This evening Scottish Conservative leader Ruth Davidson delivered the Amnesty International Lecture in Belfast as part of the city’s Pride Festival. Addressing people from across Northern Ireland’s political and faith communities about Scotland’s journey before and after the passing of equal marriage legislation, Ms Davidson leader outlined how equal marriage changed her own life, and those of others across the country. She praised Holyrood ...
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URC gives local churches autonomy to conduct same-sex marriages
Yesterday the General Assembly of the United Reformed Church (URC) voted in favour of giving its local churches the right to conduct and register same-sex marriages. The motion, which required a two-thirds majority, was passed by a majority of 240 to 21, with 4 abstentions. This means that the URC is now the largest UK denomination to freely permit the celebration and registration of ...
Read More »Belief Matters … Or Not? What IS the church saying on same-sex marriage?
Politicians – and especially English Conservative politicians – have a habit of making unhelpful interventions on the subjects of sexual orientation and same-sex marriage. The latest is Andrea Leadsom, who is running against Theresa May to become the next Conservative Party leader and Prime Minister. Yesterday, she gave a rather odd interview to ITV News, in which she made ...
Read More »Church group apologises over same-sex marriage statement
A group within the Church of Scotland opposed to same-sex marriage has issued an apology after posting a statement about LGBT rights on Monday, the day following the massacre in Orlando. Covenant Fellowship Scotland, a protest movement set up in 2014 to oppose the Kirk’s proposals to permit congregations to appoint ministers and deacons in same-sex relationships, said ...
Read More »Belief Matters…Or Not? European conference celebrates “richness in diversity”
From 4 to 8th May, the European Forum of LGBT Christian Groups met in Gothenburg, Sweden. This was the 35th year of the annual conference, which is held in a different European city each year. “Richness in Diversity” was the theme of the annual conference. Community, solidarity, common debating, singing, prayer and worship are the essential elements of the ...
Read More »Belief Matters … Or Not? Why the gender binary idol is unworthy of worship
One of the main positives to emerge from the Scottish parliamentary election campaign so far has been a broad consensus from the main parties on issues of LGBT+ equality. This was highlighted last week at an LGBTI hustings in Edinburgh, hosted by Stonewall Scotland, the Equality Network and the Scottish Transgender Alliance. In some respects this was inevitable and ...
Read More »Belief Matters…Or not? Faith in a Secular Society
Earlier this week, the Daily Mail suggested the Queen did not approve of same sex marriage. Regardless of the accuracy of the report (and the Daily Mail is not always the most reliable of sources) it does raise the question of the role of faith in what is now a predominantly secular society. Secularists sometimes suggest that faith should be ...
Read More »Christmas Brings us Hope for Peace
In our weekly “Belief matters” column we have taken a look at various faith issues, often within the context of how they affect LGBTI communities – or from the perspective of LGBTI people of faith. Today, being Christmas Day, we are publishing a message from the Moderator of the Church of Scotland, the Rt Rev Dr Angus Morrison. While his ...
Read More »Lewis man believes he has “found the Star of Bethlehem”
A Lewis man, who has interests in both astronomy and theology, believes that his research has been able to pinpoint the Star of Bethlehem. Donny Mackay, who is president of the Stornoway Astronomical Society and a lecturer and researcher with the UK Biblical Research Society, shared his findings in a radio interview with KaleidoScot’s Stuart Russell. Mackay said he ...
Read More »A Christmas Message for the LGBTI Communities
The first Christmas after I was ordained nearly 20 years ago, I happened to come down sick before Christmas. My senior colleague had to take all the services instead of us sharing them and all I could do was drag myself to midnight mass and sit at the back of the church amongst the congregation. The lights were low, ...
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