Taiwan Church News 3259 Edition August 11 - August 17, 2014 Church Ministry A PCT Observation Group For The Scottish Independence Referendum Is Ready To Launch Reported by Hwang Yi-lek The Scotland government will hold a historical independence referendum on September 18th for the Scottish people to decide whether they would separate from the United Kingdom or not. Whatever comes the result, it would definitely bring a big impact to UK. And the whole world will also be greatly affected by this extraordinary event. The Church of Scotland(CoS) is never absent to engage this history-breaking public policy,since 2012her Church and Society Council has already been committed by General Assembly to study and review this independence event from various point of views - including theological, ethical, spiritual considerations. Because Taiwan's status quo is somehow similar to Scotland, PCT naturally would like to learn about the effects of independence referendum toward the Church of Scotland, particularly about her theological stance, and the related social context, political backgrounds and current existing situations about Scotland society. Invited by the CoS, PCT has organized an observation group ready to go for the Scottish independence referendum in 2014. This PCT observation group, jointly sponsored by PCT Ecumenical and International Relations Committee and Church and Society Committee, intend to understand how CoS formulate their affirmative values for this independence referendum, how Christians show the image of a new country to the Scotland society, and what kinds of theological reflections are on agenda after the independence referendum is taken as a national issue. Translated by Peter Wolfe |