A house divided, despite all the prayers for unity

since the early part

of the century.

THE year 1911 has not figured much in Scottish Church history. Yet it

is within the lifetime of a substantial number of people who will this

week attend services organised to celebrate the Week of Prayer for

Christian Unity.

At first sight Scotland in 1911 was not exactly a hotbed of ecumenism.

Roman Catholic state schools had yet to be invented, and the archdiocese

of Glasgow had been restored for only a generation after a 300-year

hiatus (a historical fact conveniently ignored by those organising the

recent quincentenary).

If Catholic/Protestant relations were not at their cosiest,

relationships among the presbyterians were not much better. The United

Free Church had just come through a bitter legal battle in the House of

Lords after it had been decided that the ''Wee Free'' Church, who had

stayed out of the union with the United Presbyterians, was entitled to

all the substantial properties of the former Free Church. Unity

negotiations between the UF Church and the Church of Scotland were more

than a decade away.

Despite this state of affairs, Edinburgh in 1911 had just played host

to the World Missionary Conference, an event which can be seen in

retrospect as ending the attitude of denominational competitiveness and

cultural imperialism which had characterised much nineteenth century

missionary activity.

From then on, co-operation between Churches in the common cause of

Christianity was to increase. In 1911 Edinburgh (and a Kirk Moderator in

particular) also played host to the Persian guru Abdu'l-Baha, who had

succeeded his father Baha'u'llah as leader of the Baha'i faith, which

teaches God's messengers in previous ages (such as Mohammed, Buddha and

Jesus) were part of God's plan to achieve spiritual unity among all

humanity.

Abdu'l-Baha met with a warm welcome in Scotland which then seemed to

be more enthusiastic about unity as long as it stayed on a fraternal

rather than organisational level. Arguably that is still very much the

case.

In 1950 the Baha'is started World Religion Day, which fell yesterday,

halfway through the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity. It is an

appropriate point at which to ask how far ecumenical relations have

progressed in Scotland in recent years, both between Christian Churches

and other faiths.

The fifties saw a low point over the Bishops Report within the Kirk,

which was vehemently rejected (and its architects promptly made

Moderators). The sixties brought Vatican II and all kinds of optimistic

hopes. Among the by-products was the formation of the multi-lateral

Church conversations among non-RC Churches in Scotland. These produced a

report in 1985 entitled Christian Unity -- Now is The Time. Clearly it

was not yet the time, since eight years later the largest partner, the

Church of Scotland, entitled its report to the General Assembly Who Goes

Where?, a sure sign that things are not going anywhere, rather than

producing blueprints.

Part of the difficulty is that it became clear in the early days of

the multilateral discussions that a unified Church would be a bit like

an animal designed by a committee and satisfy no-one.

Notwithstanding the occupation of their founder, the multi-lateral

Churches ruled out ''ecclesiastical joinery'' in favour of ''unity amid

diversity'', a formula for keeping the talking going.

Ten years ago there appeared to be a breakthrough at international

level in the dialogue with Rome contained in the Baptism, Eucharist and

Ministry report produced at Lima. This was the first sign that Rome

might accept the ministry of the Reformed Churches as valid. It proved

to be a false rumour. The present Pope and Cardinal Ratzinger, his

doctrinal supremo, are not disposed to recognise the Anglican Church

with women priests, and are hardly likely to go further in providing

recognition for non-episcopal Churches of the Reformed tradition. The

theological clock has moved back during the current papacy rather than

forward.

Despite all the gains in friendliness between Catholics and

Protestants at individual level; despite vastly better understanding of

each other's beliefs; despite Scottish RC's joining the ecumenical body

ACTS and helping set up a similar body to cover Glasgow (to which,

incidentally, Rangers FC gave #3000); despite all these things, there

has not been any concession by the Roman Catholic Church on the crucial

matter of recognition of Reformed Churches as valid parts of the holy,

catholic and apostolic Church.

That is the beginning and end of it. Unless the Roman Catholic Church

can bite that bullet, unity that is anything more than friendly respect

is dead. And the simple truth is that under the present Pope there is no

chance whatsoever of getting anywhere along that road.

The root of this is a genuine difference of opinion, not simply

bigotry. Rome sees the apostolic succession taking place through visible

signs such as bishops, whereas Protestants root their apostolic

tradition in the continuity of preaching the gospel and confessions of

faith. It's the old Reformation debate of scripture versus tradition and

scripture, with the animosity left out.

Oh yes, we're all pals until it comes to all kinds of things which

would have been conceded long ago had it been a simple matter of being

nice to one another. If niceness were the nub of the matter, then would

it not be possible for Catholics to take communion in a Reformed church?

They can, but they're not allowed to. Or what about the mixed marriage

in which a presbyterian marries a Catholic. The couple agree to bring

their children up as ''Christians'' but when it emerges this means they

will go to the local kirk, the RC bishop withdraws the permission to

marry. To cite these examples is sometimes thought of as ''unhelpful''.

Not a bit of it. It is a simple demonstration that one Church

continues to refuse to recognise that the other Church is an equally

valid part of the same religion.

If Catholic/Protestant relations are in a cul-de-sac, relations in

Scotland between Christianity and other faiths have become edgy, to say

the least. Recent outspoken support for the Palestinian cause by some

Churches has caused hurt among Jews who see attacks on Israel as attacks

upon the protector of their faith.

Islamic fundamentalism in Arab countries has increased fears that

Muslim immigrants in Scotland will become influenced, fears that have

not been diminished by reactions over the Rushdie fatwa and the failure

of a moderate and articulate leader to have emerged among Scottish

Muslims. Education -- Islamic and Catholic schools -- is likely to be an

area in which further tensions will emerge.

Back in the sixties those who favoured a more ''quietistic'' approach

and rejected the dogmatism of Islam and Christianity were drawn to

Eastern religions as an alternative. Many of the gurus they found were

exposed as charlatans and their transcendental meditation was merely

another form of accumulating treasure on earth.

Two exceptions have emerged: New Age devotees who have been able to

give expression to environmental interests, a kind of Ecology Party at

prayer; and the Baha'is who emerged from Persia/Iran as a persecuted

sect and began to make their presence felt on the world stage. They

still have only 6 million followers spread in 270,000 locations but have

had their founder's teaching translated into 1100 languages and have yet

to be accused of intolerance, or oppression. They have no priesthood or

proselytising (when enquirers want to join they sign a registration card

which entitles them to vote at one of the assemblies).

Meetings take the form of a ''feast'' every 19 days at a house-church

after prayers and problems are shared. Their temples are for the use of

all and are somewhat grand affairs. The HQ temple is at Haifa and the

lotus leaf structure in India now boasts more visitors annually than the

Taj Mahal.

BBC Scotland newsreader James Gillies, who became a Baha'i in 1986,

says: ''We're not hippy-dippies and we're not into real estate. Baha'is

believe in the unity of all religions and we're not allowed to indulge

in party politics. It's a religion of the future with the oneness of

humanity and world citizenship being promoted.''

In one way the multilateral Church conversations and the Baha'i World

Religion Day represent different ways of dealing with a multi-cultural

society. The first seeks to find a compromise formula and the second to

promote an all-encompassing new alternative. But enough years have

elapsed since 1911 to conclude that neither looks at the moment like

gaining enough ground to be able to lay claim to be the future. Our past

still has a strong grasp on the present.