Sunday 15 January 2017

It's been three centuries since you could be prosecuted for theological opinions in Scotland

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It's been three centuries since you could be prosecuted for theological opinions in Scotland but you can now and in the rest of the UK.

The police are cooperating with the Bishop of St. Andrew's and Primus (head) of the Scottish Episcopalian Church to impose good relations between Christianity and Islam.

The Guardian has the story.

A Muslim youth was invited to give a reading from the Koran at a service at Epiphany at St Mary’s Episcopal Cathedral in Glasgow. He read "a passage from the Koran relating to the Virgin birth". 


This need not necessarily have been heretical - at least Muslims believe in the Virgin Birth, unlike quite a few Anglican clergy. But the passage from the Koran that was read out contained a verse saying Jesus was not God and shouldn't be worshipped. 

This raised very strong feelings among people who consider Islam a false religion.
"A Police Scotland spokesman said: “We can confirm we are investigating reports of offensive comments made towards St Mary’s Episcopal Cathedral in Glasgow and inquiries are ongoing. Police Scotland will not tolerate any form of hate and encourages all communities to work together to ensure no one feels threatened or marginalised.”
I am in favour of peace between world religions, if possible, but not of suppression of free speech or suppression of conservative theology by the police. 

Perhaps Donald Trump, half Scottish as he is, will in time change the zeitgeist even in his mother's native country. Who knows? 

I hope so.

7 comments:

  1. David in Banja Luka18 January 2017 at 17:29

    Muslims may believe in the virgin birth but they do not believe in the divinity of Christ, like some Anglican clergy ;).

    HMQs chaplain adds his criticism:

    http://www.premier.org.uk/News/UK/Queen-s-chaplain-Glasgow-cathedral-owes-apology-to-persecuted-Christians-over-Qur-an-reading

    St Mary’s Episcopal Cathedral in Glasgow = cretins not Christians!

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  2. Thank you David -it is an outrage that the passage from the Koran that was read out contained a verse saying Jesus was not God and shouldn't be worshipped. Will the Glasgow police want to question me now?

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  3. The very strange story of Pope John Paul II kissing the Koran, if he did. http://l.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.jimmyakin.org%2F2006%2F04%2Fjp2_and_the_qur.html&h=ATNxLZiqPoY-dwi9fFvsUYd4EG8sYZIUnZ73yjJ3L3GdsrFsTqw-OzvFQL6CZaewxCLCb4bxc3-tuFi2HsY3PCz3BDJ9SapjCn-45dghwSkcm8LwZ2McTvapm-yShJjRtno

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  4. On October 1 2013, four candidates to be Archbishop of Uppsala, the highest position in the (Lutheran) Church of Sweden, were interviewed by church officials in front of the media and, among other questions, were asked, “Does Jesus provide a truer picture of God than Muhammad?” Only one of the candidates said that He does. (This candidate came second.)
    The woman (sic) who got the job, Antje Jackelén, answered: “One cannot reduce the whole of religious theology, that is to say the question of how different religions relate to one another, to a yes-and-no question. It amounts to doing violence to a wealth of knowledge and experience that can be found there.”

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  5. Recently, a campaign started with the hashtag #mittkors (#mycross), to pay tribute to Christians killed and followed across the world. Surely no one could be against that? Perhaps, except for a radical Muslim responsible for killing Christians?

    Oh, and of course, the chief of communications for the Swedish Church, Gunnar Sjöberg. He called the campaign “seditious and un-Christian.” http://www.breitbart.com/london/2016/09/24/lack-christianity-church-sweden/

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  6. The Archbishop of Uppsala is not to be confused with the Bishop of Stockholm, who is a lesbian, lives with her woman priest partner and is the world's first openly active homosexual bishop.

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  7. David in Banja Luka19 January 2017 at 09:59

    Swedes - very, very strange people.

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