Change of heart

The next day he admitted from the pulpit that he was gay and, in spite of protests from his supportive congregation, resigned from the then homophobic US Presbyterian Church.

Twenty years later, the national church accepted that being gay “was only a sin in biblical translation” and last Saturday Anderson took over a church in Madison, Wisconsin. In a moving service he was “preached-in” by the Rev Mark Achtemeier of Iowa, once a fierce critic of gay people but who, like St Paul, experienced a Damascene conversion.

If such an event can take place in the land of conservative Christianity there may yet be hope for mainland Scotland – if not the gulags of the Highlands and Islands.

(Rev Dr) John Cameron

Howard Place

St Andrews

Mark Boyle’s bitter and spiteful attack on the Rev David Robertson (Letters, 12 October) again betrays the hatred (I don’t use the term lightly) of Christianity that emerges so regularly in contemporary Scotland.

Mr Boyle may think Mr Robertson is not taken seriously in Dundee, but the fact remains that his church is vibrant and has experienced massive growth. His excellent book, The Dawkins Letters, actually sold very well and was widely reviewed favourably. The Solas Centre for Public Christianty attracted about 400 people to its inaugural conference last year.

As for Richard Dawkins ignoring David Robertson, that could well be a sign of fear. Dawkins also repeatedly refuses to engage with prominent Christian debater William Lane Craig.

Alistair McBay’s letter provided us with another example of an atheist employing pejorative language in the place of rational argument. Yes, I do believe in “supernatural phenomena”, including a creator God who has revealed a moral system to us, reflecting his own holiness and purity. Calling this an “irrational Bronze Age prejudice” adds nothing to intelligent debate.

Instead of mocking, can Mr McBay explain why, given the ample evidence, belief in a transcendent being is “irrational”?

Richard Lucas

Broomyknowe

Edinburgh