What is in Kelvin's Head?

  • Sunday Trading and the Churches

    Dear the Churches of England

    If you campaign against Sunday trading you are going to seem to the People of England to be as bad as you are. Campaign instead for the rights of shop workers of all religions who work at all times and the People of England might be more convinced. If you take on the Sunday trading thing you are going to lose anyway.

    Here in Scotland things have been much more liberal for a long time. We did have quite strict liquor laws which meant you couldn’t buy booze on a Sunday morning anywhere. This meant you couldn’t buy an emergency bottle of wine for communion on a Sunday morning in case it led to drunkenness, which always seemed to me to be a little odd. Even this law has been relaxed now.

    Seriously – the fight against Sunday trading isn’t one that churches can win and look sensible or fair. Please don’t make the rest of us look foolish.

    Remember the Sabbath day and what it was about and keep what it was about holy. It was about making sure workers got rest. It was about making sure there was time for leisure. It was about making sure that there were opportunities for worship. Churches should campaign for all those things. In multicultural Britain these things do not coalesce any more in the idea of one shared day off a week which is inevitably on a Sunday.

    Dear churches of England and the Church of England in particular – pick your battles wisely.

    Thank you for your attention.
    KELVIN

16 responses to “General Convention Press Briefing”

  1. kelvin Avatar
    kelvin

    People who run cathedrals in the Scottish Episcopal Church are called Provosts, in England and in the US and in much of the rest of the Anglican world they are called Deans.

    For a while, old cathedrals in England had Deans and new cathedrals had Provosts. They made them all deans a few years ago.

    In Scotland we also use the word Provost for the civic leader who would be called a Mayor in a lot of other places.

    Deans in Anglican Dioceses in Scotland are similar to Archdeacons in England or Canons to the Ordinary in the states.

    Reply
  2. susan s. Avatar
    susan s.

    Thanks… So is calling you a dean a forgivable sin? Is it a step up or down for a provost to become a dean?

    Reply
  3. kelvin Avatar
    kelvin

    Calling me a dean is an understadable mistake. If hierarchy matters, I rank behind the bishop and the dean at diocesan functions. I rank behind the bishop alone at cathedral functions.

    Usually I find that such hierarchical niceties have been worked out as a result of disputes of rather a long time ago.

    Reply
  4. susan s. Avatar
    susan s.

    Thanks, again. I enjoy reading your blog.

    Reply
  5. brad evans Avatar
    brad evans

    “Evangelical Faith, Apostolic Orders(?)-Increasingly Irrelevant Organization”

    Reply
  6. kelvin Avatar
    kelvin

    Bless you, Brad.

    Reply

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