Episode 2 General Assembly


Episode 2

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There is a rash of word C-words at every meeting of the General

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Assembly of Church of Scotland - this week, two stand out - "change"

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and "challenge". Climate change dominated the week.

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The way we manage our creation indicate how much disaster we will

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experience. History was made when the Archbishop of Canterbury joined

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the debate. Historically, we are united in witness to Christ as

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Church is shaped by the Reformation. The 50th anniversary of women elders

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was marked. The only reason they did not appoint any women elders was

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that their dress was more important than the women elders. We found out

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what an artist has been doing here. The World Mission Convenor reminded

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Commissioners of the burning bush that was not consumed. What does

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that symbolic image have to say about our attitude to creation

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today, he asked? The commissioners from sister churches shared his

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concern. The problem for this planet, which is our only physical

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home, is that it is being consumed by us in all sorts of ways that are

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quite unsustainable. Sometimes it seems like we are trashing our own

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living room. Yes, there are practical issues, things that need

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to be done, like changing the way we generate and use energy. But if the

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only motivation to do any of these things is fear of the future, those

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of us who are richer and better protected will always find ways of

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avoiding the issue, or at least of protecting ourselves. And those who

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are poorer and less protected will continue to suffer the most and

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there will be no climate justice. 96% of our energy comes from our

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hydropower and it will take at least three rainy seasons to fill those

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dams if we will produce electricity to capacity, to meet the demands in

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the mining sector, agriculture and other areas. God, I want to believe,

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according to the account of Scripture, did not begin by creating

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us in our human form, per se, but created the habitat first before the

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inhabitants and, therefore, the way we manage our creation will, to a

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great extent, indicate how much disaster we will experience. I would

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like to share an observation made a number of years ago by an Inuit in

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Canada's Arctic, and very active in her own part of Canada. She observed

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- and she has written a book - because of the rise in temperatures

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in the Arctic there are many, many changes that are having a direct

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impact on the Inuit people in the Arctic. What's happening is because

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of these changes, our right, she says, our right to be cold is being

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taken away from us. The health of the youngest country in Africa

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concerned many in the Hall. It is hard to describe how traumatised

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they are and their people are and how the infrastructure of this, the

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newest nation in the world, has completely fallen apart. And while

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international leaders may meet around peace-making tables, what

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they produce are perhaps cease-fires, they produce moments

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when there's a little bit of calm but who is doing anything to rebuild

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the community and the communities at grassroots? We hope that when we are

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able to go there, some time later this year, that there will be an

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opportunity to spend the Church's money well, to use its resources, to

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help the frail and faltering peoples and the frail and faltering Church

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at the moment. Everything is relying on the Churches in South Sudan to

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provide education, to provide children's homes, to provide

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hospitals, to provide medical aid, to provide everything. And that's

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the situation there. It is absolutely horrendous and I would

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commend every church to become involved in helping in any way

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whatsoever. Thank you Church of Scotland for what you are doing.

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Kirk Action prioritises the education of girls. Malawi has about

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80% Christians, but gender violence is one of the issues that is very

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high. In addressing it, any other institution cannot succeed if the

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Church is left out. It is for this reason that Moderator I want to

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thank the Church of Scotland and the UK Government for engaging the

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Church in fighting against gender-based virus. I want to

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congratulate the Church of Scotland for continuing to highlight issues

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of gender violence. This has been a grave concern in north India, in

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different parts of India, violence of women has been increasing and I,

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on behalf of the Diocese of Calcutta, ask for your prayers and

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your support so that we can further this kind of a campaign to stop

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violence against women. Thank you. Violence towards women hasn't been

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eradicated in Scotland, either. But in other ways, Scotland has been in

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pole position. For instance, it is 50 years since it started ordaining

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women as elders. And that was commemorated in an afternoon of

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memories here at the Assembly. We have had a few changes and

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challenges. Problems as a female elder, well perhaps one or two, if

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I'm going to be honest, I well remember offering to speak to

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persuade them to convert our tenure into full status. I suspect I looked

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up at the right moment, or the wrong moment. I did it and whether it was

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because of my speech or not we were successful. I was congratulated by a

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number of my colleagues including one of my male fellow elders,

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shaking his head. Well done, but I'm still surprised we couldn't get a

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man to do that! I know that some people in the Church may be

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uncomfortable with the idea of women elders. I can only speak for myself,

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it feels right for me to serve in this way. I have weaknesses and

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blind spots, don't we all? But I, like so many women, have some skills

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that God has given me. I have opportunities to deploy those skills

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in his Church and I believe he expects me to use them in his

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service. I'm immensely grateful to that General Assembly of 1966 for

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having the foresight, the courage and the faith to allow that route to

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open up for me and for so many other women. I was a student minister, I

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was the first woman they had ever had as a student in the pulpit. The

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Kirk Session wore the striped trousers, the frock coats and the

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white bow ties. And I went to the Kirk Session and this was a big

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thing that I was allowed into their Kirk Session, all-male Kirk Session.

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They were discussing having new members to the Kirk Session and they

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had a big discussion about women elders. And the reason, the only

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reason they did not appoint any women elders was that their dress of

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the white bow ties and the striped trousers and the black frock coats

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was more important than the women elders. So that Sunday, at that

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communion, with my black gown - your sleeves go right through - I wore

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the brightest red, blue and white-striped shirt that I could

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find... As ever, a wide range of nations and

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names were gathered here. This year, for the first time ever, they were

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joined by an artist-in-residence. What is an artist doing here? The

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theme for the week is 'People of the Way'. Jesus meets disciples and asks

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them what is it that you are talking about as you are walking along the

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way? The people here in the painting raises the question, what are these

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people talking about as they are walking along? One of the most

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interesting parts of the process for me is the interaction with folks

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when I'm working so we wanted to give people at the Assembly an

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experience of what it is like to have an artist-in-residence. Lots of

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curiosity, lots of people wondering why we would be having an artist

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working at the General Assembly. And some folks start to wonder how would

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this work in my own Church context? I started as artist-in-residence in

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Glasgow, folks come in for a coffee, for a scone, but then notice there

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is an artist working in the corner. And I have worked on a Last Supper

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piece. Lots of folks would come up and start a conversation and they

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were curious about what was going on and they start asking me questions

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about Jesus. The Church and Society Council's

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report was wide-ranging. It also included reference to climate

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change. It stimulated lively debate.

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Moderator, there is no doubt that our overdependence on fossil fuel

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has wreaked havoc on our planet home. We have a responsibility to

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reduce our carbon footprint and forge a path free of fossil fuels.

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We must untie ourselves from that dependence. The Council brings a

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report. We call for consideration of how we need companies to move away

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from fossil fuel dependence. There have been many warning calls from

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sources as diverse as the Governor of the Bank of England and Pope

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Francis saying that a move to renewable energy is a crucial part

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of the mix. The Church can either be a signpost pointing the way or a

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weather vane swaying with the status quo. My fear is, that man-made

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global warming has been added to the Westminster confessional faith, as

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part of the crux. I speak now as a professional scientist, who has been

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involved in this stuff for over 40 years. Climate change depends on so

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many variables. It would almost be better not to use computer models,

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which can't handle clouds or water vapour, which are the key greenhouse

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gases. Carbon dioxide is just a trace gas. The Pope would have us

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believe that global warming is the cause of everything, but the fact

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is, in all the years since Al Gore's Inconvenient Truth, that ridiculous

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disaster movie, none of his predictions have come true and, in

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fact, for the last two decades, there has been no global warming at

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all. If you look at the figures, you will find that this is not rubbish.

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Even supposing we were responsible for climate change, there is an

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arrogance about thinking that we, as human beings, can change that and do

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anything about it, when it is a far more complicated thing than about

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how much carbon dioxide we are pumping into the atmosphere. There

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are many things out there over which we have got no control whatsoever

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and there is an arrogance there and we need to be aware of that. I

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didn't want to speak. But I can't believe we are having this debate

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now. This is long past debating, whether there is any climate change

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or not. I would urge the General Assembly simply to support the

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Council's work because how can we look the people who are suffering

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the consequences of this wealthy society in the eye when they are

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suffering for our comforts? I wish first of all to apologise for

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making an outburst during a previous speech by Doctor Kamran, it is not

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acceptable I understand for commissioners to do so, but I was

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astonished by his claim of science on the comments that he had made. We

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have seen in the last two years all global temperature record broken,

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both of the last two years, 2016 is expected to break them again. It is

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a scientific reality. And the rise in carbon dioxide in the past

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century is measurable, significant and a major factor driving climate

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change. Yesterday, we heard powerful stories from our partners across the

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globe about the devastating effects of climate change and those who have

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had leased to do with it are the ones hardest first hit and have the

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least capacity to respond. With all due respect, 98%, over 98% of your

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colleagues, Doctor Cameron, profoundly disagree with you and

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believe firmly that this is something that humanity has caused

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and we can do something about. In the end, the motion, or deliverance,

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on climate justice, including disinvestment from fossil fuel firms

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was comfortably carried. It was a different matter when the

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recommendation to call from the removal of Scottish law for the

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defence of justifiable assault in cases of corporal punishment of

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children was debated. According to a report for the Scottish Commissioner

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of young people and children, children first and Barnardos and the

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NSPCC, there is convincing evidence that declines in physical punishment

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are accelerated in countries that have prohibited issues and such laws

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have important symbolic value. Legislation is the way society sets

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frames for what is acceptable. The children lived with violence, how

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can they learn to be peacemakers? If we as a society accept violence as a

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justifiable way to respond, how can we build a more peaceful future?

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When I a little girl living in a housing scheme in Motherwell, it was

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a lovely summer day and my friends roundabout were going fishing for

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minnows down at the River Clyde and I was asked to go with them and I

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knew that my mother wouldn't let me go if I went in to ask her, because

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she liked to know that we were playing in the street. But I also

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knew that if I went, I would have to take my wee brother with me, because

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he would go in and tell. So my friends Julie gave me a Julie jaw

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for my brother, with a string tied around it, and down we went to the

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River Clyde. And as all children do, you lose track of time, you don't

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have a watch and I could not tell you how many hours we were away.

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Well, we came back with our minnows and I turned the corner at the

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bottom of our street and I saw my mother running down the street

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towards me. So smiles and holding my wee brother's hand, I said, I have

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such an adventure to tell you. The minnows and the toy went on my

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backside was leathered up to the House. And it is a lesson I have

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never, ever forgotten, it will be with me to my dying day, that you do

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not go anywhere unless you tell your mother. It should not be a first

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option, but it should be if ever, if ever, a last resort that hand is

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raised towards a child, because children are mirrors, mirrors of

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what we do, how we live, how we interact with one another. Trust me,

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I know, I have a four-year-old two-year-old who played church at

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home, I know what my minister's voice sounds like. I also know what

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my angry voice sounds like. I have heard my four-year-old react towards

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his sister in the same way I have reacted towards him and I have

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cowered in shame and begged his forgiveness, because I know I have

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not shown him the love that I have been called to show as a mother and

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as a Christian and as a minister. I think taken to its logical

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conclusion, deliverance is five, six and seven are going to see loving

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parents standing in the dock charged with assault. Now I am not

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advocating that we all go around slapping our children, but like the

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majority of children in here, I am also of the generation that got a

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scalp on the legs when I needed it and I have not turned into someone

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who is beating up the children in my church are regular basis. Maybe I

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should take out the word "Regular". I hear what you are saying, but what

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this is asking you to do is fundamentally to give children the

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same rights under the law as adults. There is absolutely no evidence in

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other countries of any increase in the criminalisation of parents,

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quite the opposite. What it has done has raised awareness and changed

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behaviours in society. And I would strongly resist the idea that

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violence is a discipline that helps children. I have a friend who called

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me one time, this was years ago, and she was really, really upset with

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herself and she said the penny had dropped and this is why. Her kids

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were fighting and she yanked the older one and the younger one apart,

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the old one had been hitting his brother, and she smacked him and

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said "Don't hit." How is that teaching a non-violent, peacemaking,

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Consul to TIFF -- Consul to give way of being? Voting for section five,

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275, the voting against section five, 259. So no smacking was

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supported by a narrow margin. One big challenge is money, and the

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lack of it. For the first time, however, we see the Congregational

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offerings are not increasing and remained in 2015 at about their 2014

:21:38.:21:43.

level of 71 points ?6 million. This is unlikely to be exceptional. It

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reinforces the need to manage our resources carefully. Our work can

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only continue as God's people give and we can only spend what we

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receive. And local authority grants for the Kirk's social care

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programmes, some of the largest in the land, have been cut. So voting

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to pay social workers the living wage is going to be a challenge. I

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note with interest the council's continued commitment to delivering

:22:15.:22:18.

the minimum wage and as a worker for cross ridge, I can wholeheartedly

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say it was the hardest but most rewarding I have been in and I would

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recommend the work of Crossreach to anyone who would listen. But the

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failure to pay the minimum wage some four years after the General

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Assembly instructed it is becoming embarrassing and hypocrisy at the

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highest level of this church. As you have heard, there are some real

:22:44.:22:46.

pressures in the church at the current time, in terms of a flat

:22:47.:22:53.

Congregational income and cost pressures from the living wage. But

:22:54.:22:59.

it is not just those two issues, there are broader issues, including

:23:00.:23:03.

the significant amount of income that the church receives from local

:23:04.:23:05.

Government and the Scottish Government to fund our social care

:23:06.:23:11.

activities. It goes without saying that that income is under pressure

:23:12.:23:14.

as well as local authorities and the Government wrestled with their

:23:15.:23:19.

priorities. So the income side, there are some real tensions. On the

:23:20.:23:24.

cost side, there is the living wage, the church wants to do that, but

:23:25.:23:29.

there are other activities such as supporting our ministries, engaging

:23:30.:23:33.

with society, so we are going to have do undertake a very careful

:23:34.:23:38.

examination of our current position to balance, or try to balance, our

:23:39.:23:43.

income and our expenditure. So in the short term, the church will

:23:44.:23:47.

continue to use its reserves, as it has been doing, but in the medium

:23:48.:23:52.

term, it will need to identify a clear set of priorities, increasing

:23:53.:23:55.

resources into some areas and perhaps withdrawing them from other

:23:56.:23:56.

areas. Call it a change, call it a cameo

:23:57.:24:11.

appearance. What is sure is that the participation of the Archbishop of

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Canterbury, Justin Welby, in the ecumenical relations debate,

:24:16.:24:19.

following last year's so-called columbo agreement, which brought the

:24:20.:24:23.

churches of Scotland and England closer together, was an historic

:24:24.:24:28.

event. Politically, we are united in witness to Christ by R, national

:24:29.:24:32.

context, including the referendum on Scottish independence in 2014, the

:24:33.:24:37.

recent elections and the imminent referendum on EU membership. Christ

:24:38.:24:44.

who made us his holy nation calls us, whatever our views on Europe, to

:24:45.:24:51.

live out that unity. Historically, we are united in witness to Christ

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as churches shaped by the Reformation, with its 500th

:24:57.:25:01.

anniversary next year. Including the inheritance of reform theology.

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Jesus meters through the tumult of historic wars -- meets us. And holds

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out nail in printed hands calling for love, for witness to the good

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news, not to be perpetrators of the bad. Economic really --

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economically, we are united by the growing inequality of our land, by

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the suffering of the poor, including food insecurity. Jesus sits with the

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poor as we stand before them. In judgment on our disunity. Globally,

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we are united in witness to Christ as churches called to

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reconciliation. Recognising our relationship has been marked by

:25:55.:25:57.

conflict including violence and bloodshed in earlier centuries, but

:25:58.:26:02.

now demonstrating what it means to live well with difference in unity

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in the context of religiously motivated violence in many parts of

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the world. Jesus calls from the camps and the roads, from the

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violated women and orphaned children, the traumatised soldiers.

:26:18.:26:25.

Will we show good disagreement? The Assembly ratified the columbo

:26:26.:26:32.

agreement, as an English Synod has done. Given the Archbishop's pension

:26:33.:26:40.

of disagreement, what is the significance? The most significant

:26:41.:26:43.

part is recognising each other as churches. That is a huge step and

:26:44.:26:48.

once you have recognised each other as the church, there is a massive

:26:49.:26:54.

impulse to develop that into a deeper and deeper relationship, both

:26:55.:26:58.

in the United Kingdom and internationally. And as the

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Moderator, the Right Reverend Doctor Russell Barr, agreed. It has been

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historic. It is one of the quirks of our history which has its roots in

:27:12.:27:15.

quite violent times in the 17th century in Britain and Ireland, that

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our churches have never actually formally recognised each other. Yes,

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why now? Because we realised that North and south of the border, we

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share many similar challenges and many similar opportunities. Why now?

:27:28.:27:36.

It is really a fundamental Christian principle and rather just look at

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the things that separate us, we would decide to look at the things

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we share an CV can share them better, the things we already doing

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and see if we can do them better. Christian people are not allowed to

:27:51.:27:54.

walk past on the other side of human need. North and south of the border,

:27:55.:27:57.

there are tens of thousands of people who are homeless, hundreds of

:27:58.:28:01.

thousands of people who are using food banks, and we could do

:28:02.:28:06.

something to change that. Why now? Because North and south of the

:28:07.:28:11.

border, we want to tell people about the hopes and promises of the

:28:12.:28:14.

Christian faith. That is why and that is why now. So at the end of

:28:15.:28:21.

the week, for People of the Way, walk on with their core faith and

:28:22.:28:25.

principles strengthened by what happened here. Some things don't

:28:26.:28:26.

change. Goodbye. We haven't really wakened up to the

:28:27.:28:31.

implications of Brexit for Scotland. both in Scotland and abroad

:28:32.:29:12.

to find out. We've built our business models

:29:13.:29:18.

around EU membership, Brussels seemed to have more

:29:19.:29:22.

and more control. It was like a noose round our neck

:29:23.:29:26.

all the time. Once upon a time, there was

:29:27.:29:35.

a great and glorious king. But they would

:29:36.:29:44.

all see him destroyed.

:29:45.:29:48.

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