This week has certainly been a long time for UK politicians, most notably Gordon Brown, who looks like being on his way out as prime minister. He makes a lot of having been raised in a Church of Scotland manse, and his Presbyterian values and ‘moral compass’, though the point of all that is probably a bit lost on many people today, if for no other reason than they’ve heard it so many times now and it’s not altogether clear what it all amounts to. What can in one context be tenacity and commitment can all too easily become stubbornness and aggression. Ask any Presbyterian! The ‘I’m right and you’re all wrong’ attitude has been the cause of many splits and schisms over the years (centuries even) not just in Presbyterian circles, but throughout Scottish churches more generally. One thing we’re thinking about right now is whether this sort of righteousness is an inevitable outcome of a certain kind of theology, or whether that connection is secondary, and other factors such as personality type play a bigger role. It’s certainly the case, in our experience anyway, that folks from other backgrounds seem to be a bit more laid back about things, not taking themselves too seriously, and more ready to know when they need to change.
