential maintenance of plant.
Source: Stornoway Gazette. posted at 10:16 PM

The new St Brandon's Church Centre in Whitehills has been completed. The two-storey building has full disabled access, and includes the 200-seat main hall, complete with stage and PA system, a kitchen and toilets. Upstairs are a smaller hall or meeting room and three other rooms suitable for meetings, office or worship use for small groups.
Source: Banffshire Journal. posted at 10:08 PM

Galashiels churches are objecting to an application by the owner of the town's sex shop, Moist, to stock DVDs. Graeme Donald, spokesman for the Melrose and Peebles Presbyteries, said: "Our main concern is that this shop is in the centre of the town, and the items in the window are of an insensitive nature. It is all very much in your face."
Source: Border Telegraph. posted at 10:01 PM

St Andrews churches are pulling out all the stops to promote the Christian heritage of the town, Scotland and the country's patron saint in the build-up to St Andrew's Day on November 30.
Source: Fife Now - St Andrews Citizen. posted at 9:54 PM

Report on the funeral of the retire Bishop of Paisley, the Right Rev Stephen McGill. More than 1,200 people from all walks of life packed St Mirin's Cathedral to pay tribute to the popular churchman and dedicated pastor who died at the age of 93.
Source: Paisley Daily Express. posted at 9:51 PM

More than two-thirds of Britons call themselves Christian, but only a small percentage regularly attend church, according to a BBC News 24 poll taken for Faith Day on Monday. According to the poll, 67 per cent described themselves as Christian - 59 per cent of men and 75 per cent of women. Almost 75 per cent of respondents said that the UK should retain Christian values - including 69 per cent of Jews and nearly 50 per cent of Muslims, Sikhs and Hindus. Of those who said they had no faith, 44 per cent agreed that the country should retain a Christian ethos. The Revd Lynda Barley, Head of Statistics for the Archbishops' Council, said: "Despite all that is claimed to the contrary, 72 per cent feel it is important that British society continues to be based on Christian values, while the poll clearly shows high levels of understanding between the faiths."
Source: Church Times. posted at 9:43 PM

The ordination of Scotland's youngest Bishop will take place on Sunday 20 November 2005 at 3pm in St Mirin's Cathedral, Paisley. Fr Philip Tartaglia, until recently Rector of the Scots College in Rome, will be ordained by Archbishop Mario Conti as the fourth Bishop of Paisley Diocese since its creation in 1947.
Source: Scottish Catholic Media Office news release. posted at 9:39 PM

Cardinal Keith O'Brien has congratulated several MSPs for recognising "the importance of supporting marriage and family life in Scotland" during debates in the Scottish Parliament on the Family Law Bill.
Source: Scottish Catholic Media Office news release. posted at 9:38 PM

Rev Scott Kirkland has left Brightons Parish Church of Scotland in Falkirk to become minister at the Lucaya Presbyterian Kirk, Grand Bahama.
Source: Freeport News. posted at 9:14 PM

In the December 2005 issue of the Church of Scotland's magazine, Life & Work, the Moderator, the Right Rev David Lacy ,argues against extending the term of the ambassadorial role beyond the currently 12 months. The Rev Louis Kinsey, a Territorial Army chaplain and minister in Aberdeen, outlines the difficulties and dilemmas facing soldiers and chaplains serving in Iraq. And The Herald's music critic, Michael Tumelty, offers his thoughts on the enduring appeal of Christmas music while the Rev Douglas Galbraith offers an insight into the latest seasonal hymns and carols in the new Church of Scotland hymnary, CH4.
Source: Church of Scotland news release. posted at 7:24 PM

Cardinal Keith O'Brien has congratulated the Royal Mail on the designs chosen for the 2005 first and second class Christmas stamps. They feature a twentieth century painting by British artist Marianne Stokes and a Black Madonna and Child painted by an unknown Haitian artist.
Source: Scottish Catholic Media Office news release. posted at 7:20 PM

The Rangers Supporters' Trust has accused police of unfairly targeting fans of the club for sectarian offences during last week's Old Firm cup clash at Celtic Park. Fifty fans were arrested at the CIS cup quarter-final tie, including 26 for sectarian offences and one for a racial offence, Strathclyde Police said. The trust, representing more than 2000 Ibrox shareholders, claims 24 Rangers fans from a total of 7000 were arrested for alleged sectarian offences while only two of 52,000 Celtic fans were held for such offences.
Source: The Herald. posted at 7:03 PM

Rabbi Moshe Rubin of the Scottish Council of Jewish Communities visited Cardinal Keith O'Brien yesterday to mark the 40th anniversary of a document produced by the Catholic Church's Second Vatican Council, titled Nostra Aetate (a Declaration On The Relation Of The Church To Non-Christian Religions). This 1965 document was described by Cardinal O'Brien as "truly a ground breaking document." He added: "It recognized the truths within the other religions of the world; it condemned religious discrimination and persecution, and specifically denounced anti-Semitism and, recalling the Church's common heritage with the Jews, deplored all hatreds, persecutions, displays of anti-Semitism levelled at any time or from any source against the Jews."
Source: Scottish Catholic Media Office news release. posted at 11:27 PM

Sue Axon has made headlines with her battle for parents' right to know if a daughter is seeking an abortion. Mrs Axon wants the courts to prevent parents being "undermined" by guidelines which allow girls under 16 to obtain abortions without their knowledge. The Bishop of Motherwell, the Rt Rev Joseph Devine, explains why he supports Mrs Axon - and why he thinks the Government's approach to the issue is an "outrage".
Source: Evening Times, Glasgow. posted at 11:23 PM

Buddhism is one of the few religions on the rise in Glasgow, according to a report by academics at Edinburgh University based on the 2001 Census and commissioned jointly by the Scottish Executive and Glasgow City Council. More than 131,000 Glaswegians regarded themselves as having no religion. Although Glasgow has a Christian majority, only slightly more than half of residents in the Govan and Kelvin wards are Christians. The researchers also found that intermarriage within the Christian denominations was relatively common, with traditional barriers between religious categories becoming increasingly "porous". One-third of Glasgow's Catholics have "married out" of their religion, with 19.7% married to someone who described themselves as either Church of Scotland or Other Christian.
Source: The Herald. posted at 10:34 PM

Roseanna Cunningham MSP, convener of the Scottish Parliament's health committee, quizzed Deputy Health Minister Lewis Macdonald about which public places would escape the forthcoming ban on smoking in the workplace. She asked Mr Macdonald how the workplace ban would affect corridors connecting churches with the homes of ministers or priests. She suggested this was often where the vestments were put on before services, adding: "Some denominations leave their clerics little to enjoy except the occasional cigarette." Mr Macdonald said if the corridor or connecting room was accessible to people other than those living in the residence it would be covered by the ban. "So no more fly fags before the service starts?" Ms Cunningham asked. Mr Macdonald replied: "It will have to be in the kitchen."
Source: BBC Scotland News. posted at 10:28 PM