The Assembly decided to ask the Post Office to reconsider its decision not to issue a John Knox commemoration stamp. We understand, however, that even the General Assembly has failed to get the Post Office to alter its decision in this matter. So confused is the thinking of the Post Office advisory committee that the 400th anniversary of the death of Knox must give way to the 50th anniversary of the opening of Tutankhamen’s Tomb!
Life and Work
The circumstances leading to the dismissal of the late Rev. Leonard Bell, editor of “Life and Work”, the Church of Scotland Magazine, were the subject of a special report to the Assembly. Since the Assembly met a new editor has been appointed. A question which ought to have occupied the minds of the Commissioners of Assembly and which also ought to occupy the mind of the new editor is how much of the present content of “Life and Work” is in accord with the teaching of the reformed Christian faith. The answer will be, we fear, that very little is of this sort.
Confession of Faith
Another step in the removal of the Westminster Confession of Faith from the position of the Church’s principle subordinate standard to that of a historic statement of faith was taken when the Assembly approved arrangements for preparing a new Statement of Faith. The Assembly also approved a statement on the doctrines which are regarded as being of the substance of the faith. Rev. John D. Sutherland who led the opposition to these recommendations described the doctrines outlined by the Panel as being contrary to the teachings of Scripture and not in accord with the mind of Christ. He asked for his dissent to be recorded. The draft overture submitted by the Panel of Doctrine goes to Presbyteries for consideration. This means that the final decision may not be taken till 1975.
Roman Catholic Schools
The Assembly approved a call for the end of separate Roman Catholic schools in Scotland. Separate schools, it was stated, were a factor in fostering social conflicts. It is indeed time that the special privileges which the Roman Catholic Church enjoy in Scotland in the educational sphere were brought to an end. If state grants were withdrawn the system might speedily come to an end.
Superintendents
The report by the Committee on multilateral Church conversations in Scotland contained the suggestion that superintendents should be appointed for pastoral supervision of larger parishes. Rev. Dr. Nevile Davidson, an ardent ecumenist, thought that such a person, if not theologically essential, would be of immense pastoral and spiritual value. This met with an unqualified response from Rev. Alastair F. Lamont of Girvan South Church, Ayrshire. He declared: “The intrusion of bishops in any name of guise in the presbyterian system is not on.” The suggestion, however, goes down to presbyteries for decision and comment.
Pornography
The Social and Moral Welfare Committee Report spoke out against alcoholism, drug-taking, pornography, gambling and the abortion law. On pornography it declared: “Every decent citizen is, we believe, offended by this stench of Sodom and Gomorrah arising from the porn factories and by the cult in the mass media of the sensuous, the salacious and the sensational, but too many are reluctant to act, even to protest, lest they interfere with the liberty of the subject or appear as spoil sports.” Rev. Dr. Edmund Jones, Queens Cross, Aberdeen, declared that the present age is not morally more depraved than their forefathers. “What is needed, he said, is not more repressive legislation but a cleaning up of anomalies and contradictions in our present law. We do not share Dr. Jones’ outlook. What the Church of Scotland is slow to recognise is that the present moral climate is largely attributable to the departure of the national Church from the faith once delivered to the saints.