I think we’d all agree that society (whatever definition one gives to this term) evolves over time. Things don’t remain static and with this change, beliefs and values also evolve. I’ve certainly seen the way society treats minority groups change, and very much for the better, over the past thirty years or so. It would be unthinkable nowadays, to shut away unmarried pregnant women, or to sterilise and institutionalise the mentally handicapped. The kind of jokes made about people’s ethnic origin have all but disappeared from our newspapers and television screens, and civil partnerships, although not perfect, give important legal standing and recognition to same-sex couples (and I don’t believe it will be long before full marriage between same-sex couples, already a fact in many of our European neighbours, will be legislated for here in Scotland and the wider UK).

As society evolves, so to must the structures in society evolve. In our schools, we try hard to deal with bullying on any pretext, although most schools could probably do more, particularly, as the statistics  tend to suggest, on homophobic bullying. Even the police have changed too. Looking back at the words written by Tom Robinson in 1978 for his song, “Glad to be Gay” I think many folk would find it hard to believe that the police regularly bullied and stigmatised the LGBT community….

“The British Police are the best in the world
I don’t believe one of these stories I’ve heard
‘Bout them raiding our pubs for no reason at all
Lining the customers up by the wall
Picking out people and knocking them down
Resisting arrest as they’re kicked on the ground
Searching their houses and calling them queer
I don’t believe that sort of thing happens here”

I remember this kind of thing happening all too well.

Tom went on in another verse (in the updated version of the song) to write about the media, another important structure in society which undoubtedly has had to change its style of reporting over the last 30 years….

“The papers in Britain are really the pits
Commissioned by bigots & written by shits
They plaster their pages with bingo & tits
Then add all the scandal and slander that fits
They pick out their victims, destroying their lives
They sneer as they smear as they damn and despise
If it’s paedophile teachers or lesbian nuns
If it’s filth and it’s fiction… it’s there in The Sun”.

You can download all the mp3 versions of this song, and all his other recordings for free from Tom Robinson.com

Of course, recent goings on in the church here in Scotland have focussed attention on equality. The Scott Rennie affair has pushed the attitudes in the Church of Scotland into the limelight recently and the Episcopal church in America has been debating the appointment of openly gay Bishops.

And perhaps it’s also fitting, and a reflection of the modern tolerant society today’s Scotland aspires to be that a lead on equality came this Sunday from a senior churchman in Glasgow. Whilst the Church of Scotland prevaricates and fudges, the free churches spout their usual bigotry, and the Catholic church offers only condemnation and exclusion , the very reverend Kelvin Holdsworth, Provost of St Mary’s Cathedral in Glasgow gave a thoughtful and very brave interview to Scotland on Sunday. I think he speaks on our hopes for the future of our society far more eloquently than I ever could.

Of course, many play the selective quoting of the bible game here, but to me, the real issue is not what was written in a few tracts here and there, but the meanings of the words in the context of the time in which they were written. The bible reflects the cultural context of the time and it’s one which has changed immeasurably over the thousands of years which have passed. That’s why we no longer sacrifice our animals, or even our first-born sons, and have no qualms about wearing clothes made up of mixtures of fibres. It’s why we would also consider wife-beating unacceptable.

I’m no theologian. I find some parts of the bible unintelligible to be honest, but I can’t believe for one moment that the God in which I believe would create men and women who are born gay and lesbian and then deny them the comfort and support of a loving and committed relationship. If the churches are going to survive then they have to do as they have always done and reflect the changes in society. After all, many have done that before over the years with regard to animal sacrifice, translating the bible from the Latin, remarriage and the ordination of women priests.

I’ve never managed to find anything in the bible which condemns or forbids loving, stable and committed same-sex relationships, in fact there doesn’t appear to be anything at all on this (although I’m happy to be corrected). Nowadays, If I do read the bible, then its usually the psalms, mainly for the beauty of the language and the messages of joy, peace and acceptance you can usually find there. Psalm 118 has a particularly apt verse 22. It says this…

“The stone that the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone”

Maybe this could be taken (in the context of today’s culture anyway) to mean that those people who in past times, society has ridiculed, rejected and persecuted are actually now able, through changed attitudes and acceptance, to take their proper place in contributing to the building of communities which are better, fairer and more just, and take their rightful places in the structures which make up society, including the church.

Provost Holdsworth and the Episcopal church have given a courageous lead on the true meaning of equality which many others might do well to consider, not just in the churches, but in all walks of life and in all the many parts which make up and underpin our society here in Scotland and further afield. Especially if we aspire to live in a world which truly values each and every one of us for who, rather than what, we are.