Scottish Storm

Reading and writing briefly about the reformation period this last few days, passing the time as the storm raged past, has rekindled some memories of my original blog. It has changed a bit since then and so have I. My blog not the weather.

Not changing at all is as bad as not changing for the better. "Whoever does not gather with me scatters" said Jesus. Recently I have avoided the single issue that makes me a political animal at the mere mention of it; Scottish Independence.

That will not be so easy from here on in. The question proposed today by the Electorate Commission "Should Scotland be an independent nation?" and agreed by the Scottish government, is simple but taught with questions about interpretation. Yes it should be Independent! Bought and sold for English gold and all that! Hang on!? What is a nation? What does it mean today to be independent?
Homosexual marriage has alerted the sensitivities of the Catholic vote in Scotland and England. Both governments seem hell bent on pushing through this latest reformation. Reformation and the question of Scotland's independence were almost one and the same issue in 16th century Scotland. Our clergy were at the forefront of that particular storm, fighting to maintain orthodoxy of belief and maintain national identity against the scheming of the reformers and their English backers. Today it will be different. The two governments have no care for orthodoxy of belief.They make their own beliefs, not unlike Henry VIII i suppose! But Catholics and Protestants will be on both sides. Will our clergy be able to argue against homosexual marriage using the threat of being against the national independence of their flock, while at the same time presumably insisting the Vatican continues to acknowledge their independence? If Scotland votes for union, and the perceived wrongs of the past are mandated by the Scottish people themselves, could the Vatican one day start seeing things differently? Are we really better off in a Union that supports homosexual marriage than in an independent Scotland that does? There is a storm coming.