Goths and Free Church – match made in Heaven

CAN it be possible – the stern and scolding Free Church of Scotland reaching out to be a home for everyone “from Goths to grannies”? This is the bold ambition of the Rev David Meredith, Moderator of the Free Church General Assembly, who warned yesterday that members are regarded as a “quaint relic from a bygone age”.

More excitement and edginess, he said, should be demonstrated in the church. There’s certainly no lack of edginess and excitement in the Goth community. Indeed, its dark attire, unsmiling adherents and disturbing air of melancholy may well make the Goths more compatible bedfellows than is generally assumed.

The Goth community is in itself a broad church, revealing influences from 19th-century Gothic literature and dress styles drawing on deathrock and punk, often androgynous, accompanied by black attire and lipstick, playfully offset with shiny metallic studs and the odd razor blade.

Goths do not “do happy”, a characteristic that may draw them closer to the Free Church. They would certainly bring musical surprise to the services. Bands such as the Damned and Alien Sex Fiend may be given a miss. But who could not hum along to All Gone Dead and Sisters of Mercy?

Does not the Bible tell us that in my Father’s house are many mansions?