R & M Report 2012 - Scottish Independence

The following section of the report on this subject was prepared by Rev Allan MacColl and reflects on a subject which the Synod may wish to make further direct representations to the Government on.

While we make no attempt to meddle with party political matters, there are some wider political issues which have such bearing on the cause of Christ that it is the duty of the Church to speak out concerning them. If there is anything that fits into that category, it is surely the future of the relation between Scotland and the rest of the United Kingdom. The First Minister of Scotland, Mr Alex Salmond, has announced his plans for a referendum on full independence for Scotland, which he hopes will take place in 2014.

What should the attitude of Christians be to this issue? Whatever political party we may support, it should be clear to us that the cause of Christ ought to take precedence in the formulation of our opinions over any secular interest. It is because of our overriding concern for the position of the Christian religion in the nation that we must voice our serious concerns about independence. While there are many arguments which could be put in favour of retaining the Union, we will content ourselves with a few outstanding points at present.

Firstly, if Scotland became an independent nation state what kind of constitution would it have? There is no doubt whatsoever that it would be a secular constitution which would give no recognition to the rights of Christ as King of Nations nor any significant place to the Christian religion and to Christ’s Church in the life of the nation. While Britain is undoubtedly a most ungodly society, our constitution is still firmly Christian and Protestant, and we believe that that simple fact may be a means of hindering greater evils from coming upon us than already have. We pray for a day when our constitution may become an instrument in the hands of the Lord for guiding figures in public life in the direction of the Bible and the implementation of godly legislation. There will be no means of doing that in the secular political climate envisaged by Mr Salmond. The removal of an avowedly-Christian constitution would be a most provoking act against the Most High. ‘My son, fear thou the Lord and the king, and meddle not with them that are given to change’ (Proverbs 24:21).

Secondly, the position of the Church of Rome would be greatly strengthened if Scotland left the Union. Although the Church of Scotland still has more nominal adherents, the Roman Catholic Church has by far the greater influence on politicians and the media in Scotland today. But in Britain generally, though the political influence of Rome is all too strong, it is mitigated to some degree by the fact that the vast majority of the population are nominal Protestants. The Scottish National Party has been quick to court the Roman Catholic hierarchy in recent times in order to win over the Roman Catholic vote. They know that the underlying source of the Labour Party’s electoral dominance in Scotland in the twentieth century was the Roman Catholic vote in the central belt and they now greatly covet that for themselves. An independent Scotland would be a small nation in which the Roman Catholic Church would swiftly become the leading religious body and this would leave the rest of the population exposed to the power of Roman Catholicism in both political and religious life.

Another reason to oppose independence is the fact that it would inevitably mean that Scotland would be drawn into closer ties with the European Union than at present. It seems to us that there is a fundamental inconsistency within Scottish nationalism itself which nationalists never attempt to address. That inconsistency is simply the fact that, in leaving the United Kingdom, Scotland would depend more and more on the European Union. If independence from Britain is such a desirable goal, why immediately give away that independence into the increasingly unaccountable and unstable EU? Of course, our principle objection to the EU is that it plays into the hands of the Pope of Rome and his schemes to regain political and ecclesiastical hegemony in Europe. How pleased the Pope would be if the nation with the largest Protestant population in Europe disappeared from the map! A vote for independence therefore is a vote to increase Roman Catholic influence one way or another, at the national and international levels.

It is not long since Mr Salmond was holding up the Republic of Ireland as a model of how an independent Scotland should run its economy. We don’t hear him saying that today however! If we had been an ‘independent’ nation within the Euro-zone over the past decade we would be in as great straits as the Irish are today and perhaps much worse. The financial crisis in the EU is a salient reminder of how dangerous further European integration would have been for us all. The last thing an independent Scotland ought to do is to throw in its lot with the Euro and the EU. Of course, a Scottish currency would be unsustainable and liable to be destroyed on the financial markets. Clearly, the only viable and sane alternative is to stick with the Pound Sterling. Thus, the logical conclusion follows that Scotland should stay within the Union because if we leave the Union and yet retain the Pound we will have absolutely no democratic influence over the fiscal policies which would control our currency. We have never heard any nationalist politicians address these points satisfactorily and until they do, we regard the case for independence as economically naïve and dangerous to our political and religious interests. The eighth commandment forbids ‘whatsoever doth or may unjustly hinder our own or our neighbour’s wealth or outward estate’ and that is precisely what we fear will happen very quickly in an independent Scotland where the dominant political influences would be those of atheistic socialism and Roman Catholicism. ‘Be thou diligent to know the state of thy flocks and look well to thy herds’ (Proverbs 27:23).  

Another reason to retain the Union is the fact that the Lord has blessed Britain in the past as much as any other country in the world since the Reformation. To break the Union would be to break the spiritual bond which the Covenanters aimed to form between the nations of these islands. The vows they took in the Solemn League and Covenant stand as a witness to the obligations of the rulers and people of Britain to honour Christ as Head of the Church and as the Prince of the Kings of the Earth down to the end of time. We have no right to do anything to weaken that vision and obligation. The Lord will require it at the hands of this unthankful generation if we undermine the Protestant foundations of our United Kingdom. The Treaty of Union guarantees the Protestant religion as the religion of these islands in perpetuity and no Government in Edinburgh, London or Brussels has any right to change such provisions. We are well aware that many of the godly in Scotland at the time of the Union of the Parliaments in 1707 were against that Union, including the eminent Thomas Boston. However, the Presbyterian people of Scotland very soon came to see the link with the rest of Britain as a vital bulwark against the return of the tyrannical House of Stuart and against popery and poverty. The Union has been a great blessing to Scotland, especially in times of war. Who, for example, would have stood against Hitler in 1940 if Britain had not been a United Kingdom?

The final point in our case for the Union is that we desire future generations to enjoy the same liberties, prosperity and peace that we have known in the United Kingdom. Independence is a terrible risk to the future prospects of Scotland both spiritually and temporally. In leaving the Union we would be, in effect, saying that we are dissatisfied with the blessings that the Lord has showered on us as a people. We have no confidence that the politicians - of all parties - who occupy the Scottish Parliament are of sufficient calibre to bring Scotland into the future age of golden temporal prosperity that they might dream of. In our opinion, the desire to break the Union smacks very much of the sin of discontentment and murmuring at the Lord’s dealings with us as a people. Futhermore, gambling is a heinous sin in God’s eyes and gambling with our nation’s future would be an act of criminal folly of the highest magnitude. Needless to say, without the Lord’s blessing the future of Scotland spiritually and temporally is bleak indeed - whether in the UK or independent - but the dangers especially involved in independence make us tremble for the generations to come.  ‘Remove not the ancient landmark which thy fathers have set’ (Proverbs 22:28).