The Lord Chancellor and National Marriage Week
IN a speech marking the start of National Marriage Week, the Lord Chancellor, while speaking of his commitment to the institution of Christian marriage, is reported to have said that schools should not promote the ideal of marriage, but should rather respect the rights of those who want to be single.
We fully agree that the rights of singles should be respected, but it would seem that he is in agreement with those who argue that in implementing the new morality code for schools, teachers should only ‘support’ marriage, rather than in agreement with those who believe that teachers should ‘actively promote’ marriage. His comment will undoubtedly discourage those parents and teachers who have been campaigning hard for more prominence and commitment to be given to the teaching of the values of marriage, and less approval to ‘families of other kinds’.
In the same speech he took the opportunity to again praise the Family Law Act, which provided for the first time, he said, a way of trying to rescue saveable marriages that were heading for divorce. It is still a fact, however, that the Family Law Act is contrary to Scripture in having removed the ‘fault element’ from the divorce process, and we believe therefore that it will ultimately do more harm than good to marriage. ☐
The Prince of Wales and remarriage
NOT for the first time, the publication of the Church of England Yearbook is causing controversy. In the introductory essay, prominent churchman David L Edwards comments on divorce with special reference to the Prince of Wales and his friend Mrs Camilla Parker Bowles.
Dr Edwards condemns the conduct of the Prince of Wales on the road to divorce and since, but in the book, which, it is said, has been approved at the highest level within the Church, he seems to hold out the possibility of approval if the Prince were to remarry. Dr Edwards bases his remarks on the Scripture passages which deal with the subject. From Paul’s reference to desertion in 1 Corinthians 7 he concludes, “Presumably the possibility of a new marriage is implied.” Yes, it is, but as is perhaps even clearer from Christ’s words in the Sermon on the Mount, to which Dr Edwards also refers, this permission is only for the innocent party.
We hear little enough public reference to the Scriptures from leading churchmen, It is tragic that, when they do use the Word of God, they too often misinterpret the message which it contains.
K.D.M.
The police battle against drug abuse
THE Chief Constable of Grampian Police has reported that in Grampian Region the incidence of housebreaking — most of which is drug-related — has nearly doubled in six months. The irresponsible remark that taking drugs is just like “having a cup of tea” (made by pop singer Noel Gallagher), has met with this response from Grampian Police Chairman: “The chief constable has highlighted quite clearly that there is in fact one big difference between a cup of tea and drugs — people don’t go in for housebreaking on the basis of a cup of tea.”
It is therefore strange that the Northern Constabulary branch of the Scottish Police Federation should propose to the Federation conference that it consider dropping its opposition to the legalising of cannabis. It is more strange still when there has been a twentyfold increase in the number of drugs cases handled by Highland police in the last twenty years. The drugs squad officers are overstretched and under-resourced, and are “only touching the tip of the iceberg”, but to decriminalise the possession and use of cannabis, although it is regarded as less dangerous than other drugs, is not the answer.
The proposal, said one Glasgow woman who works with addicts in rehabilitation, “absolutely horrifies me. It is sending out a message to young people that cannabis is okay.” A young man in Glasgow, presently recovering from heroin addiction, adds, “I was introduced to cannabis when I was a kid, but it made me want to try more, and eventually I progressed on to heroin. I have met so many people who have ended up not the same person because of it. Some are in psychiatric hospitals. I’d tell them [the police] to forget about legalising cannabis. It would make me unhappy because I know it’d be a mistake.”
Drugs kill. The Sixth Commandment requires “that all lawful endeavours to preserve our own life, and the life of others” be taken by everyone, be they individuals or authorities. □
The evil of pornography
“IS porn reaching the end of its shelf life?” asked a headline in The Daily Telegraph last month. The article is about a decision by the newsagent chain W H Smith to remove a number of pornographic magazines from most of its stores. Any step which reduces the availability of such vile material is to be welcomed. But the attitude of the firm’s spokesman is appalling: “If [the magazines] are selling well enough to justify their inclusion [on the shelves] that’s all that interests us. If people want to read them, it is our job to provide them.” Does he really mean this? Would the firm want to be seen selling a magazine which promoted the type of gun used in the Dunblane massacre?
The article suggested the obvious possibility that the reduction in sales of these magazines is related to the increasing availability of such material on the
Internet. This relatively new means of communication can be extremely useful, but it is also open to abuse. Only intervention by the service providers, who do not themselves handle directly the material which is transmitted, can eliminate pornography from the Internet. Strict control is called for, difficult though it may be to enforce.
Another likely reason for decreased sales is the increasing availability of pornographic material on videos. There can be no doubt that viewing such material has a depraving influence. We can be sure that if stricter controls were in place there would be many fewer rapes and other indecent assaults. One could also point to satellite television, though again one recognises the difficulty of control because of the international dimension: the most objectionable channels are operated from abroad.
But there is no question about our individual responsibility. It is to “abstain from all appearance of evil”, and that includes much material on television and elsewhere although it may be a long way from being described as pornographic. The answer to question 139 in the Larger Catechism, “What are the sins forbidden in the seventh commandment?” is highly relevant: “The sins forbidden in the seventh commandment, besides the neglect of the duties required, are adultery, fornication, rape, incest, sodomy, and all unnatural lusts; all unclean imaginations, thoughts, purposes, and affections; all corrupt or filthy communications, or listening thereunto; wanton looks, impudent or light behaviour, immodest apparel . . . lascivious songs, books, pictures, dancings, stage plays; and all other provocations to, or acts of uncleanness, either in ourselves or others.”
When God’s law is taken seriously pornography will indeed reach the end of its shelf life. And, if people would think clearly about these issues, they would see that obedience to the Seventh Commandment is profitable for this life, even if they did not, in their folly, accept the relevance of the whole of the Word of God.
K.D.M.
Dramatic drop in the rate of crime
WE believe that there can be no national return to the spiritual and moral values of the Scriptures until there be a religious awakening nationwide, by the operation of the Spirit of God. Nevertheless it is heartening to read of instances of betterment in some places.
In Northumbria there has been a fall in crime for five years in a row, and a third fewer crimes were reported last year than in 1991. The drop is even greater in the Blyth Valley in Northumbria with its 200,000 population. Instead of 12 or 13 burglaries a day there are only one or two, and none on some days. This has been due to a campaign of intelligence-led policing which has targeted and
apprehended those responsible for “volume crimes”. The Bible requires us to pray “for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty”, and this must necessarily include our praying for police forces which are at the sharp end of the fight against lawbreaking. ☐
“Chastity before marriage; fidelity within marriage”
THIS saying is not popular with many health-care personnel who are trying to reduce the high rate of teenage pregnancies in Britain — the highest in Europe for 15 to 19-year-old girls. The National Health Service Centre for Reviews and Dissemination has indicated to health authorities that it prefers to combat the problem by sex education and contraception advice, rather than by abstinence programmes which teach young people to say, No. Abstinence programmes, says the Centre, “have no effect in delaying sexual activity or reducing school pregnancies.” The Centre should consult with Care for Education in London, or Education, Training and Research Associates in California. Several USA surveys have shown that pregnancies increased in schools which opted for contraception education, whereas teenage pregnancies dropped significantly after only two years in schools using the abstinence-only approach. Care for Education reports that its abstinence educational resource (used by about 40 per cent of all secondary schools in the UK) is effective in that, for example, 20 per cent more young people surveyed now say that “sex should be for marriage only”.
It is high time that our health authorities, including the Highland Health Board, ceased to argue that they have no responsibility for the moral aspect of the problem, and that they listened to young people who say, after being taught the abstinence approach, “Why did they not tell us this before.” Chastity before marriage, and fidelity within marriage, are Bible based principles and a foundation of happy family life.