Scotland is no longer a Christian nation. Must be true, the Pope said so and he’s infallible apparently. Perhaps listening to a dribbling, ancient and possibly senile old man lecture on all aspects of their lives from sex to raising their kids (what does an octogenarian celibate know about these anyway?) is one of the things which have turned people away from the church? Have the centuries of intolerance of other religions, women’s rights and homosexuality boxed the Christian religions into a medieval corner while the rest of society evolves into the 21st century? According to BBC Newsnight Scots are four times more likely to go to an arts event than the church.Perhaps artistic appreciation is what our souls now crave, not virgin births and Bibles which contradict their own teachings in different chapters. I’m not going to get into an extended diatribe on belief systems but I will say that the degradation of archaic systems of belief is an immense relief to me.



Spiritual belief is a personal issue and I cannot understand how an organised church can possibly cater to an interval’s soul. If there is a god of some sort then you don’t need anyone in a funny collar to mediate between you and the divinity. And if there isn’t a god (and gee maybe no fairies in the garden either, why is belief in one accepted and the other ridiculed?) then perhaps people will learn to develop and live by their own moral standards and take responsibility for their own actions to others.