THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND - Priestfield Parish Church

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the Scottish Reformation and the Westminster Confession
point unequivocally to the sovereignty of God and the
subordinate, and therefore, provisional role of ‘the civil
magistrate’. In the turbulent times of the 17th Century,
the stance of the Covenanters in Scotland, and such
dissenting groups as the Diggers and Levellers in England,
was rooted in their strong conviction that the authorities
whom they opposed were pursuing policies contrary to
the will of God, and indeed they were ready to resort to
violent resistance - an anticipation of the perspective of
the liberation theologians that violence is a legitimate
response to a violent state. More recent theologians too,
such as Barth, Brunner and Bonhoeffer, believed that, as
a last resort, civil disobedience was permissible, indeed
in extreme circumstances imperative. A cautionary note,
however, was sounded by Thomas Merton, emphasising
that civil disobedience, to be effective, particularly as a
form of communication and awareness-raising, must never
be undertaken lightly or as a matter of routine: he referred
to the danger of protests and demonstrations becoming
a ‘form of political snake-handling’, the celebration of ‘our
own favourite group-myths in a ritual pseudo-event’.
11.2.4.3 In the view of many within the churches it is
not an option but an obligation for Christians to stand up,
speak out and campaign for what is right and good and
just and to be ‘a voice for the voiceless’. Clearly it is a matter
of individual and collective discernment in each case as to
what form campaigning should take and whether direct
action is justified – measured against Christian values,
derived from scripture and tradition, and taking account
of pragmatic as well as conscientious factors. There is a
view that within a state where the government is generally
on acceptable lines, direct action can seldom be justified.
But others have held, with long-standing theological
backing as indicated, that it is the Christian’s obligation
to disobey an unjust or bad law. Within the tradition of
Christian ethics, criteria, corresponding broadly to those
relating to ‘just war’ theory, have been identified that
should be applied before any course of direct action is
CHURCH AND SOCIETY COUNCIL
decided on – such as proportionality, discrimination, just
cause, last resort, likelihood of success; and there is also
the complex question of the relation between means and
ends (and in what situations, for instance, good ends may
justify questionable means). Such considerations assume,
however, that the main object and intention of the action
is to achieve change: this may be so in some cases; but
in others, while this may be the ultimate aim, the more
immediate purpose may be to promote public awareness
or keep an issue before public attention, and there are
other situations again where the primary motive behind
direct action is conscientious witness in its own right on
religious or moral grounds. As Luther said about his great
act of civil disobedience, ‘Here I stand; I can do no other.’
11.2.5 Conclusion
11.2.5.1 Thus, within the Christian tradition and as
applied to current circumstances and issues, there are
various forms of campaigning that can be pursued and
justified. In particular, non-violent direct action, involving
potential or actual civil disobedience, in the form of
deliberate law-breaking, may be regarded as a legitimate
approach in situations where other possibilities have
been exhausted or such considerations as the magnitude
or confessional nature of the issue justify it, and where
those who engage in the action do so conscientiously,
deliberately and ready to accept the legal consequences.
A Bibliography on this issue is available on the Church and
Society website.
12. Education
12.1 Religious Observance in Schools
12.1.1 The Education Committee reported to the 2009
Assembly on the effect and opportunity that the 2005
guidelines on Religious Observance (RO) have brought
to schools. Those guidelines can be seen on the Church
and Society webpages. The Committee indicated in that
report that discussions had begun with a wide variety
of organisations involved in education delivery on the