SALLY Foster-Fulton (Letters, August 27) is of course entirely right to say that the church is not a political party requiring its members to "toe the party line".
It is however, a moral guardian or shepherd to the community. And the referendum is not only about the governance of Scotland. It is about a matter of fundamental morality.
The Church of Scotland and the Roman Catholic bishops have condemned nuclear weapons. The No side is united in supporting the present deployment of Trident, and its replacement at a cost of £100 billion in 2025. Saying No, is in effect, saying yes to Trident. This decision violates this principled rejection the churches have already publicly made.
It goes even deeper than that. In a way, the entire Christian community is back where it started nearly 2,000 years ago. In the earliest days, the Roman state demanded that all citizens offer sacrifice to the Emperor. To the state, this was an essential gesture of loyalty; to the Christians, it was an idolatrous act of worship. They refused, and suffered the consequences.
This refusal was not a mere personal whim. The issue had "status confessionis". They had no choice. They could not sacrifice to Caesar, then trot along to the assembly and be accepted as members. They had to choose. Caesar or Christ.
The nuclear issue must be given "status confessionis". The refusal to countenance the mass slaughter of non-combatants in conflict is a principle from which there is no derogation. It is not an optional extra.
We all have to choose. Christ, or the British idol, the Bomb. We cannot be loyal to both.
Brian Quail,
2 Hyndland Avenue, Glasgow.
HISTORY will show that in 2014 on the great issue of the independence referendum the Church of Scotland bottled it and failed as a national church out of a desire for self-preservation, position and privilege. Whoever gains his life will lose it and whoever loses his life will gain it.
Rev Dr Robert Anderson,
Blackburn and Seafield Church,
5 MacDonald Gardens, Blackburn.
Having been a member of the Church of Scotland for 52 years, I have never been nearer to leaving. Here is an opportunity for the Church of Scotland to come out for equality, justice and fairness for the people of Scotland by promoting a Yes vote to get rid of the biggest nuclear arsenal in Europe which was foisted upon us from outwith our country. How can she talk of equality, justice and fairness whilst perched on the fence?
I note that most of the ministers of the Kirk in support of the Yes campaign were retired. This to me speaks volumes. One wonders whether working ministers been gagged by 121 George Street.
Mary S Farrell,
Sunningdale Avenue, Ayr.
IT is difficult to this outsider to understand how even a small number of Church of Scotland ministers favours independence, or how "Christians for Independence" is not a contradiction in terms ("Dozens of Kirk ministers backing independence", The Herald, August 25).
What part of "love thy neighbour as thyself'" do they not understand? I have checked it this morning: my King James Bible does not go on to say "except thy closest neighbour, and not beyond Berwick".
Peter A Russell,
87 Munro Road,
Jordanhill,
Glasgow.
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