Today the Scottish Parliament will debate an Assisted Dying Bill promoted by Liam McArthur, a Lib Dem MSP. It is the first of several parliamentary stages, which can be viewed here. The debate can be viewed live and retrospectively. The death culture – from birthdays to manmade deathdays. Why are people so ready to rush …
Author: Donald
VE Day
I have posted this at 3 pm. Exactly 80 years ago today, on 8 May 1945, at 15:00 British Summer Time, the British Prime Minister Sir Winston Churchill announced Nazi Germany's unconditional surrender, ending the Second World War in Europe. This date is known as VE Day, or Victory in Europe Day. Some veterans are …
Church courts or helpers?
In Presbyterianism it is common to hear of church assemblies being described as church courts. Why? This terminology promotes legalistic thinking, and this is too commonly found in dealing with cases of conscience or cases of discipline. This legal thinking needs to be balanced with the biblical teaching about office-bearers in the Church of Christ: …
Politics teaching about false religion
Many people want nothing to do with religion, but politics will introduce them to religion whether they want it or not. Do they recognize this, and can they recognize the difference between false and true religion? Today's cataclysmic results in the English Council elections showed not only that Reform UK is breaking the two-party dominance …
Roman Jesuitism
This morning, the world's media focussed on the Roman Catholic funeral mass, known as a Requiem Mass, for Francis, the recently deceased and the first former-Jesuit to become pope in Rome. Roman Jesuitism was much in evidence to those who could recognize it. Presiding Roman cardinal Giovanni Battista Re read a homily saying that the …
The poverty of worldly love
It is a poor reflection on worldly love that the average length of a marriage that falls apart in England and Wales is about a dozen years. Birds of a feather flock together, but these worldly lovebirds fly apart. Those who claimed to love each other, and then lose it so quickly, need to learn …
The spirit of the Labour Party
I have previously made a blogpost on the spirit of the Tory Party. Little has changed in this Party since then. Today, I am constrained to draw attention to the spirit of the UK Labour Party, lest anyone should think that I consider it to be any better. Its spirit is different from the Tory …
What is a Christian Voice?
I have often said that we need a Christian Voice in public life. However, my experience is that very few people know what this means, including Christians. I am 70 years old today and I have been involved latterly in Christian politics for almost 20 years. Many Christians in the UK do not know what Christian …
Clan Chiefs and CEOs
There are a number of documentaries on the Clan Chiefs who used to run Scotland in days of yore. They still exist as nominal chiefs of the Scottish clans. However, the self-aggrandisement that is natural to the human heart ensures that Scotland and other nations continue to have their clan chiefs, for better or for …
What does secularism have to offer?
Secularism is a worldview that wishes and aims to abolish religion from public life and, if it can succeed, from private life also. Richard Dawkins wants to stop religious people having the "privilege of access to the levers of power and to the megaphones of influence". He has also called teaching Christianity to one's own …
Donald's Thoughts 