Comments by the leader of the Scottish Christian Party on the secular, scientific, political and ecclesiastical scene and the application of Christianity to 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 …
Continue reading Why we need Christian voices in public life
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 …
Continue reading When did BBC Question Time last change your mind?
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 …
Continue reading Those who think that religion and politics do not mix
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 …
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 …
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 …
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 …
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 …
Continue reading The advantages of the King James Version of the Bible
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. …
Continue reading Christian lessons from D-Day and Operation Overlord
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 …
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 …
Recently I drew attention to Goodbye meaning 'God be with you'. This is one in a series of evangelistic one-liners that Christians should practice. Christians need to learn how to use one-liners. The role of one-liners There was a time when people read books. As advertising became more prominent, leaflets were used, not so much …
In Australia, the boss of New South Wales Rugby Union said that "we must ... ensure that our game remains a game for all, no matter people's background or beliefs" – inexplicably while 'explaining' why an overt Christian was sacked for expressing Christian beliefs. It seems that Christian beliefs don't count. The Eurovision Song Contest …
Continue reading Sport is for all – except active Christians
