Hallelujah!

Right at the end of the Channel 4 news item on the Church of England's tussle over gay bishops on Friday evening, there was a chilling wee moment when a man in grey - let's call him a bigot in a clerical collar - put forward the 'traditional' (that is, Dark Ages) view that gays cannot be bishops and finished with a warning: the CofE may be prepared to put a gay person forward as a candidate but just watch what happens when it tries to install (is that the right word?) its first gay bishop. A wee threat there? I think so.

I wonder if the same man in grey is in favour of women being priests in the CofE. Probably not. So that's over 50% of the population rejected by some bits of the CofE due to their being women, along with the - what is it - 9% or 10% of the population who are gay. Equality, eh?

Of course, the CofE has little to do with me or the rest of us in Scotland, except that I believe some of their people sit in the House of Lords and are entitled to vote on matters that affect Scotland. And that I for one don't like.

Not that my criticism would be limited to the CofE. There is some work need on Catholic church attitudes to both women and gays. As for 'The Kirk,' there are times I just want to take my hand off a few smug jaws. For example, when I asked the Church of Scotland about the maintenance of Govan Old Parish Church - full of Celtic religious relics, a treasure store of the history of the Christian religion in Scotland going back 1,500 years, I was told: 'We are not in the business of maintaining ancient monuments.' How no? The CofS built and used Govan Old for over a century. It's a crucial building in the revival of the township of Govan. Step up, people - take some civic responsibility!

I read this week that what believers find hard to take is being 'harangued' by aggressive atheists. All I can say is: if you're a believer, be glad all atheists can do is harangue you, compared to the scarier things believers have been able to do to atheists in the past: burning them at the stake, hanging them, torturing them.....Time to open up a bit of dialogue on the role of religion in a state where so few people actually practise a religion.

And no, I don't want to stop people practising their religion. I'm also in favour of religious and moral education being a compulsory element in the school curriculum, especially the part that makes young people study 2 world religions other than Christianity. I live in hope religious and moral education will produce tolerance and understanding. If it doesn't, what is it for?

There are other good things about religion: some cracking songs for a start. I still know all the words of 'Jesus wants me for a sunbeam' which I learned in the Rosebuds nearly 60 years ago. Not to mention 'Jesus bids us shine like a pure clear light' which I picked up in Sunday school about the same time. Although ever since I had to sit through the funeral of a 15 year old boy drowned on a fishing trip, I would happily ban 'The Old Rugged Cross' for being too awful for public performance - and too hard to sing.

I also read this week that one of the indicators of a 'loser' personality is a fear of change. That, I think, some sections of the major religions have already shown us: step forward, the Jews in their terrible relationship with Palestine; the Islamists in their continued oppression of women; and several other world religions in their inability to grant the importance of people and their rights in religion.

The final thing I read this week is that pessimists live longer than optimists. I plan to disprove that. Grow old along with me - the best is yet to be - even in the CofE!