Do not take Bible literally

Sir, - The Bible is often used as an infallible paper pope to oppose social reform, to restrict the rights of those whose God-given sexual orientation is “objectionable” in the 21st Century and to oppose the emancipation of slaves in the 19th Century.

Quakers have a noble history of compassion and were early supporters of both gay marriage and abolitionism but these issues have divided the Church of Scotland and the Free Kirk.

The church’s decision to respect “liberty of opinion in points which do not enter into the substance of the faith” enabled it to promote compassion over ideology whereas the Free Kirk’s inflexible, literalist stance caused awkward problems.

Perhaps the greatest of these occurred after its founding in 1843 when the Free Kirk received considerable funding from America’s slaveowning Southern Presbyterian churches.

This led to its condemnation by the famous former slave and antislavery campaigner Frederick Douglass, who toured Scotland in 1846 to demand the tainted money be sent back.

The fact is there are certain questions no

The incomes of the female stars are, by any stretch of the imagination, exorbitant for what they do, and should at least be halved forthwith

biblical literalist can answer honestly.

This isn’t to say that they can’t answer these questions at all, but only that any answer they give either evades answering the question or ends up in semantic gymnastics.

Rev Dr John Cameron. 10 Howard Place, St Andrews.

the door pronto. There would be no problem finding competent replacements.

But what we will probably see is those salaries being equalised up, thus perpetuating their cozy corrupt world to the detriment yet again of BBC licence payers.

Jim Shaw. Hill Street, Dundee.