The politicians should let the people decide

Sir, - Leslie Thomson of Secular Scotland (July 14) is correct in saying the Marriage and Civil Partnerships Act was the most comprehensive act in marriage law in Scottish history.

That is why it would have been good if we had had some of the muchvaunted democracy Mr Thomson suggests we need to live with.

Knowing that “consultations” (which find out what the governing party want it to find out) and a petition of 1,000 people were hardly the basis for the most radical change in that most basic of human institutions – marriage.

Gordon Wilson and I asked that we should have real democratic act and that the matter be put to a referendum.

One wonders why the politicians were so reluctant to let the people decide?

And yes, we are coming under increasing pressure to permit and perform same-sex marriages within some quarters, with threats of charitable status being removed from us if we don’t.

Jesus did teach about marriage and sexuality – he taught explicitly that marriage was between a man and a woman.

Meanwhile, the Rev Dr John Cameron seems a wee bit confused about his faith.

Apparently the Old Testament can largely be written off and Jesus’ teaching about marriage being between a man and a woman is hubristic!

He reminds me of Augustine’s saying: “If you believe in the Bible what you like, and leave out what you don’t like, it’s not the Bible you believe, but yourself”.

With such an attitude towards Christ and his scripture it is little wonder Dr Cameron belongs to a church that is in freefall!

Speaking of the word “free” in the Free Church of Scotland – it has nothing to do with North Korean dictatorships (Dr Cameron does seem to have a rather fertile imagination), but it refers to being free from state interference – which, given the increasing tendency of the state to tell us what we should believe, teach and do, seems even more apposite in the 21st Century than it did in the 19th. David Robertson. St Peter’s Free Church, 4 St Peter Street, Dundee.

Picture: Getty. Same-sex marriage has been legal in Scotland since 2014.