Christian leaders must not sit on the fence

After some more canvassing it was off to St Joseph’s Hall in Helensburgh for a talk from the fabulously inspiring Rev. Ian Miller, supported by Fiona Sarwar, a member of the church of Scotland and David Kerr, catholic Journalist and broadcaster.

The meeting was hosted by Christians for Independence, supported by YesHelensburgh&Lomond and with a Christian church on every street corner in Helensburgh this should be a cracker.

The great thing about Christians is that you can depend on their christian values if nothing else, unlike the lying and deception from Westminster and Better Together.  You would think …

But in Helensburgh and the ‘peninsula’ you would be wrong.  These so called Christians are some of the most rude, vicious and on some occasions violent individuals that our canvassers have ever met.  They behave as if the YES campaign was threatening there very existence. Yes Helensburgh have experienced an elderly lady in her 70s being spat on.  When posters have been tied to posts they have been ripped off with a viciousness, torn up and thrown in the face of our campaigner.

When we do manage to post a notice, within minutes of leaving it is torn down and destroyed. One woman handed a leaflet was so outraged at the audacity of handing her a leaflet that she wrote to YesScotland to complain.

These people are not anonymous.  These cowardly apologies for Christians skulk in the shadows.  If they are normal, then I don’t want to be normal.  Of course, they are also cowards.  Amongst our team we have a number of big chaps with strong tongues in their heads.  We conduct ourselves with impunity in every occasion and treat everyone, regardless of provocation, with complete respect.  I have not had the same experience with these ‘Christians’.  They save their poison for the smaller of stature, older ladies.

Anyway, back to the meeting.  Ian was his usual compelling self, and as always focused on his passion for the removal of nuclear weapons – that is one of his life’s ambitions and you’d struggle to find a nobler cause.  Fiona explained the progress she was making with Women for Independence and her role in the church of Scotland.  She recognised the more cautious nature of women when dealing with risk but remained confident that they would come to the right conclusion in the referendum. David did his presentation on the hoof due to an IT glitch.  Nevertheless, his vast experience as a BBC journalist, SNP candidate and Vatican correspondent made for a very interesting perspective on why Scotland should be an independent country and he spoke of the realistic social structures and principles that would enable that vision. Challenging the insulting ‘too wee, too poor and too stupid’ phrase banded about by project fear, David explained why small was beautiful.

On to the questions and as always I try to tease out some material for my blog.  My intense interest was the attitude of these co-called Christians amongst us.  Ian took the question and recognised the behaviour.  It was clear he was bitterly disappointed in his peers.  Being charitable, he put it down to the ministers being conservative with a small ‘c’ and extremely risk averse.  Ian explained that Christians in his experience were for Independence long before the referendum but their values sat well with the Independence campaign.  His greatest criticism of his peers was their willingness and predisposition to sit on the fence – his perspective has always been that christian leaders should be leaders, they should be pathfinders and they should be BRAVE.

The second part of my question was how, do we reconcile their behaviour and how do we get through to them in the little time left.  I firmly believe there are a lot more Christians around than church goers.  I also believe that it is essential to make every effort to break through this so called Christian exterior to reveal whether there are real Christians within – as I suspect there are.

The question I have to ask myself, is why would a Christian feel disposed to prefer their country to be ruled by another country.  I have even heard people say that England does not rule Scotland.  I almost wince at the naivety of that remarks Westminster rules Scotland but England outnumbers Scotland 11:1 so unless IQ have suddenly dropped, that constitutes an English Government, a foreign Government

A question came in from the audience asking whether Christian leaders should be showing more guidance.  Ian reinforced his point about his peers sitting on the fence.  On the other hand, Fiona and David took the more ‘Christian’ view that their leaders must administer for their whole community.

This is the point where I realised, and spoke out, that my Christian perspective may differ somewhat.  I agree with Ian entirely.

However, my overwhelming view is that Christian leaders have a duty and a moral obligation to ensure that their communities are basing their judgement on sound and truthful knowledge.  Where there are lies they must be pointed out and corrected.

IT WOULD BE VERY WRONG FOR CHRISTIAN LEADERS TO ALLOW LIES TO CLOUD THE JUDGEMENT OF THEIR FLOCK WHILE THEY SIT ON THE FENCE AND DO NOTHING