Good afternoon. The first item of business this afternoon is time for reflection. Our time for reflection leader today is the Right Rev David Robertson, minister of St Peter’s Free Church, Dundee, and Moderator of the General Assembly of the Free Church of Scotland.
Thank you for the opportunity to be here. I am a Free Church minister, so confining this to four minutes is going to be miraculous—you will all believe that by the end.
As moderator of the Free Church, I bring you prayerful greetings from our growing denomination. I would like to reflect on the relationship between church and state, which has sometimes been troubled in Scotland. My church was formed as the Church of Scotland, Free, because of the intrusions of the state into matters that were none of its business. My favourite story about all this is that of the famous encounter between Andrew Melville and James VI in Falkland palace in the 16th century. Melville told James that he was but “God’s sillie vassal”—language that, I am sure, the Presiding Officer would rule out of order in this chamber—before going on to inform him:
“thair is twa Kings and twa Kingdomes in Scotland. Thair is Chryst Jesus the King, and his Kingdome the Kirk, whase subject King James the Saxt is, and of whose kingdome nocht a king, nor a lord, nor a heid, bot a member!”
I submit to you that the church in Scotland has been the most radicalising, equalising, democratising force in Scottish history.
I realise that we live in different times and that not every member of this august body is a member of Christ’s church—yet; although all are welcome—but we need to work out what the roles of the state and the church are. From our perspective, we do not believe that the church has the right to tell the state how to govern, except in the most general principles. Despite rumours, we do not want a theocracy. We all have our opinions as private citizens but, as public bodies, the churches do not have the right to tell you, our elected representatives, the rate of tax, whether we should belong to the European Union or anything else. Our role is to pray for you, to serve the poor, to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ and to have a prophetic witness—to challenge the powers that be.
History teaches us that when the church seeks to run the Government or the Government seeks to control the church, trouble awaits. Just as the church should not seek to govern politics, so the state should not seek to act as God. However, we can work together in partnership now, as we have done in the past, on vital issues such as education, welfare provision, and healthcare. The teaching of the “twa kingdoms” is not just an important part of our common history but an excellent model for today. It would be good for all of us to recognise that we are all servants of God, but in different, interlocking kingdoms. The relationship of the church and the state in Scotland should be that of good neighbours and good friends.
I pray that each of you would know, individually and collectively, the presence, peace and power of Jesus Christ.
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Business Motion