THE Church of Scotland is to review its “virulent anti-Catholic” doctrinal statement amid concerns it still includes wording that the "Pope is the anti-christ", despite the Kirk distancing itself from the language more than 30 years ago.
The annual gathering in Edinburgh of senior Church figures agreed to review its use of the Westminster Confession, the Kirk's "subordinate statement" that has stood as its position of faith since the seventeenth century.
READ MORE: Anger at Kirk's £22m oil and gas firms investments
The move came after a call by the Melrose and Peebles Presbytery, who said although dissociated the wording remains in print in the confession, which is named after the abbey of its origin, and also suggested considering a book of confessions.
Isobel Hunter, picture below, an elder who jointly addressed the assembly alongside former Moderator the Very Rev Finlay Macdonald, said: “The Westminster Confession in print to which we all must swear still speaks of the elect who only shall be saved, and of the Popes, the anti-christ and worse.
“Despite almost 400 years of disquiet and unease over the subordinate standard of faith it has not changed since it was written in the seventeenth century.
“To give that context, the confession was adopted at a time when Scotland boasted of being the foremost burner of witches in Europe.
“We have moved on from that.”
VIDEO: John Knox 'birling' in grave as 200 female ministers in Church march
The Kirk earlier moved to distance itself from the wording, stating: “This Church no longer affirms the following contents of the Westminster Confession of Faith that: He (the Pope of Rome) is anti-christ, that man of sin and son of perdition, that exalteth himself in the Church against Christ, and all that is called God.”
Above: Very Rev Finlay Macdonald
But the confession also says marriage should be between a man and woman, and, in another section disclaimed by the Kirk, it reads "such as profess the true reformed religion should not marry with Infidels, Papists or other idolators".
Mrs Hunter said that ahead of becoming an elder: “My minister had obtained copies for the two of us who were to be ordained, and included a note with them which said among other things: this edition has made none of the recent changes to the more virulent anti-Catholic sentiments.
“I suspect that is a common misunderstanding, that current printed editions just skip the unacceptable bits. But, no, they are all there in the print.”
READ MORE: Church backs radical reform amid call for 'freeing of funds'
The presbytery called on the Kirk's Theological Forum to "look afresh at the wording and terms of reference of the formula of subscription used in services of ordination".
Rev Gordon Palmer, of Claremont Church in East Kilbride, said: "The overture is not being prescriptive yet nevertheless there is one place where it is making a particular suggestion to explore the possibility of a book of confessions.
"Is it a bit like the patient who goes to a succession of doctors until he or she gets the diagnosis that she wanted or he wanted?"
READ MORE: Anger at Kirk's £22m oil and gas firms investments
Mr Macdonald said it "gives a broader background of faith within the early Church tradition and the Reformed tradition".
He said: "It is not something we are particularly pushing for, what we are pushing for is for this question to be looked at again of a subordinate standard that is taken less than seriously across the church."
Rev Dr John McPake, who is the Church's Ecumenical Officer, said: "In 1986, the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland formally dissociated itself from those sections of the Westminster Confession of Faith (1647) that contained condemnations of the Roman Catholic Church.
"The Church of Scotland enjoys a strong relationship with the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland and we continue to walk together in shared fellowship and witness."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel