Regulars at a bar once described as "the best Rangers supporters' pub in the world" have been banned from singing hate-filled sectarian songs. Anyone breaking the rule will be barred from the Louden Tavern in Glasgow's East End.
Source: The Scotsman.

Following the discovery of a body at St Patrick's church in Glasgow, where Polish student Angelika Kluk had gone missing, the spotlight will turn to the open door policy operated by churches and how a registered sex offender could gain work as an odd job man. One local in Anderston, who did not want to be named, said: "They let anyone in, they should try to find out who they are first." Revered Neil Galbraith, minister at Old Cathcart Parish Church and chief executive of Glasgow the Caring City, said anyone working in a church should be police checked. He said: "They should be police checked before they have any contact with the church and its people. People do see churches as places of sanctuary, I have had a knife held to my throat. We work with other agencies and to find accommodation for 24 hours while we check them."
Source: BBC Scotland News.

A Roman Catholic priest is "utterly shattered" that police looking for a missing woman have found a body in his Glasgow church. Angelika Kluk, a 23-year-old Polish student, had been living at St Patrick's Church, where Father Gerry Nugent is the priest. Strathclyde Police said that Peter Tobin, the man last seen with Ms Kluk, was a registered sex offender. Tobin had been doing odd jobs at the church and had been known by the congregation as Pat McLaughlin. Ronnie Convery, the director of communications at Glasgow's Roman Catholic Archdiocese, said everyone was horrified at the find and that Fr Nugent was "utterly shattered" when he heard the news.
Source: BBC Scotland News.

The number of people tying the knot in Glasgow's churches has hit a record low. One city priest revealed that he performed his first wedding this year in July. Father Francis O'Rourke was carrying out 90 weddings a year when he first came to St Michael's Parkhead 50 years ago. And a Kirk minister now has just 12 weddings a year compared with 50 back in 1972.
Source: Evening Times, Glasgow.

MSPs yesterday approved plans to create a new national holiday on St Andrew's Day, but it will be neither an official bank holiday nor a universal public holiday. Starting next year, 30 November will become a holiday. If it falls on a Saturday or a Sunday, then the holiday will fall on the following Monday. Workers will be allowed to take the day off if they can swap the day for one of their existing public holidays.
Source: The Scotsman.

Buckie North parish church, which has been without a minister for the past three years, has welcomed a new man into the pulpit. The Rev Gordon Mathew, 58, has come from Clackmannan with his wife, Lorna.
Source: Aberdeen Press & Journal.

A permanent memorial to one of Selkirk's most devoted servants has now been dedicated in the town's Parish Church. The Celtic knotwork cross was carved from oak by local craftsman Neil Fyffe in a specially-commissioned tribute to the late Arthur Groves, who died in July last year. A lay preacher, Arthur was appointed a church elder in 1956 and served as session clerk for 25 years.
Source: Selkirk Weekend Advertiser.

A £2m project - hailed as the first in Europe - has been launched in Scotland to help find treatments for diseases like diabetes and leukaemia. The Roslin Cells Centre will develop human stem cell lines from donated eggs and embryos to be sold worldwide for testing drugs and developing new medicines. Dr Donald Bruce, director of the Church of Scotland's ethics and technology unit, said: "Broadly speaking we agree with this centre and making stem cells that are of therapeutic quality available and that it's being done on a not-for-profit basis." But a spokesman for the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland said it believed human beings should "never be used as a means to an end".
Source: BBC Scotland News.

Useful history and news roundup of sectarianism in Scotland prompted by Cardinal Keith O'Brien's concerns over the revelation that Catholics are most likely to be victims of offences linked to religious prejudice.
Source: The Independent.

Detectives want to locate a man believed to be the last person to see a missing Polish student on Sunday. Angelika Kluk, 23, was last seen at St Patrick's church in Anderston, Glasgow, by Mr Pat McLaughlin. Mr McLaughlin, is described as being in his late 50s, approximately 5ft 8in tall, of slim build, with dark greying hair.
Source: BBC Scotland News.

Fears are mounting for a Polish student who has disappeared in Scotland. Angelika Kluk, 23, has not been seen since Sunday when she left the Chapel House at St Patrick's Church in Anderston, Glasgow, where she had been staying. Devout Catholic Angelika had been in Glasgow since last year, having taken a break from her studies at Gdansk University. Last week, a Pakistani Christian couple, Masih and Christine Raymond, sought refuge in St Patrick's, which is known for its open house policy. They feared being persecuted and possibly killed because of their religious beliefs if they were deported.
Source: Daily Record.

The Church of Scotland is taking part in the World’s Biggest Coffee Morning on September 29. It's the flagship annual fundraising event for Macmillan Cancer Support.
Source: Church of Scotland news release.

Feature on the increasing number of people giving up financially rewarding careers to commit themselves to their faith and become spiritual leaders. They include Mark Kelly, a petroleum engineer who became a Catholic priest; Tracy Hart, a candidate for the ministry in the Church of Scotland who used to be a police officer; former computer expert Maurice Houston, who is now rector of Holy Trinity Episcopal Church in Melrose; and Donald McKinney, who was a lecturer in Spanish history and politics but now writes and leads workshops on Celtic spirituality.
Source: The Herald.

Cardinal Keith O'Brien has written to Scotland's Lord Advocate, Colin Boyd QC asking him to reinstate the publication of a detailed analysis of offences aggravated by religious prejudice and expressing surprise that the Crown Office has not provided information on “offences aggravated by religious prejudice” for the years 2004 and 2005.
Source: Scottish Catholic Media Office news release.

Police recruits could have to undergo pyschological tests as part of a drive to stamp out sectarianism and sexism in forces across Scotland.
Source: Evening Times, Glasgow.

Former Iranian president Mohammad Khatami is to receive the honorary degree of Doctor of Laws from St Andrews University in recognition of his efforts to encourage inter-faith dialogue.
Source: The Herald.

Obituary of Margaret Bennett, headmistress; born 16 June, 1915, in Peterhead; died 2006, in Berwick, aged 90. "Margaret's whole life was founded on her deep Christian faith. During her 30-year retirement she was able to devote herself to the life of a Franciscan Tertiary. She was chosen to be senior regional guardian of Scotland for the tertiaries and was recognised as having "made a great contribution to the Franciscan community in the British Isles."
Source: The Scotsman.

Analysis of Chancellor Gordon Brown's Christian roots. "Gordon Brown's thundering speeches owe much to being the son of a preacher man. He learned his trade from watching the Rev John Ebeneezer Brown's sermons delivered from the pulpit of St Bryce Kirk, Kirkcaldy, and he since augmented it with the soulful cadences of American pastors."
Source: The Herald.

A thief fought off a church officer after stealing a charity box containing £10 from Morningside Parish Church in Edinburgh as the congregation left Sunday morning service. The money was raised for the charity Scottish Love in Action, which runs sewing cooperatives for poor workers in India.
Source: Edinburgh Evening News.

UK chancellor Gordon Brown yesterday set out his stall for the leadership of the Labour Party and the country at the party's conference in Manchester. Mr Brown referred explicitly to his Presbyterian Christian roots, saying that this was his inspiration and motivation. In doing this he stressed “shared values”, not just those accruing from particular communities. He said that his father, a church minister, gave him a “moral compass” and acted out of compassion rather than “theological zeal” of the kind the current PM has sometimes been accused. He also declared that “faith in people” meant that “we must have more than a programme, we must have a soul”. One of his US progressive Christian mentor Jim Wallis’ books is called The Soul of Politics.
Source: Ekklesia.

Three workers have been suspended at a school that caters for some of Scotland's most troubled boys. Geilsland school near Beith in Ayrshire is run by the Church of Scotland's CrossReach agency. A spokesman said: "Members of staff have fallen below the standard expected as opposed to what might be called gross breaches of a disciplinary nature."
Source: The Herald.

Scotland can capitalise on the growing popularity of spiritual tourism, but should that really include pandering to pagans as well as pilgrims, asks Tim Luckhurst.
Source: Sunday Times.

Health minister Andy Kerr has demanded urgent talks with the makers of Buckfast in a bid to tackle Scotland's teenage boozing epidemic. He told Stephen Jardine on Talk 107 radio it was a cause of neddish behaviour and said its manufacturers had not tackled the problem. Kerr said "There is something different about that drink that does something to our young people. I've written to Buckfast to have a meeting with them." Buckfast is made by Benedictine monks in Devon.
Source: Sunday Mail.

Lochaber councillor Brian Murphy has called for tougher action to target "nuisance behaviour" near a church in Fort William High Street. Mr Murphy said drinkers congregating under the arch of St Andrew's Episcopal Church's historic lych gate churchyard entrance gave a dreadful impression to visitors.
Source: Lochaber News.

It is the end of an era at Latheron this weekend when the local Church of Scotland closes its doors for the final time.The church was opened in 1909 and until the First World War there were services in both English and Gaelic, the last Gaelic-speaking minister leaving the church in 1922. Regular weekly services stopped in October 2005 and since that time the building has been open for weddings and funerals only. The congregation now attends church in Dunbeath and Lybster.
Source: John O'Groat Journal.

A Wishaw nun has been named as Scotland’s Older Learner of the Year. Sister Martina Boylan (75), was presented with her award by Allan Wilson, Deputy Minister for Enterprise and Lifelong Learning. A member of an order of St Augustine nuns, she needed to learn IT skills to help her carry out her charity work in the Congo and Uganda more effectively.
Source: Wishaw Press.

Rev Mhorag Macdonald, minister of Cambusnethan North Parish Church in Wishaw since 1989, is the new Moderator of the Church of Scotland's Presbytery of Hamilton.
Source: Bellshill Speaker.

The Old High Kirk in Kilmarnock, built in 1732, will be rededicated tomorrow after five years of hard work securing funding and £800,000 of essential works.
Source: Kilmarnock Standard.

Muslims must learn that differing views are at the core of a civil society, and violent calls for revenge over perceived slights only fuel criticism of their religion, writes Professor Mona Siddiqui, Director of the Centre for the Study of Islam at Glasgow University.
Source: The Tablet.

Leaders of the Anglican Church’s conservative wing took the first steps yesterday in creating formally a new Church structure for anti-gay evangelicals in the United States. After meeting in Rwanda, archbishops from the 20 African and Asian provinces in the Anglican 'Global South' grouping said that they understood the “serious implications” of their decision. The primates will now push for a two-Church solution in the US. This could serve as a model for Anglican provinces elsewhere with liberal majorities and strong conservative minorities, such as in England, Wales and Scotland.
Source: The Times.

This weekend marks the first international partnership between the Presbyterian Church (USA) and the Church of Scotland, with 150 Scottish visitors and several ministers coming to Charlotte, North Carolina, between today and October 1. Charlotte has the USA's second-largest Presbyterian population, behind Philadelphia.
Source: Charlotte Observer.

A vaccine that protects women against cervical cancer was approved by safety regulators yesterday, paving the way for a national immunisation programme that could save hundreds of lives. Gardasil, which is licensed for use on girls and women between nine and 26, protects against four types of the sexually-transmitted human papillomavirus (HPV), which together cause about 75 per cent of cervical cancers. Simon Danes, spokesman for the Scottish Catholic Church, said it was supportive of the vaccine. But he added: "The vaccination programme will only work if it is part of a public information programme to promote lifelong monogamy."
Source: The Scotsman.

Bus and train operator StageCoach has been awarded the franchise to run South Western trains, which operates from gay hotspots such as Brighton and London Waterloo, but gay rail passengers have expressed concern regarding the company's chief executive, Brian Souter. In 2000 Mr Souter, an evangelical Methodist [sic], donated half a million pounds to a campaign in Scotland to uphold Section 28, which banned the promotion of homosexuality. He cited his religious beliefs as justification for his actions, insisting he is not homophobic. However, Rev Richard Kirker of the Lesbian and Gay Christian Movement warned that passengers using the South Western service risked funding 'further campaigns against lesbian and gay rights'. He said: "Brian Souter’s reputation has never recovered from his atempts to prevent the abolishment [sic] of Section 28 in Scotland. The more money the company makes in profit the more likely he is to be tempted to use his influence against gay and lesbian civil rights. He has to be brought to account for his pronounced homophobia, anybody using his businesses is in effect colluding with the continuation of homophobia."
Source: Pink News.

The Right Rev Alan McDonald, Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, will visit the Presbytery of Gordon, Aberdeenshire, for a week from Saturday 23 September.
Source: Church of Scotland news release.

Islanders and visitors, some from as far away as Bigton, came together on Saturday to join in a service of rededication and celebration of the 200th anniversary of the Papa Stour Kirk. It was a joyous occasion. The kirk was last used in September 2003 and for the past two years has been under lock and key whilst waiting for urgent repairs to be carried out.
Source: Shetland Times.

The first black ordained minister in South Africa, Eastern Cape-born Tiyo Soga, will be among outstanding South African citizens to receive National Orders from President Thabo Mbeki in Pretoria on Wednesday. Soga, who was born in Tyume in 1829, was a journalist, minister, translator and hymn composer. In 1850 he went to Scotland for the second time to embark on studies at the Theological Hall in Glasgow, and in 1856 he became the first Xhosa to be ordained in the Christian ministry in the Scottish Presbyterian Church. He also studied at the University of Glasgow and qualified as a teacher. Soga married a Scot, Janet Burnside, returned with her to South Africa, and served as a minister until 1868.
Source: Eastern Cape Herald.

Crimes of religious hatred reported to prosecutors in Scotland have nearly trebled in the last three years. Statistics released by the Lord Advocate, Colin Boyd, QC, yesterday showed that in 2005-6 prosecutors received 704 reports of charges involving religious aggravation, compared with 272 in 2003-4. Just over half led to convictions, with 154 guilty findings in 2003-4 rising to 393 last year. A spokesman for the Catholic Church said the figures were "extremely alarming". He said research suggested Catholics were six times more likely to be victims of sectarianism than Protestants.
Source: The Scotsman.

Retired Church of Scotland minister Rev Iain Whyte, who was minister of Merksworth Church in Love Street, Paisley, from 1976 to 1981, is preparing to travel to South Africa for the fourth Homeless World Cup. In total, 48 countries and more than 500 players are on their way to Cape Town to kick off global poverty and change their lives forever.
Source: Paisley Daily Express.

Obituary of Betty Cowan, Christian missionary to India; born May 10, 1917; died September 10, 2006. Dr Cowan spent at the Christian Medical College and Hospital, Ludhiana, and returned to serve in the Punjab each year until her 86th year. In 1979 she was awarded the Order of The British Empire for service to the people of India.
Source: The Herald.

Two failed asylum seekers who won a reprieve when they sought refuge in a church have taken their case to Glasgow MP Mohammed Sarwar. Masih Raymond, 49, and his wife Christine, 45, who are Catholics, faced deportation to Pakistan on Wednesday but took sanctuary in St Patrick's, Anderston. Mr Sarwar said he wanted the deportation order suspended to allow a detailed examination of the Home Office's decision.
Source: BBC Scotland News.

Two Pakistani asylum seekers who sought sanctuary inside a Glasgow church to avoid deportation have been granted a short reprieve. Masih, 49 and Christine Raymond, 45, have lived in the city for 18 months. As Catholics, they fled Pakistan after Masih claimed he was detained and beaten. They have been refused asylum. Their parish priest said immigration officials had told the Raymonds, who missed a flight to Pakistan, that they could spend Wednesday night at home. However they claimed they face death if they are sent back to Pakistan, and instead sought sanctuary at St Patrick's Church in Anderston.
Source: BBC Scotland News.

Archbishop Mario Conti has faxed an urgent appeal to the Home Secretary asking that the deportation of Mr and Mrs Masih Raymond planned for this evening be halted. The couple, who are Pakistani Christians, fear they will be subject to persecution and torture if they are forced to return, and are currently taking refuge in the Parish House of St Patrick's Church in Anderston, Glasgow. The parish priest, Fr Gerry Nugent, said: "I have known Christine and Masih for nearly two years. They came to my home seeking sanctuary. They are terrified, isolated and abandoned and they pleaded with me for a place of safety."
Source: Scottish Catholic Media Office news release.

Obituary of Alfred Brown, Professor of medieval history; born December 12, 1927; died August 28, 2006. "A faithful Catholic, he was university-nominated governor of the erstwhile St Andrew's College of Education, where his business sense was invaluable. In retirement, as chairman of the finance committee of the archdiocese of Glasgow, he saw that measures to reduce the burden of its debt were driven through, efforts recognised by the award of a papal knighthood."
Source: The Herald.

"Maybe it’s just me, but there seems to be a palpable sense of disappointment that the Pope’s ‘insult’ to Islam didn’t kick off World War III." writes Richard Littlejohn. "The legendary Muslim ‘street’ failed to ignite and even in Britain the protests were limited to the usual bunch of beheading enthusiasts bouncing up and down outside Westminster Cathedral. This was in spite of credulous broadcasters, especially the BBC, doing their level best to talk up the Pope’s remarks and salivating at the prospect of a rerun of the Danish cartoons carnage." He adds: "...The Old Bill are servile and cowardly when it comes to Islamist troublemakers. Hand out leaflets quoting the Holy Bible on homosexuality and you get arrested for ‘hate crime’. Urge the beheading of the Holy Father in Rome and you get a police escort and a pat on the back."
Source: Daily Mail.

Cardinal O'Brien's told participants in the Long walk for Peace against Trident replacement: "I hope by our presence here today and by the walk you have completed, we give voice to that hope and remind all who will listen that if nuclear war is illogical, immoral and inconceivable, then investing billions of pounds in more nuclear weapons is iniquitous, irrational and absurd.
Source: Scottish Catholic Media Office news release.

Scotland’s Long Walk for Peace reached its conclusion today. In a ceremony at St John’s Episcopal Church in Edinburgh's Princes Street, church leaders washed the feet of participants in the march protesting against Trident replacement which set out from Faslane last Thursday. An inter-faith service of took place in the church.
Source: Church of Scotland news release.

Anti-nuclear arms campaigners have arrived in Edinburgh at the completion of their 85-mile trek from the Navy's Faslane submarine base on the Clyde. The Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, the Right Reverend Alan McDonald, started out with the marchers. He rejoined them in the capital, along with Roman Catholic Cardinal Keith O'Brien and the Episcopalian Bishop of Edinburgh, the Right Reverend Brian Smith, and representatives from Islamic and Quaker communities.
Source: BBC Scotland News.

A care worker from Edinburgh jailed in Albania on child sex charges has said it was he who exposed the abuse which police are investigating. David Brown, 55, who has spent the last four months in prison in the Albanian capital, Tirana, said he discovered children were being abused in the 'His Children' orphanage he ran. The devout Christian said he did not contact Albanian police because he feared the home would be closed down. Arrested in May, Mr Brown was refused bail and no trial date has been set. He has been in jail ever since and friends and family fear he could remain there indefinitely.
Source: Edinburgh Evening News.

The Rev John Cairns, a former Moderator of the Church of Scotland's General Assembly, says his approach to preaching was changed by the congregation of First Presbyterian Church in San Luis Obispo, California, where he served on a pastoral exchange in the 1970s. Speaking at First Presbyterian for the first time since 1979, he said members of the church were eager to share their ideas and thoughts with him - something he was not used to in Scotland. Instead of standing in the pulpit and addressing everyone altogether, he said he developed an ability to engage in personal conversations with members of his congregation.
Source: San Luis Obispo Tribune.

A covenant of friendship was signed this week between the Church of Scotland's Greenock Presbytery and the Presbyterian church in Zimbabwe. Meanwhile, Margaret Foggie of Ardgowan Church has vowed to solve the mystery of how a 163-year-old communion cup belonging to the Old Free Middle Church in Greenock was found in Zimbabwe's second city of Bulawayo.
Source: Greenock Telegraph.

Pascal Lamy, the Director-General of the World Trade Organisation (WTO), has emphasised the positive role faith organisations are playing in raising awareness of trade justice issues. And he recognises that the WTO needs to work for a pro-poor stance in trade rules. The remarks came in a meeting last week with Paul Chitnis, head of the Scottish Catholic International Aid Fund (SCIAF), in his role as President of the international Catholic network CIDSE (Coopération Internationale pour le Développement et la Solidarité).
Source: Ekklesia.

The Pope apologised yesterday to outraged Muslims offended by his speech linking Islam to violence. Benedict's spokesman, Cardinal Tarcisio, Bertone said the Pope "esteems Muslims". a spokesman for the Catholic Church in Scotland said: "What the Pope was highlighting is that violence is incompatible with humanity's reason and also God. Violence is a violation of reason and also a violation of our relationship with God. Our aim is to promote dialogue. It is certainly not one of condemning or belittling Islam - it's the exact opposite of that. Pope Benedict was not setting out to insult the Islamic faith."
Source: Sunday Mail.

Scottish attitudes towards sex appear to be loosening with a new survey showing a more relaxed approach to issues such as extra-marital sex, pornography and prostitution. The YouGov poll shows more than half of Scots do not consider it morally wrong to have an affair while married or in a stable relationship. Morag Mylne, an Edinburgh advocate and convener of the Church of Scotland’s Church and Society Council, was disappointed with the results. “The church takes a strong view that adultery, prostitution and pornography are unacceptable because they undermine and diminish the value of human relationships,” she said. “Adultery clearly takes marriages apart and the same is true of pornography and prostitution. As well as saying that those activities are wrong, the church recognises that caught up in adultery, in prostitution and pornography are people who are hurt and hurting.”
Source: Sunday Times.

A senior Labour MSP has complained to Catholic bishops about a series of vitriolic public statements issued by a senior press adviser who is known to have close links to the Scots Tories. Labour MSP Michael McMahon has writeen to Bishop Joseph Devine of Motherwell and Cardinal Keith O'Brien, with the full knowledge of First Minister Jack McConnell, to demand that former Tory spin doctor Gerald O'Brien be reined in. "This is a politically motivated campaign being run from the offices of the Diocese of Motherwell," said McMahon.
Source: Scotland on Sunday.

Religious tourism to Scotland is valued at £80-100 million and could treble in the next decade. Ian Yeoman, an expert in future tourism trends at VisitScotland, said: "Today’s consumers, especially in the ageing population, are looking for a more authentic experience when they travel. Religion and, perhaps more important, the interest in spirituality are going to drive this market with more and more people coming to Scotland with an interest in seeing churches and other places of worship." He said visitor numbers are rising noticeably already: 680,000 people said they visited a religious site last year on trips to Scotland; up 13% from 2004. Cardinal Keith O’Brien, who addressed a meeting of tourism chiefs last Thursday about the potential for higher visitor numbers in the sector, said the importance of pilgrimage and tourism should not be understated.
Source: Sunday Herald.

Transport union leaders in Scotland and the Catholic Church are to join forces to help migrant workers, especially those from Poland. Home Office figures estimate more than 32,000 migrant workers are registered in Scotland - two thirds of them Poles.
Source: Daily Record.