Author: Alistair McBay
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To spank or not to spank – a biblical right?
Posted: Sat, 21 Oct 2017 by Alistair McBay
With Christian groups leading the opposition to Scotland's new smacking ban, Alistair McBay explores the many instances of Christian schools and campaigners demanding the ability to spank children as a religious or even biblical right.
This week the Scottish... Read More »
The Catholic Church in Scotland is still playing the victim card to stifle criticism
Posted: Thu, 06 Apr 2017 by Alistair McBay
There is some lingering anti-Catholic bigotry in Scotland, writes NSS vice president Alistair McBay, but the Church is playing victim while supporting a segregated education system which can only worsen prejudice.
"As one brought up a Catholic, I know only... Read More »
A faith ethos is no magic solution for improving schools
Posted: Sat, 07 Jan 2017 by Alistair McBay
There are success stories and failures in schools of all types, including faith schools, despite what the churches would have people believe. NSS vice president Alistair McBay debunks the myth that 'faith school' is a byword for success.
2016 was another interesting... Read More »
Sabbatarians have imposed their dogma on islanders for long enough, help them put a stop to it
Posted: Thu, 08 Dec 2016 by Alistair McBay
The National Secular Society is helping campaigners on the Isle of Lewis open a sports centre on a Sunday, currently blocked by a council who won't allow it on the Sabbath. It's hardly the first time Sabbatarians on Lewis have played this game.
The attempt... Read More »
Religious belief is no barrier to criminality
Posted: Thu, 09 Jun 2016 by Alistair McBay
A spate of media reports have suggested that criminals convicted of sex abuse feigned their religion. NSS Vice-President Alistair McBay argues that the media shouldn't seek to protect religion from criticism by misrepresenting these cases.
A disturbing new... Read More »
Scotland is a mosaic of religions and beliefs – but the research shows people turning away from politicised faith
Posted: Thu, 24 Mar 2016 by Alistair McBay
Scotland is a mosaic of beliefs and non-beliefs where individuals are free to hold a belief, change it or not have one at all. But it's not hard to see why people are rejecting the organised and politicised aspects of religion, writes Alistair McBay.
Much is... Read More »
Scottish evangelists identify Paganism as one of the “biggest threats to Western civilisation”
Posted: Mon, 16 Nov 2015 by Alistair McBay
After the world suffered another grim reminder of the merciless Islamist ideology, the Solas Centre for Public Christianity warned instead that the re-emergence of Paganism in Scotland was one of the biggest threats to civilization.
On Sunday 15 November 2015... Read More »
A very confused and immoderate Moderator
Posted: Wed, 20 May 2015 by Alistair McBay
Alistair McBay examines the confused and immoderate arguments of the new Moderator of the Free Church of Scotland.
The Reverend David Robertson of the Free Church of Scotland has now taken up the mantle of the church's Moderator.
First of all, it would be churlish... Read More »
Why did the CPS abandon investigation into Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor?
Posted: Thu, 19 Mar 2015 by Alistair McBay
As the full scale of the British Establishment's cover-up of child sex abuse becomes apparent, Alistair McBay argues it is time for the Crown Prosecution Service to make public its reasons for dropping the investigation into Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor... Read More »
Is the Christian immune from plane crashes?
Posted: Tue, 17 Feb 2015 by Alistair McBay
Alistair McBay reports on Scottish Calvinism's attack on secularism, and offers his reaction to the rhetoric and tactics of the Free Church of Scotland.
The airline industry has had more than its fair share of tragedy recently, with the loss of many lives... Read More »
Rendering unto Caesar
Posted: Mon, 19 Jan 2015 by Alistair McBay
The established Church throws stones from inside its Government-subsidised glass cathedral, argues Alistair McBay.
The Church of England was in the news again last week as it tried to prove its relevance to 21st century Britain.
After the embarrassing PR fiasco... Read More »
Churches, charity and the conferring of privilege
Posted: Tue, 06 Jan 2015 by Alistair McBay
There are many ways to do good, including campaigning for human rights and equality over discrimination and prejudice, but charitable work is not a bargaining chip for special privileges, argues Alistair McBay.
Recently some Christian leaders in Scotland angered... Read More »
The Bishops, the Catholic vote and the Referendum
Posted: Fri, 10 Oct 2014 by Alistair McBay
Alistair McBay argues that a growing political alliance between the leadership of the Catholic Church in Scotland and SNP has implications which stretch far beyond the Referendum campaign and threaten to revive religious identity politics.
"Most people still... Read More »
Religion “mustn't cause violence”
Posted: Wed, 10 Sep 2014 by Alistair McBay
Both media commentators and politicians seem keen to claim religion as a cause for good deeds but determined not to acknowledge it as a contributing factor to bad ones, argues Alistair McBay.
An article in the Scotsman in May by Joyce McMillan ran with the... Read More »
Embedded religious privilege triumphs on Scottish education issues
Posted: Mon, 12 May 2014 by Alistair McBay
National Secular Society's spokesperson for Scotland, Alistair McBay, argues that the Scottish Parliament has helped entrench religious privilege in the country's education system.
Tuesday 6 May was a busy day in the Scottish Parliament which saw a triumph... Read More »
The God question: A tale of two adverts
Posted: Tue, 07 Jan 2014 by Alistair McBay
Alistair McBay examines the PR campaign behind an educational resource that seeks to bring creationism and intelligent design into the science classrooms of Scotland.
Further to my two previous blogs on the God Question which you can read here and here, I have... Read More »
The God Question – a Trojan horse for Intelligent Design
Posted: Fri, 29 Nov 2013 by Alistair McBay
Intelligent Design is back in shiny new packaging, labelled as 'evidence based and balanced' and getting into the science classrooms in Scotland, argues Alistair McBay.
"To be sure, Darwin's theory of evolution is imperfect. However, the fact that a scientific... Read More »
A search for truth, or a trojan horse for religion in schools?
Posted: Tue, 12 Nov 2013 by Alistair McBay
Alistair McBay questions the objectivity of a new educational resource that claims to "review, objectively and dispassionately, the case for the existence of God".
A new DVD resource was launched this week at the Scottish Storytelling Centre that claims to... Read More »
No new options on religious observance in Scottish schools
Posted: Thu, 24 Oct 2013 by Alistair McBay
The Scottish Government has responded to the petition lodged recently by the Scottish Secular Society to change the current parental opt-out option on Religious Observance to an opt-in.
The SSS had called for an amendment to the Education (Scotland) Act 1980... Read More »
Prayer Spaces in Schools
Posted: Thu, 01 Aug 2013 by Alistair McBay
A worrying development in Britain's schools in the last two years, and not just in its faith schools, is Prayer Spaces in Schools (PSIS).
PSIS is an organisation that says of itself:
"Prayer Spaces in Schools enable children and young people to explore faith... Read More »
Secular petitions highlight the sectarian issues in Scottish education
Posted: Thu, 13 Jun 2013 by Alistair McBay
The last few weeks have seen the topic of religious observance (RO) in schools hit the headlines in Scotland. Two petitions have been lodged, one at central government and one at local government level.
Secular Scotland, a group of Glasgow secularists, launched... Read More »
The sorry tale of the Catholic Church in Scotland continues to unfold
Posted: Tue, 12 Mar 2013 by Alistair McBay
By Alistair McBay, NSS spokesperson for Scotland
It seems there is no end to the woes of the Catholic Church in Scotland in the wake of Cardinal O'Brien's abrupt departure.
The latest reports in the media examine the Scottish Catholic Church's record on dealing... Read More »
The sorry tale of the Catholic Church in Scotland continues to unfold
Posted: Tue, 12 Mar 2013 by Alistair McBay
By Alistair McBay, NSS spokesperson for Scotland
It seems there is no end to the woes of the Catholic Church in Scotland in the wake of Cardinal O'Brien's abrupt departure.
The latest reports in the media examine the Scottish Catholic Church's record on dealing... Read More »
Children in Scotland awaiting adoption - who puts their best interests first?
Posted: Thu, 28 Feb 2013 by Alistair McBay
Imagine for a moment a secular public service, let's say an adoption charity, refusing to consider applications from prospective adopters who are Catholic purely on the grounds of their religion (equality law notwithstanding) and deliberately restricting the... Read More »
Motes and beams in banking ethics
Posted: Tue, 07 Aug 2012 by Alistair McBay
Back in 2009, the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Westminster, Vincent Nichols, held a private seminar entitled "Leadership in the financial sector: a moral and spiritual challenge?" for top City financiers to explore the relevance of Pope Benedict's encyclical... Read More »
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