It will help people to understand our raison d’être and our philosophy if we begin with the basics. We are a political party registered with The Electoral Commission. We are not a church. We are a political party comprised of Christians, just as the Tory Party is a political party comprised of Tories. Not all …
Why we need Christian voices in public life
A Christian voice is a Christian articulating a Christian perspective on issues. It is not enough to have a Christian perspective, but one needs to articulate it. The Scottish National Party measures everything in terms of Scotland, the feminists in terms of gender, the homosexuals in terms of sexuality, the Greens in terms of the …
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When did BBC Question Time last change your mind?
Does the BBC flagship programme Question Time change anyone's mind? The standard of debate on BBC Question Time is poor and getting worse. We were told years ago that we needed female politicians who would bring civilised debate to male-dominated politics. I never believed it and I have seen no evidence that it has done …
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Those who think that religion and politics do not mix
There are those who think that religion and politics don't mix. The truth is that their religion and their politics don't mix. However, Christianity and politics mix quite easily together, and it is Christianity which gave us western democracy as we understand it and delivered us from the irreligious dogmatism of the 16th-century by recovering …
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What constitutes a ‘good’ minister?
Not so long ago I discussed the subjective nature of a 'good' sermon. A good minister is not so subjective to assess as a sermon because the apostle Paul discusses it in his letters and he gives advice about a good minister 1Tim 4:6 and evangelist 2Tim 4:5 when writing to Timothy. Ministers and preachers …
Confidence to converse
This is a continuation of my series to help Christians to witness to their neighbour. Lack of confidence Young Christians usually want to witness to their friends about their faith in Christ but they lack confidence. They need guidance but they do not have many examples to follow. It is important for those who lack …
Happiness in the Highlands
The Bank of Scotland's annual happiness survey indicates today that the Highlands and Islands is the happiest region in which to live in Scotland. Some of us have known this for some time. Indeed, Inverness, the capital of the Highlands was voted the happiest place in Scotland in 2014. The same year, Llandrindod Wells was …
Compounding one error with another
As if it was not bad enough to discover child abuse scandals in the Church of England, but its General Synod meeting in York has voted to formally recognise monks and nuns for the first time since the 16th-century European Reformation. These two errors are compounded by trying to justify one for the sake of …
Will I meet you in heaven?
I promised a follow-up on this parting greeting. It is a very useful one-liner. The purpose of one-liners is to capture interest and to convey information in short compass. It provokes thought on an important topic. There should be many one-liners in the repertoire of Christians who wish to be effective in Christ's kingdom. One …
It’s who you know
Commonly people say: "It's not what you know – it's who you know." There is truth in this, but not the whole truth. It is a false antithesis. They do not need to be opposed to each other, but are complementary. The statement is sometimes used as an excuse for not knowing things. We cannot …
The advantages of the King James Version of the Bible
Many students of Scripture will notice that there are multiple variations in different versions of the English Bible. Study will reveal that there are many verses and phrases in the King James Version of the Bible that are omitted from current versions. Textual basis The King James Version, or Authorised Version, published in 1611 is …
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Christian lessons from D-Day and Operation Overlord
Today is the 75th anniversary of Operation Overlord, the plan for the Allied invasion of France to liberate Nazi-occupied Europe, going into action. There are many good lessons to learn from it, but as some of these will not be noted by our mainstream media, I offer a few additional ones for the Christian church. …
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‘Catch me if you can’ politics
It is hard to hit a moving target. This seems to be current policy in Holyrood and the Brexit process. The SNP Scottish Government Yesterday the SNP Scottish Government supported a Bill to ban smacking of children and to criminalise parents who smack their children. Today the SNP Government published a Bill to begin the …
Polarised politics?
The political pundits tell us that European politics is polarising the country. They did not say so when the Conservative and Labour Party shared government between them over the past 100 years. Was this not polarisation? So, is polarisation good or bad? Would these pundits rather have polarising debate or a one-party state? However, it …
