• Public Opinion and Same-Sex Marriage – John Curtice

    A while ago we had a real treat at St Mary’s. Prof John Curtice gave a talk about public opinion and same-sex marriage. It was one of those forums which was very special for those who were there. There simply isn’t anyone who knows how to read and interpret public opinion as John can and it was great to see him in action.

    It was also one of the first forum meetings which I videoed. Unfortunately, the talk that John gave was fantastic but the audio on the video was terrible. Lots of people tried to listen but some were quite disappointed. For that reason, I was delighted that John agreed to give a similar, though slightly updated, talk to the diocesan synod that we held here in the Diocese of Glasgow and Galloway on 1 March 2014. Once again, John was gracious enough to allow it to be videoed and this time the audio is tip-top, thanks to Kennedy Fraser’s work on the sound-desk.

    This can be posted freely. I suspect that it may help far more people in the church get their heads around where public opinion lies on this question than were at the synod the other week. Do share and use on other blogs and diocesan websites. And take a look – it is well worth putting aside half an hour to watch.

    Now the question for the day, is – in what ways does public opinion matter when the churches make their minds up about same-sex marriage?

8 responses to “Mitre over the parapet moments”

  1. Kimberly Avatar

    Thanks for linking +David’s post. I’d read it, and the first few comments, but missed that later discussion. It represents a new level of blog dialogue in the SEC, I think.

  2. Rev Ruth Avatar

    Who’ll be next, do you think?

  3.  Avatar
    Anonymous

    Thanks for the episcopal summary – I take back my previous criticisms about the bishops. They are being rather splendidly thoughtful at the moment. As was Archbish Sentamu on Radio 4’s question time 🙂

  4. bishop david Avatar

    Kelvin – thanks for your linking and attention-drawing activities. It’s hard not to be aware that there is a common thread linking all of those ‘over the parapet’ contributions – which is that the tone of recent contributions from our Catholic colleagues has been unfortunate. But now that we seem to have some momentum, I hope we can move on to be a bit more successful at shaping an agenda rather than simply responding to others.

  5. Duncan Avatar

    What’s the clergy equivalent of a mitre over the parapet?

    A biretta over the altar?

  6. Stewart Avatar

    …only when it is snowing!!

  7. kelvin Avatar

    I can see snow on Cruachan. Birettas may be worn.

    (See number 79 of my 100 things if you’ve no idea what Stewart is alluding to).

  8. Phil Avatar
    Phil

    I am afraid the discussion with +David on his blog came to a sad end….have another look!

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