Sir, The tail of anti-gay activists entrenched in its central committees is in danger of wagging the Church of Scotland dog over the question of same-sex marriage.
A very large number of the parish clergy like me support the move and the laity reflects the views of the general public, which polls show to be three to one in favour.
First Minister Alex Salmond would not have backed this controversial issue were he not convinced that it was the will of the vast majority in Scotland.
There is not the slightest chance of the Kirk ceasing to conduct the marriages of its people and the outrageous suggestion that it might do so is pure scaremongering.
And there will be “clear and robust” protection of the kind already in place in Europe so the claim that this long over-due reform is a threat to religious liberty is absurd.
Rev Dr John Cameron. 10 Howard Place, St Andrews.
God would not reveal himself in this way
Sir, Grahame Lockhart’s suggestion (Letters, September 14) that the church considers changing its understanding of God in the context of discussing the definition (or redefinition) of marriage misses the biblical teaching by a very long way.
When John said: “A man can receive nothing except it be given him from heaven.” (John 3 verse 27), he spoke of spiritual truth, or of the knowledge of God.
It is clear from the whole bible that God, who is un-changing, reveals himself to the individual humble seeking heart, even that of a child, by faith not intellect.
He chooses to reveal himself not to human reasoning, not to the proud, and not to the conclusion of a committee determined to redefine marriage.
Stuart Wishart. 12 Walnut Grove, Blairgowrie.
Scam of the century
Sir, I attended the recent Ceres Community Council meeting where a Mr Douglas Henry from RDS Element Power Ltd was giving his dissertation on the benefits of having a 100-metre high wind farm towering over the countryside around the local villages.
I suggested that the only people getting any benefit were the developers, as each turbine gets a subsidy of £250,000 a year. I was politely told I was talking rubbish.
At home I looked up “wind farm subsidies” on the internet and found that I was indeed mistaken. A two-megawatt turbine gets a subsidy of £300,000 a year, whether it produces any power or not. This is costing us billions of pounds a year, paid for through our fuel bills.
The government is talking of cutting the subsidies, hence the flood of new applications before this happens. As we still have to have reliable power stations on standby these so-called wind farms are a waste of space. No wonder someone called them thebiggest scam of the century, as well as taking the “bonnie” out of Bonnie Scotland.
Ian Deas. Struthers Barns, Cupar.
Welcome news for builders
Sir, I wholeheartedly welcome the First Minister’s announcement that a Procurement Reform Bill has been sent to the Scottish Parliament.
This legislation has been a long time coming having originally been announced in the Scottish Government’s 2012 legislative programme.
The Scottish Building Federation recently highlighted the spiralling cost to Scottish construction firms of participating in public tenders.
By streamlining processes and cutting costs, it could encourage many more particularly smaller building forms to bid for public sector contracts.
Vaughan Hart. Managing Director, Scottish Building Federation .
Help after fall appreciated
Sir, Friday the 13th and bad things happen, but every cloud has a silver lining. My own experience on Friday past is a perfect example. After losing my balance on the steps at the Royal Bank of Scotland in Dundee’s High Street, I suffered a pretty severe fall, hitting my head on one of the benches in the street.
However, on the positive side, my faith in human nature has been bolstered by the actions of two of the bank staff who came to my assistance. They insisted on taking me into the bank where the first-aid girl applied a cold compress to my head.
After about half an hour, when I felt well enough to make my home, one of the girls offered me a lift in her car. While I chose to call my son and he took me home the girls’ concern continued, with a phone call that evening just to check that I was all right.
My heartfelt gratitude goes to those two helpful and conscientious young ladies.
Angela Iannetta. Muirhead by Dundee.