Letter: A church divided

Stephen McGinty suggests the Kirk’s General Assembly should elect a “prophet for a year” (your report, 19 May) but he fails to recognise how partisan and deeply divided it has become.

It is adept at shutting down debate, yet it is riven on key matters such as euthanasia, same-sex marriage, abortion, gay clergy, global warming and most socio- economic issues.

The problem of being the spokesman for a church divided is ably demonstrated by the Archbishop of Canterbury, whose well-meaning abstractions are simply Pythonesque.

Cardinal O’Brien is in an entirely different position, because he is not simply the Scottish Catholic leader but a great Prince of the Church, who represents the Holy Father in Rome.

To speak with authority on today’s complex problems would require a polymath like the legendary Thomas Chalmers and the assembly prefers to settle for a “safe pair of hands”.

(Dr) John Cameron

Howard Place

St Andrews