Donald Findlay, the QC and former vice-chairman of Rangers FC, faces prosecution at a formal disciplinary tribunal of the Faculty of Advocates, which has the power effectively to finish his career. It follows his appearance as as speaker at a Rangers' supporters' dinner held in April 2005 in Larne, Northern Ireland. The death of Pope John Paul II a week or so earlier inspired one of Findlay's jokes. "It's very smoky in here," he was reported to have said. "Has another f***ing Pope died?"
Source: Scotland on Sunday.

Leading QC Donald Findlay is facing further disciplinary action after he refused to accept that he was guilty of professional misconduct. He was disciplined following an after-dinner speech in Northern Ireland during which he was alleged to have made remarks offensive to Catholics. A committee of the Faculty of Advocates censured him but its ruling could only take effect if Mr Findlay accepted it. His refusal to do so means the matter will now be heard by a tribunal, which is expected to be held in March. Eight years ago, Mr Findlay resigned as vice-chairman of Rangers Football Club after he was filmed singing a sectarian song.
Source: BBC Scotland News.

NHS Tayside's attempt to cater for people of all faiths and of none will go on show to the public today. The organisation is planning a revamp of chapel accommodation at Ninewells Hospital and Perth Royal Infirmary. Previous attempts to make changes to the chapels drew complaints of the areas being stripped of their Christian symbols and led to a public apology by the board of NHS Tayside for any offence caused.
Source: Dundee Courier.

A parent of a child at Dunshalt Primary School has reacted with fury to news that that the decision to close the school was on a vote swung by the participation of two unelected religious representatives. Wendy Gudmundsson said she was astonished to learn after the meeting that two co-opted members of the committee, representing the Catholic and Episcopalian faiths, had been part of the narrow 11-9 vote which saw the school finally condemned to closure. There are three co-opted members representing religious interests and the two who attended the meeting and voted were Roman Catholic Tony Gavin and Episcopalian the Rev Richard Evans.
Source: Dundee Courier.

"Good for you, Cardinal O'Brien," writes Cameron Harrison, a former chief executive of the Scottish Consultative Council on the Curriculum, and a consultant and adviser to governments on education policy, who was recently ordained as a minister of the Church of Scotland. "You stick up for your Catholic schools. In fact, if it helps, let's say it explicitly and authoritatively - the evidence is that, on average, Catholic schools are better, and that's the blunt truth. And, judging by the queues of non-Catholic middle-class parents enrolling their children at my local Catholic primary, you won't want for support."
Source: The Herald.

Gay campaigners have condemned a study by Stuart Brody, professor of psychology at Paisley University, that intercourse between men and women is the only form of sexual behaviour that benefits people’s physical and emotional health. His findings, which challenge the widely held belief that all forms of safe sex between consenting adults are equally beneficial, have provoked anger. Peter Tatchell, the gay rights campaigner, accused Brody of promoting an “unscientific and extreme” agenda.
Source: Sunday Times.

Sex is good for you... Work by Professor Stuart Brody, one of Britain’s leading 'sexperts', on the physiological and psychological effects of sexual intercourse has sent the radical left into a lather and has led him to fear political correctness is in danger of stifling academic research in Britain. Brody is the American-born professor of psychology at Paisley University. At the heart of his thesis is the claim that one kind of sex - penile-vaginal intercourse (PVI) - is better than any other. Brody, who is in a heterosexual relationship, finds it distasteful when the American religious right twists his work for its own purposes — 'having sex the way God intended' — but he maintains that at the very least we should be teaching that different sexual behaviours are not equivalent and that PVI is the only sexual behaviour consistently associated with better psychological and physiological function. He believes that among the scientific establishment there is "a seemingly intentional avoidance" of looking at differences. "I wasn’t surprised by my findings at all," he says. "Evolution is not politically correct. It strongly rewards any behaviour which has even a trivial association with an increasing likelihood of passing on genes." How can Brody be sure the positive results he has found are not due to some other factor, such as a happy marriage? "I’ve looked at that," he says. "The results were not confounded by whether subjects were in a relationship, their age or a number of other sociological predictors. As a scientist in the research study I can say love doesn’t matter. As a man, I know love matters a great deal. Some things are mechanistic, but in the softer studies I can look at the effects of emotion."
Source: Sunday Times.

Cardinal Keith O'Brien pulls no punches: "We do not witness organised gangs lining pavements, we experience something far more insidious: social commentators lining the pages of our newspapers with anti-Catholic propaganda." ... "In the last four months of 2006 two of Scotland's most respected daily newspapers ran over 40 letters and articles attacking Catholic education. To occasionally question the existence of Catholic schools is not bigoted. To claim - in defiance of all the evidence - that Catholic schools contribute to sectarianism, and to ignore all counter arguments, starts to look and feel like bigotry." ... "Adherents of secular humanism see no contradiction in taking their deeply-held beliefs and imposing them on society at large while demanding that religious adherents take their deeply-held beliefs and keep them locked up at home - this is both hypocritical and unacceptable. Neither is it acceptable for newspapers to abrogate their own responsibility by declaring unrestrained comment as an absolute right."
Source: Sunday Herald.

Prominent Roman Catholics have signed a petition to the Scottish Parliament demanding an investigation into why so many members of their religion live in deprived areas or end up in prison. The petition, signed by leading Catholic clergymen and composer James MacMillan, calls on ministers to deliver on a five-year-old promise to investigate the apparent discrimination. Census data shows that only 7% of Catholics make it into the most desirable 10% of housing, compared with 11% of Church of Scotland members, 12% of Muslims and 43% of the Jewish community. The Scottish Prison Service has furnished campaigners with statistics showing that in 2004 Catholics made up 26% of the prison population but only 13% of the general population.
Source: Scotland on Sunday.

Four of Scotland's most dangerous criminals have been released from Edinburgh's Saughton prison to work on placement with vulnerable Scots. The lifers include a killer and a serial sex offender working in a care home, the psychopathic murderer of a vicar's daughter who serves in a church tearoom and a hammer killer in a women's hostel. A spokeswoman for the Church of Scotland said volunteers and workers at their Undercroft cafe and The Elms care home, both in Edinburgh, knew the men were prisoners. But they were not told what crimes they had committed. The Rev Roderick Campbell, of St Andrew's and St George's Church which runs the Undercroft, said: "Risk assessments are done on all of the men who work here. I know what they have done. The public do not need to know. The justice minister approves this scheme and signs off the papers to allow them to come and work here." But a spokeswoman for justice minister Cathy Jamieson said: "The minister is not responsible for signing off permission. It is up to the prison service."
Source: Sunday Mail.

Congolese refugees will be offered a welcome pack containing Tunnock's teacakes, along with traditional African fare, when they arrive in their new home of North Lanarkshire on Wednesday. The 22 refugees, who have automatic leave to remain, are part of a larger group of 80 given the opportunity under a Home Office resettlement programme to start new lives as British citizens in the district. Father Stephen Miller, of St Luke's parish church, Forgewood, said he has prepared gift packs for the families with the help of local donations.
Source: Sunday Herald.

AFTER DECADES of arguments and a power struggle between architects, the Catholic church and Historic Scotland, a solution may be at hand for the controversial St Peter's seminary site. After a sometimes bitter wrangle between Scotland's artistic community, who claim the A-listed former seminary is an architectural gem, and the church, which owns the run-down buildings and wants to redevelop the site, all parties have come together to appoint an independent surveyor who will recommend what course to take. Specialist firm Avanti Architects has a six-month, £70,000 contract to appraise St Peter's, near Cardross, and report to the Archdiocese of Glasgow, Argyll and Bute council and Historic Scotland this year.
Source: Sunday Herald.

The controversial Scientology sect was accused of trying to inflitrate British politics last night after it emerged that they paid thousands of pounds to both the Labour and Tory parties. Members of Labour's ruling executive committee, on which Tony Blair sits, approved the payment from the Association for Better Living and Education (ABLE), a charity which is closely linked to the Church of Scientology, for a stall at the party's annual conference in Manchester. Tory bosses also sanctioned a stand at their annual gathering in Bournemouth. But MPs expressed concern after it emerged that they were part of an extensive lobbying operation by Scientology members to promote its drug treatment programme, Narconon, and the criminal rehabilitation scheme Criminon.
Source: London Evening Standard.

Congregation members have been left stunned after thieves broke into King’s Park Baptist Church in Glasgow twice over the festive period. In the first incident the yobs made off with several items of electrical equipment and drum sets used regularly by local youngsters. And in a second break in the thieves stole communion sets and a historic brass bible stand. The Reverend John Hodgkins said: "There has been a lot going on in recent weeks and maybe someone with a drug habit has picked up on this. We just don’t know."
Source: Rutherglen Reformer.

Dumbarton churchgoers visited a Glasgow mosque recently as part of a growing relationship between local Christians and Muslims. Around 70 people from Riverside Church of Scotland and St Augustine’s Episcopal Church were guests at the Central Mosque. The trip followed a recent visit to Riverside by Dr Iqbal Anwar, a senior leader at the mosque, at the start of Islamic Awareness Week in November.
Source: Lennox Herald.

Janet Murray, born on March 14, 1899, in Dalserf, passed away last Thursday. "There was nothing specifically wrong with her in terms of illness - it was just her time," said her only son, John. He continued: "Right until the last days her mind was as clear as a bell." In her lifetime, Janet worked a variety of jobs. She was employed by Lord Reith, the first director general of the BBC. John continued: "My mother had a very interesting life ... When she was about six-years-old, Winston Churchill visited Dalserf Church, and the story goes he left his Bible in the church. A servant was sent back to get it, but it was reputedly my mother who found it. It’s a shame she didn’t keep it as it would be worth a lot of money today! She was a very forward looking person, who lived her life happily and to the full."
Source: Hamilton Advertiser.

Members of St Mary’s Parish Church in Haddington have been coming to terms with the death of popular elder Ian Muir, who was found dead in his Musselburgh home last Thursday. Mr Muir was ordained as an elder at St Mary’s in 1974, later becoming the long-serving treasurer of the Friends of St Mary’s, playing a leading role in the organisation of many fundraising events.
Source: East Lothian Courier.

Dunfermline MSP Scott Barrie wants to call time on plans for a Wetherspoon’s pub and turn an empty church in the city centre into a Christian social enterprise instead. As the brewing giant prepares to argue its case for converting the former St Andrew’s-Erskine Parish Church building into a ‘superpub’, the politician is siding with a small band called Yes-U-Are. Fronted by Canon Dr David Campbell, rector of the Holy Trinity Episcopal Church in Dunfermline, they hope to turn the disused building in Pilmuir Street into a cafe-style meeting place.
Source: Dunfermline Press.

The wedding on Saturday of two of Clydesdale's most prominent church organists came as music to the ears of a charity. When planning their wedding, Shena Moffat, organist at Lanark's Greyfriars Church and Philip Fox, long-time organist at St John's Church, Carluke and founder conductor of the Lanark and Carluke Choral Union, decided that they would ask relatives and friends not to send them personal wedding gifts but, instead, make a donation to Christian Aid's Present Aid appeal. Donations totalled £3,800.
Source: Carluke Gazette.

A veteran clergyman has finally had to give up his duties - after an incredible 60 years. Dumfries-born Canon Eugene Mathews, 85, has been parish priest in Girvan for the past 25 years. And in his time he has served in parishes including Maybole, Kilmarnock, Kilbirnie, Kirkconnel and Saltcoats.
Source: Ayrshire Post.

Appreciation of former Gordon Highlander Allan Grieve, who signed up as a 16-year-old farm boy from Banffshire and fought in the Burma campaign during World War II. A long-time volunteer at the Gordon Highlanders Museum, Mr Grieve was also an elder at St Mark's Church, Rosemount.
Source: Aberdeen Press & Journal.

Burning embers lit up the sky over Burghead last night as thousands gathered to celebrate the town's traditional fire burning ceremony. The Burning of the Clavie marks the start of the Pictish new year, and local residents were following in the footsteps of generations before them as they trailed the blazing barrel round the town's streets in the ancient rite. It is thought the word Clavie is derived from the name of a nail used to kill witches hundreds of years ago.
Source: Aberdeen Press & Journal.

Obituary by Alasdair Steven of Antonella, Marchioness of Lothian, OBE; born 8 September, 1922, in Yorkshire; died 6 January, 2007, at Ferniehirst, Jedburgh, aged 84. "From 1960, she was a political correspondent for the Scottish Daily Express and a broadcaster and television presenter ... In 1955, she established the Woman of the Year Award ... Apart from many local organisations, she was vice-president of the Royal College of Nursing (1960-80), patron of the Scottish Order of Christian Unity and court patron of the Royal College of Obstetricians. She was made a Dame of St Gregory in 2002 and awarded an OBE in 1997."
Source: The Scotsman.

Obituary by Gordon Casely of Antonella, Marchioness of Lothian. "Author, writer and broadcaster, Lady Lothian wrote for the Scottish Daily Express from 1960 in the years when the paper fought to be the greatest daily organ in Scotland, her tenure ending only with the temporary demise of the paper in 1974 ... A Christian, in 1974 she founded Valiant For Truth, an annual award given to a truthful candidate in the media. In 2002, she was made a Dame of the Papal Order of St Gregory for her work in interfaith understanding."
Source: The Herald.

Richard Holloway, the former Episcopalian Bishop of Edinburgh, previews a new TV series, Art & Soul, which begins on BBC2 Scotland on Monday at 9pm. "For me, the saddest part of making the BBC documentary series Art and Soul was the discovery that only two significant pieces of pre-Reformation Scottish religious painting survived the great iconoclasm of the 1500s. One is the screen painting in the Kirk at Foulis Easter near Dundee; the other is what survived of the great Trinity College Altar Piece, the remnant of which now hangs in the National Gallery in Edinburgh. The puzzle in all this, of course, is why there ever was any Christian representational art in the first place, given the ferocity of the Second Commandment's prohibition of images. The answer lies in the synthetic genius of Roman Catholicism, which for a thousand years was the religion of Scotland, till John Knox introduced it to a form of Christianity that was exclusively based on the Bible."
Source: The Herald.

Developers are to be offered church land to allow The Martyr's Church in Glasgow's Townhead to be demolished and rebuilt.
Source: Evening Times, Glasgow.

"The cross-species admixture of reproductive cells poses significant ethical concerns," says Dr Donald Bruce, of the Church of Scotland's Society Religion and Technology Project, about human-animal hybrid embryos. "Even though only 1% of animal material is involved, it is still a form of hybridisation. Contrary to some claims by scientists, the UK law requires that a human embryo be given more respect than merely cells in a petri dish. It is hard to see what respect is being shown in creating an embryo, purely to extract cells from it, which is both a hybrid of human and animal, and which is thereby so disrupted that it could never be viable." He adds: "The claim that to deny such experiments would delay cures for terminal diseases is irresponsible and unjustified ... We are concerned more generally at premature expectations about stem cell research being raised by these kinds of claims, especially following the Korean cloning scandal."
Source: Church of Scotland news release.

Langtonians have been gazing skyward, jaws often agape, at the sight of steeplejacks dangling at the top of the 200ft steeple of St Bryce Kirk, carrying out maintenace on one of Kirkcaldy’s finest landmarks.
Source: Dundee Courier.

The Master of the Queen's Music, Sir Peter Maxwell Davies, yesterday abandoned plans for his gay "wedding" in Orkney. Sir Peter had been involved in a dispute with Orkney Islands Council over his wish for the registrar on the island of Sanday, Charlie Ridley, to conduct the civil partnership ceremony. Yesterday it was revealed that Mr Ridley had resigned from his post, saying the row had taken its toll on his health.
Source: The Scotsman.

A church has been forced to close its doors after gale-force winds blew a plank through its roof, creating a metre-wide hole. Reverend Andrew Dick said services had to be moved out of St Michael's Parish Church in Inveresk Village due to falling plaster.
Source: Edinburgh Evening News.

Residents of a crime-ridden rural village have threatened to carry out punishment beatings on teenage troublemakers amid claims the police are ignoring their plight. A group in Menstrie, Clackmannanshire, has delivered an anonymous letter to police, warning they are going to take the law into their own hands. The letter warns: "For some time now we have watched the younger generation of Menstrie wreak havoc. From the breaking of church walls, breaking into local shops, destruction of council property, the constant littering of plastic bags and smashed glass bottles, harassment of local residents, arson attacks and the beating of bus drivers. In the year 2007 this is going to stop. We are taking our own action. We know who they are, where they live and who their parents are."
Source: The Herald.

More than 700 golf clubs have been donated to poverty-stricken African kids following an appeal in the East Lothian Courier newspaper. Jacqui Abizie-McKendrick and her husband Brian, from Aberlady, wanted to support the Right to Dream charity in the Ghanaian capital, Accra. Jacqui, a Church of Scotland administrator who has lived in Scotland for 12 years, and Brian – a greenkeeper at Craigielaw – married two years ago.
Source: East Lothian Courier.

Sutherland woman Jessie Morrison, who died at a care home at Dornoch on Saturday at the age of 95, was one of the few remaining fluent speakers of north-west Sutherland Gaelic. She was also among the last of the side-school teachers who taught children in remote parts of the Highlands in the first half of the 20th century. A pillar of Durness Church of Scotland, she was a former chairwoman of the women's guild and also taught at Sunday school.
Source: Aberdeen Press & Journal.
[Many thanks to reader Matt Andrews for providing this clarification: "Before the Education Act in the late 19th century the schools were administered by the Church. Some parishes were very large, so a second 'side' school was built. They tended to teach only reading, writing and arithmetic, and the teachers weren't as well paid as those at the main school, but they educated a lot of the rural workers." A more complete obituary has been published in The Scotsman.]

Obituary of Professor Emeritus John Boag, research scientist and former head of the Institute of Cancer Research; born 20 June, 1911, in Elgin; died 2 January, 2007, in Edinburgh, aged 95. "In recent years, he organised a symposium for the British Pugwash Group at the Edinburgh Science Festival, and, in 2000, contributed to the International Pugwash conference in Cambridge on Eliminating the Causes of War. A devout pacifist and member of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers), he appeared as an expert witness at the trials of several peace protesters in Scottish courts."
Source: The Scotsman.

A planning application for large new luxury homes on land adjacent to Balmerino Abbey has run into further criticism from TV historian and archaeologist Mark Horton, who claims the application should never have been submitted to Fife Council without an accompanying archaeological statement, and that any deadline for objections should be extended until the applicants come up with the information. Mr Horton said Balmerino is one of Scotland’s most important monastic sites, having been founded by Queen Ermingarde in 1229 for Cistercian monks, and as a royal mausoleum. He said it is of European significance, ranking alongside Westminster Abbey.
Source: Dundee Courier.

When Edinburgh City Council's executive committee held its first "drop-in" session for residents to air their gripes, one of the first to do so was the kirk minister hosting the event. In a packed St Andrew's Church Hall, Reverend Alistair Keil spoke out about an "absurd" piece of legislation that prevents disabled visitors from parking on council land behind the church.
Source: Edinburgh Evening News.

Religious groups rallied at Westminster last night to object to new laws banning discrimination against gay people in the provision of goods and services. The protest coincided with an attempt in the House of Lords to scrap Sexual Orientation Regulations, which will extend to gay people the same rights enjoyed by others. Lord Mackay of Clashfern, a former Tory Lord Chancellor and a Scottish presbyterian, maintained that the regulations would affect primarily the individual seeking to practise his faith in his daily life when he encounters those who practise homosexuality. In an article in yesterday's Daily Telegraph, he said: "The moral teaching that is part of the faith of many Christians, Jews and Muslims included the view that the practice of homosexuality is sinful." Thomas Cordrey, from the Lawyers' Christian Fellowship, which organised the rally, denied the group was homophobic. "Christians have no desire to discriminate unjustly on the grounds of sexual orientation, but they cannot and must not be forced to actively condone and promote sexual practices which the Bible teaches are wrong," he said. In Scotland, a spokesman for Cardinal Keith O'Brien, the leader of the Scottish Catholic church, condemned the regulations. "The suggestion that they put a banket restriction on anyone refusing goods and services to homosexuals is deeply worrying," he said. A spokesman for the Church of Scotland said last night there were lots of different views within the church so the Kirk was leaving the issue to the conscience of individual ministers.
Source: The Herald.

Christians and equality campaigners clashed yesterday in what threatens to become a battle between homosexuals' rights to be treated equally and business owners' rights to refuse their custom. Campaigners from both sides massed outside the Lords, where peers were debating the controversial Sexual Orientation Regulations that would make it illegal for guesthouses and other service operators to refuse gay people's business. Last night's debate over the concerned only Northern Ireland, but rules affecting Scotland, England and Wales will be proposed in coming weeks.
Source: The Scotsman.

Thousands visited the ReJesus.co.uk website throughout December, making it one of the most successful months for the site, which aims to allow non-churchgoers to find out more about Jesus. Almost 82,000 people accessed the site during December with 2,412 of them visiting on Christmas Day.
Source: Christian Today.

Obituary of journalist, author and broadcaster Magnus Magnusson. 'Family meant everything to Magnus Magnusson. In 1954, he married the journalist Mamie Baird. They have one son and three daughters who have followed their parents into the media. Jon is a television and radio producer; Sally the broadcaster and writer, her face on Reporting Scotland and Songs of Praise almost as familiar as her father's; Margaret is a television producer; Anna a senior producer in radio. Sally has movingly described the devastation in the family at the death of her brother, Siggy, at the age of 11 in a road accident in 1973. "In a haze of grief we sang of trusting in the love of Christ and a meaning to human existence where there seemed at that moment to be none at all. Sometimes a hymn gets there before you."'
Source: The Herald.

Organisers of two massive outdoor plays have made an appeal for 100 actors to star in both productions. The committees behind the Princes Street Gardens Easter Play and The Life of Jesus Christ at Dundas Castle, South Queensferry, are working together for the first time this year. The plays, entirely run by volunteers, will use the same script and the same actors. Now organisers are looking for a pool of around 100 performers, of all ages and experience, to star in both productions. Director Suzanne Lofthus, of Cutting Edge Theatre Productions, said: "This will mean we need a much larger cast to cover the play on Easter Saturday, Dundas in June and then in Glasgow at the end of June."
Source: Edinburgh Evening News.

A Deaconess and leading light in the Scottish Episcopal Church in Moray has died, aged 82. Evelyn Dunbar-Nasmith trained as a parish worker and spent time in Leeds and London before moving to Normantown, Yorkshire, to become a deaconess. Retiring to Sandbank, at Findhorn, she continued to preach and was a proactive member of St John's, Forres. Setting up and leading youth camps, fellowship and prayer groups, Bible studies and hosting regular gatherings to support ministers, priests and their wives were among her numerous commitments.
Source: Aberdeen Press & Journal.

Christian youth organisation Crusaders has kicked off the new year with an imminent change of name to Urban Saints. As the organisation celebrated their 100th anniversary last May, they announced their new name to be used from 1 January 2007. In addition, Urban Saints has announced a line-up of one-day training conferences in 2007 throughout the UK. The theme is 'Shaping the dreams of this generation'.
Source: Christian Today.

A retired Church of Scotland minister left the Kirk several hundred thousand pounds - on condition that Gaelic sermons are preached in London four times a year. The Rev Alexander John MacLeod, from Lewis, who died in his nineties last year after retiring to the Far East, was a fluent speaker of Gaelic.
Source: Daily Record.

Methodist Relief and Development Fund (MRDF) has released a new Bible study pack for Lent and beyond, entitled ‘What does the Bible say about poverty?’, to help small groups get to the heart of the Bible’s teaching on poverty.
Source: Methodist Church news release.

In a pastoral letter read out at Masses in Scotland yesterday, Bishop Peter Moran, the Bishop of Aberdeen, re-iterated the Catholic Church’s opposition to the renewal of Trident and called on Catholics to “contact your MPs and make sure they know the views of the Church and your own views”.
Source: Scottish Catholic Media Office news release.

A Muslim state school would be welcomed in Dundee should funding become available under an SNP government, the city council’s education convener has claimed. Councillor Kevin Keenan said he shared “fairly similar views” to SNP leader Alex Salmond, who told a newspaper yesterday that a Nationalist win in next May’s Scottish Parliament elections would lead to the creation of the first Muslim faith state school in Scotland. Dundee’s first encounter with a Muslim-faith school ended last year when the troubled private Muslim school, Imam Muhammad Zakariya closed its doors.
Source: Dundee Courier.

Keith Dickson, who works for the Royal National Mission to Deep Sea Fishermen in Mallaig, has taken time out to enter a fund-raising motor rally from Plymouth to Banju in the Gambia.
Source: Aberdeen Press & Journal.

Scotland is to get its first state-funded Muslim school within the next parliament if the Scottish National party wins power in May. Alex Salmond, the SNP leader, has pledged to extend the right to denominational education, already enjoyed by Catholics, to other faiths.
Source: Sunday Times.

Sir Peter Maxwell Davies may be the master of the Queen's music and one of the country's most celebrated composers but plans for his civil partnership ceremony on the Orkney island of Sanday have been stopped by council officials worried that he will play "unsuitable music". The couple wanted friend, and local registrar, Charlie Ridley to conduct the service but the council claims he is only authorised to conduct heterosexual weddings. Davies fears there may be darker reasons for the obstacles being put in his way by the council: "Fundamental religious people, who delve into the bible to justify their hatreds, still hold great sway," he said.
Source: Scotland on Sunday.

Opinion piece by Alex Salmond, leader of the Scottish National Party. "I cannot conceive of changing the arrangement that was reached between the state and the Catholic Church without the agreement of the other party to that deal. Our bottom line has to be that Catholic schools remain for as long as the Catholic community in Scotland wants to have them. Catholic schools are often cast as being somehow responsible for the scourge of sectarianism. I don't accept this argument and have not seen a shred of evidence to justify it. At its worst it seems to reject plurality in society on the alter [sic] of conformity."
Source: Sunday Times.

Feature on A.R. Schopp’s Sons Inc, the largest supplier of organ pipes in the United States, who recently supplied pipes for Saint Mary’s R.C. Cathedral in Edinburgh, including units up to 40 feet long and 18 to 20 inches in diameter.
Source: Canton Repository, Ohio.

Local church leaders in the Monklands area of Scotland will unite for three days of prayer to loosen the grip of the tonic wine Buckfast on teenage drinkers in the area, reports the Airdrie and Coatbridge Advertiser. More than a dozen churches will gather in a hotel for prayer from January 9 to 11. Pastor David Bell of Coatbridge’s Elim Family Church said: "We’re fed up hearing about the problems in the area, the Buckfast Valley syndrome. It’s an undeniable fact that in the local community Buckfast is a predominant factor in under-age drinking." He added: "To say it’s not a contributory factor, the people that make it are blinkered, but then they don’t live in the community." The wine is made by Benedictine Monks in Devon and distributed by J Chandler and Co. The company’s spokesperson put down the complaints of the local clergy as unfair: "They miss the point when they blame one brand of alcohol."
Source: Christian Today.

Surrey based Christian disability charity Through the Roof is celebrating 10 years of operation, coinciding with a new expansion programme in northern England and Scotland. “The work is well established in southern England and the Midlands, but there is much to do in other areas where churches still have not worked to make everything they do inclusive of disabled people and their families,” said founder Paul Dicken. “I relish the challenge.”
Source: Inspire Magazine.

Church representatives have expressed their support for an initiative to mobilise congregations across the UK in transforming their local communities. The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, and the Evangelical Alliance's Rev Joel Edwards have endorsed the Hope08 campaign. "Hope08 is a really remarkable vision that has grown out of the success of a number of local urban projects," said Dr Rowan Williams. "Christians have to learn how to give an absolutely clear answer to the question 'why is this good news?' Now, with Hope08, this vision is being extended, with great boldness to the whole country – and even more widely."
Source: Inspire Magazine.

Christian students at Exeter University are the first in the UK to take legal action under the Human Rights Act against their Student Guild and University. The Executive Committee of the Exeter University Evangelical Christian Union issued proceedings this week in the High Court seeking a Judicial Review of the decision to suspend the Christian Union from the Guild of Students; such acts by the Guild violating the rights of association of religious bodies and representing religious animus. The Court will be asked to quash the decision to suspend. The committee has also instructed Paul Diamond, a leading civil rights barrister, to represent them. The action was taken after the students advised both the Guild and the university authorities that it had failed to support their right as Christians to the freedoms of speech, belief and association.
Source: Inspire Magazine.

The account in Matthew's gospel of the coming of the Magi to Bethlehem is rich in contrasts, as exploited to spectacular effect in the recent film The Nativity Story. A theologian explores what these tell us about the human manifestation of the divine at Epiphany, the traditional name for the feast celebrated on 6 January.
Source: The Tablet.

In a Pastoral Letter to be read out at all Masses in Scotland this Sunday, Bishop Peter Moran, the Bishop of Aberdeen, re-iterates the Catholic Church’s opposition to the renewal of Trident and calls on Catholics to “contact your MPs and make sure they know the views of the Church and your own views”.
Source: Scottish Catholic Media Office news release.

The Doctor Who television star David Tennant has underlined his celebrity status by winning an entry in 2007 edition of the biographical dictionary, Who's Who. The 35-year-old from Renfrewshire appears under his real name, David John McDonald. He is the son of a former Moderator of the Church of Scotland's General Assembly, Rev Sandy McDonald. The 'Doctor' joins 55 other Scots, including Mr McDonald's successor in office, the current Moderator, the Rt Rev Alan McDonald, and the provost of St Mary's Episcopal Cathedral in Glasgow, the Very Rev Kelvin Holdsworth, who lists his pastimes as "politics, blogging, sinking other people's yachts".
Source: The Scotsman.

The Right Rev Alan McDonald, Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, today begins a two-week visit to Ghana. He will meet the President, John Agyekum Kufour, as well as the King of Ashanti, Otumfo Osei Tutu II, and the Paramount Chief Nana Addo Dankwa III. Mr McDonald will also visit projects run by Christian Aid and the Evangelical Presbyterian Church.
Source: Church of Scotland news release.

Wales' title as the illegitimate baby capital of Britain was cemented yesterday. It has the highest percentage of children born outside wedlock in the UK, at 52.4%. By comparison, the number of children born to unmarried parents in England stands at 42.3%, in Scotland it is 47.1%, in Northern Ireland it is 36.3%, while the UK average is 42.9%.
Source: icWales.

Two stalwarts of the Falkirk branch of Alzheimer Scotland had their years of service recognised. Susan Johnston and Bob Robertson, both 83, were presented with certificates in recognition of their work with people with dementia in the area. Both are members of Grahamston United Church and initially helped with a weekly day care service provided by the church.
Source: Falkirk Herald.

Dr Justin Thacker has started as the new Head of Theology at the Evangelical Alliance. An Elder of the United Reformed Church, he has an active preaching ministry and is on the council of Scripture Union. His main responsibilities as Head of Theology will be helping the Alliance formulate its position on a range of theological and public issues.
Source: Evangelical Alliance news release.

A Scottish nun who administered religious instruction in the Aberdeen area for a number of years has died at the age of 104. Sister Ann McHardy, who was always known as Nano, was a catechist in the city from 1971 to 1989.
Source: Aberdeen Press & Journal.

An Aberdeenshire minister who brought music and merriment to his sermons died yesterday at the age of 52. The Rev John McCallum lost his short battle with cancer at his home at Noth Manse in Kennethmont. He had been minister at the Parish of Noth, which serves Rhynie, Gartly, Clatt and Kennethmont, for 17 years.
Source: Aberdeen Press & Journal.

Profile of Rev Shelley Marsh, who was inducted last month as rector of St James The Less Episcopal Church, Bishopbriggs.
Source: Kirkintilloch Herald.

Profile of Nicky Spence, 23, the former chip-shop worker from Dumfriesshire signed to Universal, the same label as violinist Nicola Benedetti, in a £1 million five-album deal, which begins with the tenor's debit cd, My First Love, out on 15 January. "I love chatting to folk. I'm sure half the reason I've got anywhere is that I like having a good old chat. As a Christian, I believe in destiny, but it's also about networking, having the gift of the gab and all that business. Chatting up people's grannies, whatever it takes."
Source: The Scotsman.

The fourth bi-annual ‘Deep Impact’ Christian youth work training conference is set to take place at the Aviemore Highland Resort from 19 – 21 January 2007. ‘Deep Impact’ provides an opportunity for those working with young people to receive both practical and biblical input from skilled youth practitioners and theologians. Previously organised by Highlands and Islands Youth for Christ, ‘Deep Impact’ is this year being hosted by the Scottish Christian Youth Work Forum.
Source: Christian Today.

Scottish Christian church leaders have issued a joint New year message condemning sectarianism and the replacement of Trident. It is the first time that the leaders of the Church of Scotland and the Catholic Church in Scotland have issued a joint statement. Cardinal Keith O'Brien and the Right Reverend Alan McDonald called on MPs to oppose a new British nuclear deterrent. They also urged people of different faiths to unite against bigotry.
Source: BBC Scotland News, Church of Scotland news release.

"When I started school at the age of five my father was a Church of Scotland minister in Dumbarton and I attended the primary department of Dumbarton Academy. I have a clear recollection of junior taunts, when we threw stones at the “papes” at their primary school and they came to do likewise to us," writes the former MP and MSP. "Now that we have a substantial non-Christian population in our midst we should be educating our children in at least the basics of the different faiths, and that is best done in a non-denominational setting."
Source: Sunday Times.