The Unionist cause took a bit of a self-inflicted hit today. The Daily Record, and other papers, published a picture claiming that SNP members were pretending to be part of the Labour for Independence movement. It turns out, however, that the picture was taken months ago and there was no duplicity involved. All members of the 'YES' campaign had met up to canvass support and some of them posed with a LFI banner, which somebody put on their Facebook page. Desperate Unionists found the picture, removed the description and drew their own, sordid conclusions. You can read the whole sorry story here.
And even more desperate was the attempts by Bill McMurdo, on his blog, to try once again to turn Scottish independence into a sectarian issue. He repeatedly calls the SNP 'Republicans,' a word that sends shivers down the spine of most Orangemen. Salmond has stated repeatedly that the monarchy will continue. In fact, the whole idea of the monarchy is a separate issue and would have to be dealt with post-independence. The Union of Crowns and the Union of Parliaments were two separate events and have to be dealt with as such.
McMurdo quotes the Bible, claiming that monarchs are appointed by God. As he says, 'Respect for the monarchy goes hand in hand with the fear of God.' Surely this sort of thinking disappeared with the Reformation and then the French Revolution?
If, however, he honestly believes that monarchs are Divinely-ordained, then one has to question why Mary, Queen of Scots was run out of her country by the Presbyterians, why her grandson was executed by Puritans, including Presbyterians and why her great-grandson was removed from his throne in favour of a Dutch pederast? This is where his whole argument falls apart; people make monarchs and people can remove them!
Strangely, many of the same ilk as McMurdo see independence as a 'threat to Presbyterian Scotland.' Putting aside the fact that Scotland is now a multi-cultural country, they fail to see that the Unions of Crowns and Parliaments were actually detrimental to the Church of Scotland. Firstly, there were the attempts of Charles I to impose bishops and the 'Book of Common Prayer' on the Church of Scotland. He wanted to make the Church homogeneous in all his kingdoms; especially since he was the head of the Church of England. This caused serious ructions in the Church of Scotland.
With the Union of Parliaments the Church of Scotland lost its place as the Established Church. This led to a serious crisis within the Church and culminated in the secession of about a third of the clegy and congregation to form the Free Church of Scotland in 1843.
With government now far away in London, the Church of Scotland could no longer dictate policy in Scotland, especially with the growth of cities in the Nineteenth Century. They could no longer stop people from drinking and dancing and eventually even Christmas came back and the schools went on holiday at the Christmas period.
Unlike the rest of us, perhaps these Unionist Presbyterians want a return to the old days of enforced church attendance and the interference of the Church in every aspect of people's lives. The fact is that it was the Union that destroyed the Church's power and maintaining the Union is not going to bring it back!
