Aberdeen Unitarian Church
CALENDAR
SEPTEMBER 2009
FOREWORD'Unity in diversity' is not only a definition of Unitarianism, it is also a prime objective, that is, to identify and support the core consensus that unites individuals of many different religious views and backgrounds. Creating harmony, while safeguarding freedom of belief, requires the exercise of tolerance and fair-dealing all round. This takes effort, will-power, a degree of enlightenment, understanding and patience which may not be achieved spontaneously on every occasion, but which may require a degree of self-discipline and forbearance. Recently, I read an article suggesting that strife engendered by conflicting religious and moral traditions could be avoided if we could identify a basic moral code to which the major world cultures could all freely subscribe, and the Golden Rule, which has been enshrined in the teaching of the world's principal religions in one form or another, was being suggested as the basis for such a consensus. There are two approaches to the Golden Rule, one positive, the other negative. The positive one, 'Do unto others as you would have them do unto you' is an encouragement to do the decent thing by other people in the expectation that they will be equally benign in how they treat you. The negative version is 'Do not do to others what you do not want them to do to you'. Put in this way, there is no requirement for us to do good but simply to avoid doing evil deliberately. Relieved of the responsibility of doing good, we may with a clear conscience remain indifferent to the suffering of others. In this way neighbours in adjoining properties don't communicate and fail to notice that one or other of them seems to have been removed from the scene. Furthermore, while The Golden Rule implies even-handed dealing, one with another, it does not lay down as an absolute requirement that everyone in fact should be treated equally. Many religions, for instance, which advocate its use, don't necessarily grant equality to everyone, choosing to exclude heretics, infidels and apostates from their constituency of concern. In his story of the Good Samaritan, Jesus of Nazareth demonstrates the short-comings of the Golden Rule but also how it may be improved upon. In the first place the Jewish Temple officials walk past the injured man, in accordance with the negative version, as they did not harm him further but did not help him either. The Samaritan, who belongs to an inferior tribe and who would be quite justified in ignoring the victim, is moved by compassion, however, attends to his wounds and at his own expense, sets him up in an inn where he may recover. By giving of himself without expectation of recompense, the Samaritan shows that the Golden Rule will work universally, if one person is prepared to sacrifice self-interest in favour of the other. Placing the interests of the other before self is clearly the highest form of human morality and spirituality. If we wish to create a universal moral core then self-denial must be its principal ingredient Unity in diversity is not achieved by everyone having his or her own way. The 'Give and take' approach is essential, but there are many occasions when wisdom will acknowledge that 'giving' will achieve greater harmony than 'taking'. Few communities would operate successfully if a significant proportion of its members did not give more than they take from it. On this reckoning self-denial and self sacrifice are more commonly practised than perhaps recent Westminster revelations have led us to believe. The news from Afghanistan daily reminds us of this. Wm. S. Stephen (Editor) Email: william134@btinternet.com or editor@aberdeen-unitarians.org.uk PASTORAL GREETINGSTo all our members who are in hospital, or recovering from surgery or who are housebound, we express our love and our concern for your welfare. You are always in our thoughts and we miss your presence at all our gatherings. All our members, without exception, are important to us; everyone is valued, everyone has a share in the care and compassion of our beloved community. BEETLE DRIVEPoets speak of the drowsy drone of the beetle on hot summer afternoons, and we have dozed away the idle post meridian hours of many a torrid day during the weeks of July and August, Summer's high noontide, soothed by the hum of winged creatures drifting lazily around the flower heads. Now, however, the caller breath of Autumn, alerts us to our duty. Beetles are not just for languid summer days.. They have a significant role to play in the mythology of our kind. We must gird our loins and confront the great struggle ahead. The competition that gives meaning and purpose to the Autumn Equinox is at hand. Tradition requires us to identify for the next twelve months the persons of the Muckle Gollach and of the Wee Beastie. The trial of skill, strength and character will take place on Friday 11th September, at 7.30pm. Entry fee is set at £2.50. Larvae £1.50. All equipment will be provided. Instruction in the arcane art of Beetle propulsion will be freely available. Novice beetle-maniacs are warmly welcomed. Refreshments for casualties and survivors will be available after the Gollach's coronation. HARVEST FESTIVAL SERVICEWe shall celebrate this year's Harvest on Sunday 27th September. We shall decorate the church appropriately with flowers, foliage, vegetables, fruit, and dry produce. The Church will be open from 10.00am to 2.00pm on Saturday 26th to receive harvest gifts. Dorothy Prosser will look after the decoration. After the Harvest Festival Service, which will be conducted by Sue Good, we shall all share in a harvest lunch. CHRISTMAS SERVICESAs yet two of our Christmas Services have been commissioned. On 13th December, Sue Good will lead us in a Christingle Service and the following Sunday our Christmas Service will be entitled 'Creating Christmas' and will employ many of the talents possessed by our members. THE PURPLE CHORALE
AUTUMN FAIRSamuel Smiles, a 19th century writer made a fortune from his best-seller, "Self Help". By means of Self Help do we independent churches survive, and our next exercise in this robust Victorian principle will be on Saturday 3rd October, 9.30 am-11.30 am., our Autumn Fair when once again our market place will welcome all our members, friends, neighbours and acquaintances to buy at our stalls. Home-baking. Toffee. Nearly New & Bric-a-brac. Bottle. Wheel of Fortune. Raffle. and Catering will all be available. Rhona Stewart will be glad to accept goods, gifts and donations for all these enterprises. We particularly would encourage our home bakers and our toffee makers to support this venture. Please 'Come, Come, Come to the Fair', as the old song has it, bring your friends, enjoy the company and help the spirit of independence to flourish. DIAMOND WEDDING DONATIONSGuests who attended Jean & Bert Inkson's Diamond Wedding Service donated £197.50 to the Church Roof Fund. Jean and Bert had asked their guests not to give them presents but to donate to the Church if they wished. We appreciate the generosity of all who thus contributed. KIRK SOIRÉEWe revive the traditional congregational entertainment, the 'Kirk Soirée' on Friday 13th November, 2009 at 7.30pm. We are recruiting a galaxy of talent for the occasion, singers, dancers, storytellers and instrumentalists among them. Tickets, £3.00, will be available shortly. TABLE TOP SALEKathleen Bruce & Kathleen McGregor are organising a Table Top Sale for Saturday 7th November, 2.00-3.00pm. Entry fee is 20 pence. Tables may be hired for £5.00 each. It is anticipated a large variety of bric-a-brac and other items will be on sale at very keen prices. Anyone wishing to participate should contact the organisers. AFTERNOON TEAS
DIAMOND WEDDING THANKSJean & Bert Inkson write: "We wish to thank everyone who was able to join in the celebrations of our Diamond Wedding Anniversary. The Service was really special and so well designed for the occasion by Bill Stephen. Many thanks to all who took part in it. The catering was excellent. Our 'in-house' ? team, led by Kathleen & Kathleen, are to be congratulated. Finally, many thanks for the special gifts from the Church and from the Women's League. "Your first time at a Unitarian Service"by Arthur Bruce When I began attending some of the twice - weekly cafes run by the Aberdeen Unitarian church, I little realised where it would lead me. I knew quite a number of the habitues to a greater or lesser degree... drawn from a variety of areas of my life, although at that point and over a period of time I had not realised that many of them were members of the Church. At no time was I subjected to the feelings of "pressure" I had felt in other church cafes (in Aberdeen or elsewhere). If the discussions ever got round to the topic of "religious persuasion" (as it sometimes did), and I confessed my inability to accept and wear the label Christian anymore; I NEVER had the outrageous insult of being given a proverbial pat on the head and told "Thank you for your honesty, I'll pray for you!"....which had happened in other church cafes. My usual response was "Thank you, but please don't waste your time on me ...I have my own direct line to God!" At which point they were usually looking at me as if I had horns and cloven hooves!! The reality is that I have ALWAYS been very grateful if someone has offered to include my family, my late wife or myself in their prayers. These genuine offers have always been a great privilege and source of real comfort! Maybe it was the gradual realisation that I was in a comfort zone or whatever but, I eventually asked Bill Stephen if I could have some information and/or some brochures to study. This was quickly forthcoming plus an invitation to discuss any questions in detail if needed. I was also assured that I would be made very welcome any Sunday (with no strings attached, of course). That first Service continued the feeling of being comfortable or at home! I also met more people that I knew and admired, without previously knowing they were Unitarians. The rest (as they say) is history! After spending almost 70 years on my Spiritual Journey trying to find something that had ALL the answers, I felt I would soon be shouting "Land Ahoy!" But there are very many quirks and synchronicities connected with my journey towards Unitarianism in Aberdeen, and with the Transylvanian origins of the movement, which would possibly fit better into an address on "How I became a Unitarian" at some future date. Before moving on to consider the very informative brochure which provided the title for this article, I should like to express my regret that I never encountered such a brochure many years ago. It could have saved me many anguished moments thinking that there must be some serious defect in my soul since I couldn't find the satisfaction that most people seemed to derive from the various major religions, denominations etc. no matter how hard I tried! But they say in the East... "When the pupil is ready the master will appear". So I have to take comfort from the knowledge that it would seem that I am ready...or at least nearly ready!! The brochure deals with such topics as the variety of buildings. Because of the long and varied history of Unitarianism the buildings do not confirm to a single, prescribed fashion or style. You might find yourself in a building that looks like a very traditional church, with pews, pulpit and an organ, or it might be a modern multi-purpose structure. Some services are held in Quaker meeting-houses, and some fellowship groups meet in members' homes. The person officiating at the service could be a professionally-trained minister, a lay leader or an ordinary member of the congregation. Unitarians maintain that no special authority enables someone to conduct worship, and firmly believe in "the priesthood of all believers". Women and men share tasks equally in a Unitarian church, including the conduct of worship...and it is interesting to note that in 1904 the first women welcomed into the professional ministry were UNITARIANS! Congregations are independent and can follow their own ideas as to the structure of the service. In many churches (like our own in Aberdeen) it can vary immensely. Some weeks it may follow the style of a Protestant service with hymns, prayers, readings and an address or sermon, although possibly with less formality. Some weeks may be devoted to a form of musical worship or entertainment. Although Unitarians acknowledge their roots in Judaeo-Christian tradition they believe that religious truth is not limited to. a specific source of writings. Indeed some groups rarely choose to read from the Bible. Any writings which reflect on the human condition, our relationship with God and with the natural world are considered suitable for study and meditation. This breadth of interest is reflected in the content of the services, which are intended not to indoctrinate but to encourage each person to think for herself or himself. After all membership does not require acceptance of any creeds or teachings, but allows complete freedom of individual belief, and the right to express such beliefs. You may turn up at any Unitarian church with or without religious baggage....your baggage will not be searched or scanned! It's your personal property. You may find that the people you meet each have very different theological opinions, but Unitarians are united by a common quest for truth and justice from a liberal religious perspective. Having given a resume of the contents of this excellent little brochure I would thoroughly recommend others in the series, whilst reminding that only by personal experience can someone experience the true value of the diversity and freedom that is Unitarianism. It is my personal belief that if you asked six people throughout the world for their experiences on a first visit to a Unitarian service, you would receive six completely differing answers. The same would apply to six people throughout Britain, or even Scotland. And I am 100% certain that even if you asked the same question of six of the Aberdeen congregation, no two answers would be the same. This is the beauty, the value and the strength of the Unitarian movement! JEAN AND BERT INKSON - UNITARIANS(During the celebratory event to mark their Diamond Wedding Anniversary, Bill Stephen paid Jean and Bert lnkson the following tribute in proposing a toast to their service to the Unitarian cause.) For the greater part of their lives Jean and Bert have been involved in an extra-marital relationship which preceded their commitment to each other and which continues to this day. From their earliest years, Jean and Bert have been devoted to the Unitarian Church, having served it faithfully, risen to its highest councils and for decades helped to shape its destiny. Apart from home-making, it has been the most important project of their married life. In addition to providing spiritual support, it has introduced them to a wide circle of friends, at home and abroad, it has afforded them opportunities to travel and to develop their individual talents and has brought them prominence and fulfilment. Above all it brought them each other, for the love we honour today, first blossomed in the Skene Street building of the Unitarian Church. Bert claims to have been a Unitarian since the 9th of November 1924 when 11days old he was welcomed into the church by the Rev Arthur Scruton. Jean arrived as an 11 year old several years later when her father joined, and found herself in a Sunday School class taught by Vi Slora who that day dealt with the structure of the universe. By 1940, Jean and Bert had become Sunday School Teachers themselves and embarked upon their very first joint venture as mentors of the class for five-year olds. At the same time, both had made rapid progress through the ranks of the Guides and Scouts, Jean becoming Guide Lieutenant and eventually by the time of her marriage, Guide Captain and Bert had become troop treasurer at the age of 13, Patrol Leader and finally Troop Leader and Camp Commandant. A married lady, Jean was frogmarched to the Women's League by her mother who was Secretary, encouraged by Bert's mother who was Vice President. Jean quickly showed great promise, and by 1958 had succeeded her mother as Secretary. This appointment quickly led to others, first as an office-bearer in the Scottish District of the Women's League, as Treasurer, Secretary and President then as a member and office-bearer of the National League, culminating in 1977 when she was elected National President of the Women's League, an appointment which required her to travel widely around the U.K. visiting Leagues, chairing meetings, taking Services, attending conferences and delivering talks on a great many topics to a great many people. At the same time she was also a member of the International Association of Liberal Religious Women, of which she became International Treasurer, a post that entailed a lot of foreign travel. While engaged in these demanding enterprises, Jean was supported loyally by Bert and sustained by her sense of duty and her conviction that she was engaged in worthwhile work which made a difference to the lives of a great many women. At the same time, her own warm heart, her generous nature, her sound common sense and her lack of pretension earned her many friends, and many more jobs, as she was so reliable and easy to work with. Jean is still British Treasurer of the I.A.L.R.W. still a member of the National and the Scottish District Executive, of which she is Secretary and still Secretary of the Aberdeen Women's League, a post she has occupied for 51 years. I think it is no exaggeration to say that Jean is loved and revered throughout the whole Unitarian movement. Meanwhile sitting at his desk opposite to Jean's, like Prince Albert beside Queen Victoria, Bert was quietly serving the Unitarian movement in his way. On completing his national service in 1946 and returning to university, Bert joined the Church Committee as Assistant Treasurer. In 1954 he acquired the post of Minutes Secretary and by the mid sixties was Chairman of the Congregation. Meanwhile, he had become first of all Treasurer and then Secretary of the Scottish Unitarian Association, a post he held for 18 years. He had also been making an impression on the National scene, as a member of the National Council. In 1988 he was elected National President and spent the next twelve months travelling all over the country, promoting the Unitarian cause, chairing meetings, including the Annual Business meetings of the General Assembly, a daunting task, and of the Executive Council, making decisions, leading worship, delivering speeches and meeting as many people as possible, encouraging them and acknowledging their work for the Unitarian movement. Later he was appointed Secretary of the Lay Training Committee, served on the Development Commission and was Dean of the Family Holiday Conference at Great Hucklow. Bert is still Chairman of the Aberdeen Congregation, a position he has retained annually for forty years. For his services to Unitarianism in Scotland Bert was made an Honorary Member of the Scottish Unitarian Association, a distinction which only two other people have ever enjoyed, a tribute, not only to his commitment and hard work over many years, but also to his sound judgment, his meticulous administration skills, his reliability and his ability to get on with other people. Bert is widely respected as an elder statesman within the movement and as a remembrancer, as his knowledge of events, decisions and procedures over the past fifty years or more is encyclopaedic and accessible. Jean and Bert both say they owe a great deal to the Unitarian Church, in addition to each other. They have received enormous satisfaction from the jobs they have so willingly undertaken, from all the friends they have made and from the opportunities to extend themselves which otherwise may not have come their way. The Unitarian movement has benefitted immeasurably from their commitment and energy, and would have been a poorer institution without them. Saying thank you to them seems hardly enough but it is a thank you that has been repeated thousands of time by all the Unitarians who have learned to appreciate their contribution. Please join me now in the toast to Jean and Bert. loyal and well-loved Unitarians. CONSTANCY AND DEVOTION(Bill Stephen delivered the following address at the service held to celebrate Jean & Bert Inkson's Diamond Wedding) Constancy and devotion were never more tellingly portrayed than in 'John Anderson my Jo, John', a song about mature and selfless love, written by a young man whose irresponsible and voracious appetite for instant sexual gratification, would appear to disqualify him for conceiving such a theme, yet, such was the energy of his creative imagination, Robert Burns was able to enter the mind of his character, an elderly lady whose marriage had sustained her for a lifetime and who now with tenderness and simplicity, pays tribute to the love she and her husband have shared through all the days of their adult life. With joy and gratitude, she recalls their life together, from the springtime of their days when their love was new and exuberant to the present, when, albeit, age has laid its mark upon their features, their love for each other has deepened and intensified with every passing day. This poem is a gem of lapidary perfection, dislocate one phrase and the whole structure is ruined. It is a tribute to the married state and a hymn of praise for constancy and devotion that the poet's own behaviour cannot emulate. Gently, her words caress her aging husband, as the old lady shows her concern for him and accepts as a matter of course that their union will survive anything, including death. And sleep thegither at the foot, These words I think have a special resonance for married couples who have been fortunate enough to experience a happy and fulfilling marriage. Contemporary commentators have claimed this song is a sentimental, over-simplified portrayal of marriage, that does not accord with the reality of the experience as recorded by many casualties of the married state. Indeed not all marriages are happy or last a lifetime, but many do. We have already celebrated a Ruby Wedding in this church this year and now we are privileged to be here today to celebrate a Diamond Wedding. Transactions between people always try to move towards some kind of resolution, usually by agreement or compromise after negotiation, occasionally by self-denial, and, one hopes, infrequently, by coercion. Before negotiating any agreement, we usually conduct our own internal debate about the action we may be about to take. We have to reconcile our instinct and desire on the one hand with our reason on the other. Instinct is usually on the side of self-defence; desire favours self-gratification, both short-term objectives, so it is left to reason to consider the wider consequences of how we act. Each transaction, of course, also involves a relationship, which will influence and be influenced by the outcome. Marriage may, be regarded as a transaction, one of the aims of which is to forge a relationship which will endure for the life-time of the participants. Society is well aware, of course, that human relationships may be fickle and temporary, and so has attempted to buttress marriage against collapse with the aid of the legal system, religious ritual, custom and tradition. No matter how deeply inspired by visions of a happy future together, some married couples find that they are incompatible and under the stress of personal, social and perhaps economic pressures, decide that after all they cannot live together and have recourse to the divorce courts. Despite the ever increasing frequency of such marital catastrophes, the 'John Anderson' relationship, the 'Darby and Joan' idyll still survives, and it is this experience of marriage that I wish to reflect upon now. What I have to say is drawn largely from personal experience and observation of relatives and friends. I am aware of course that not everyone has participated in the married state, but perhaps they will indulge us on this very special occasion. A happy marriage needs to have good luck, in that both partners prove to be compatible to each other, and good management, involving both equally and fairly. It starts with a miracle, that the person with whom we have fallen in love, incredibly returns our love with equal enthusiasm. We may expect as a right that our parents should love us, but no one else is obliged to do so, and so when we discover that we too are worthy of another's love, in spite of all our shortcomings, flaws and failures, we are transported to realms of delight we could not have imagined occupying, for falling in love and being loved is a triumph of hope over self-knowledge. In being loved we shed our awareness of being unworthy and in forgiving our own deficiencies we feel transformed, reborn, exhilarated. Indeed, perhaps until we are loved, we never really become fully alive. Our beloved is all perfection, our ideal human being, already the creature, immaculate and unblemished, that we have aspired to become ourselves but have never succeeded in doing so. And there is that beloved, that paragon, in whose every gesture, every tilt of the. head, every syllable uttered, every flicker of an eyelash, resides fascination and enchantment beyond imagination. Marriage is, however, a process of discovery. Whatever idealized or fantasy icon each has treasured of the other in the intoxicating rapture of first love, as truth is always stronger than illusion, each gradually comes to terms with what the other really is. Our past histories are explored in detail; our habits, opinions, attitudes, priorities, values, our prejudices, ambitions, fears, needs, are unveiled; and the life-themes that have dominated our being since childhood, see the light of day for the first time. Eventually, each of us sees our-self as seen by the other, a disorientating, but pleasant enough experience, as our vision of ourselves had always been different. Our awareness of what we are, how we resemble each other, of how we differ, of our strengths and phobias, our certainties and vulnerabilities, our hopes and ambitions, our needs and wishes, become the basis of our life together, influencing every decision, dictating the direction of our daily life. In fact we live two lives simultaneously, each mindful of the other's preferences, each sensitive to the other's needs. Since mutual fulfillment is a prime objective of our partnership, then each also has complete freedom to pursue individual interests. Love makes us vulnerable to each other and occasionally, inadvertently we may cause the other hurt or distress. Fortunately, such occasions are rare, and forgiveness and reconciliation swiftly follow. With the passing years our union becomes ever closer. Each exists in the mind of the other as a constant presence, an uplifting, supporting presence. Living through things together, sharing experiences of achievement and disappointment, of making our way in the world, creates a common heritage of memories, so that our marriage has its own identity and personality, to which each has contributed but which is different from either of us, being the sum of our existence together. A sound marriage bestows upon us a guarantee of emotional security and reassurance. We know that our mutual love will never allow us to feel diminished or misunderstood. In times of distress and despair, there is always support. In times of frustration and annoyance there is always understanding. In times of grief and pain there is always compassion, and in times of achievement there is mutual joy. Living in close harmony with another person makes us feel that life has meaning, a purpose even in the blackest day. To be loved by another is the greatest blessing life can bestow upon us. Experience of a supportive loving relationship, whether, within a marriage or civil partnership, within a family circle or within a close friendship confirms our belief that love is a transcendent quality, not only in that it raises us above all self interest, inspiring self-denial and even self-sacrifice, but that in some mysterious way, like consciousness, it seems to be a function of existence. Our love for each other inspires our faith that love is not contingent, it is not prompted by self-interest, it is not dependent upon something else, it is elemental, it is an absolute that' endures. Cynics, appalled by the inhumanity frequently displayed by our species, and alienated by our history of cruelty and bloodshed, declare our celebration of love to be the product of either self-delusion or hypocrisy, asserting that human existence is brutal and nasty, and for a great many beyond endurance. Such pessimism, while understandable, is life-denying. We Unitarians look at the creative energy of nature, the marvels of the universe, and at the miracle of human love and its unceasing efforts to combat the causes and consequences of suffering, manmade and natural, and see every reason to declare our belief that love is at the very heart of existence. Today, as we celebrate the love of two people which has shone ever more brightly over six decades and consider the many benefits that has been bestowed by that love, upon family and friends and colleagues, not least upon the family of this congregation and the wider Unitarian community, we can have no doubt as to the benign power of love in the universe. John Anderson and his wife were blessed in their mutual devotion, Jean and Bert are blessed in their mutual love and constancy. Would that all humanity could share in that same blessing of compassion and love everlasting. ACCEPTING DIVERSITY & LIVING WITH DOUBTby John Robinson In the absence of television, family meal times round the kitchen table provided me with some of my most valuable childhood insights into human nature and life in general. It was there that I first became aware that even as a close-knit family we varied widely in our likes and dislikes for different foods. It was there too that I learned that there was nothing new in this phenomenon for, as our parents assured us, 'Jack Sprat could eat no fat and his wife could eat no lean'! Much later in life I came to realize that the Sprats were a wonderful example of what is known as gender-linked genetic dimorphism; in other words the differences in their likes and dislikes were influenced by their gender. Similar gender-linked phenomena for a host of other traits are now the subject of intricate research to identify and characterise, for the particular trait in question, the gene or genes that are involved. It was in that round-the- table environment too that I first became aware of, and learned to recite, Edward Lear's poem 'The Owl and the Pussycat'. Growing up, as I did on a farm I was well aware, from a very young age, that different species of animals didn't normally fall in love with each other so what, I have often wondered, triggered the fantasy idea in Lear's mind that such a partnership would be so appealing to a small child. Was it the owl and pussycat's gene-based facial similarity; large round eyes and pointed ears? Or was it their gene-based mutual love of mice as food? That love for mice meant that they were frequently to be found together in that mouse-rich environment, the barn. Perhaps their gene- based Pg diversityhysical attraction for each other was reinforced by their sharing of the same environment. Whatever the cause, once they had eloped on their pea-green boat, environment in terms of the owl's guitar music and singing under a star-lit sky, certainly played a major role in developing their relationship into a full-blown romance and eventual marriage. The romance enriched environment continued in the post-wedding feast and subsequent moonlight dancing on the edge of the sand. Despite their many genetic differences we know from the sequel to the poem that the marriage was consummated and since their mother was a pussycat and their father was an owl, the family not surprisingly were ' partly little beast and partly little fowl'! Quite remarkably they too, like the Sprats, exhibited gender-linked genetic dimorphism in that the 'brothers all had feathers and could hoot, while the sisters all had fur and long tails to boot'! But unlike the Sprats this gender-linked genetic dimorphism didn't extend to their food preferences; they all liked to eat little mice! More than sixty years on I am still astounded by the ability of these fantasy-based childhood illustrations to inform us as to why we are who we are. Some of our traits, like the Sprat's food preferences are, in terms of their expression, solely gene controlled. Others, in particular those involving our emotions have, in addition to their genetic component, a strong environmental dimension to their expression akin to that displayed in The Owl and the Pussycat fable. Both illustrations convey the very important early-life message that despite our many similarities we all exhibit differences and, when viewed in the broad spectrum of evolution and the environmental influences that mould it, these differences have a science based explanation. That is why I find it strange that some members of the Church of Scotland are so against the appointment of the Rev Scott Rennie, an openly gay minister, to Queens Cross Church. There is now enough scientific evidence, if not to prove conclusively that the expression of our sexuality involves both our genes and our environment, to at least cast doubt on the notion that it is otherwise. In terms of the environmental component there is increasing evidence that much of it is programmed during our foetal and early-life stages of development and therefore, in keeping with the genetic component, is outwith our control. So first of all, what is known about the genetic component? As in the Sprat-family example there is evidence of gender-linked dimorphism in the brain structures that are involved in our sexual orientation and,. in the case of homosexual men these structures are more like those seen in heterosexual females than heterosexual males. In other words there is feminisation of the brain in male homosexuals. But in terms of a genetic predisposition to male homosexuality the most recent advances in scientific understanding are coming from epigenetic studies, the results of which imply a link between a mother's genes and homosexuality in her sons. Females have two X chromosomes whereas males have one X and one Y. During the early embryonic development of a female there is random inactivation, at the. individual cell level, of one of her X chromosomes. However, it now appears that for mothers of homosexual men there is a major skewing of the pattern of cellular X chromosome inactivation. Whether this is the cause of male homosexuality or merely an association with it is still a point for debate and therefore more research. However, by pointing to a possible genetic linkage to the mother, it fits with the results of an earlier statistical study showing an association between DNA markers on the X chromosome and male sexual orientation. In that study the expression of the mother's DNA markers accompanied the observation that gay men had, on their mother's side of the family, a greater number of gay uncles and cousins than on their father's side. But it is with regard to the foetal and early-life environmental influences on the hormones that control the development of the male reproductive system and sexual orientation that current research is most informative. Here the major concern is that subtle changes in our environment, arising from chemicals in products such as pesticides, detergents and the soft plastics, are feminising boys during their development in their mother's womb. Collectively these chemicals are known as endocrine disrupting agents. Examples of the adverse effects of these agents on the sexual development of male foetuses in their mother's womb have now been reported for a wide range of domestic and wildlife animal species and all the evidence points to similar effects occurring in humans. After all the hormonal mechanisms controlling sexual development in the womb and during early life are broadly similar across all mammalian species, so why should humans behave differently when exposed, as inevitably we too are, to these agents. In terms of the expression of our sexual orientation we are now in uncharted waters. It therefore seems to be an inappropriate time to be applying a moral code from Biblical times, when little was known about the factors controlling our sexual orientation, to the environmental situation we are now in. What I find ironic about fundamentalist religion based anti homosexuality is its tendency to go hand-in-hand with the rejection of Darwinian evolution yet evolution is the only phenomenon which, given time, has the power through natural selection to correct transitory aberrant sexual tendencies induced by our environment. For too long, religion has distanced itself from the scientific advances that continue to enlighten our understanding of what makes us who we are. In its hankering for us to return to, what many of us now consider, some dubious notion that our perfection can only be reborn out of anxiety and pain, religion is seen as a movement that deprives its audience of the advances in human knowledge and understanding that are essential if we are to build a better world. Scientific studies regarding the biological and chemical basis of our emotions and how we interact to, and with, every aspect of our environment should grow and strengthen rather than weaken our faith. Yet, in reality, as is illustrated by the Scott Rennie example, there are still religious leaders who opt for a notional rather than evidence-based approach. It is when that notional approach results in unwavering certainty that religion to me is most dangerous and divisive. G.K.Chesterton, the 20th century essayist and poet, whose writings were part of my English literature lessons at school, captured the important subtle nature of the situation so well when he put it this way: 'It is not bigotry to be certain we are right; but it is bigotry to be unable to imagine how we might possibly have got it wrong'. It seems to me that if all those anti-Scott Rennie speeches and letters to the press had been tinged, in their views, with just a little evidence-based self doubt and had been less dogmatic in their condemnation, they would have enhanced rather than diminished religion's aspiration. But for the anti-Scott Rennie campaigners there is no wavering from their Biblical moral code on male homosexuality which, apart from Leviticus Chapter 20 verse 13, is often expressed in ways that make interpretation a matter of conjecture. Indeed there are Biblical scholars who regard much of what is stated in the Bible about male homosexuality as probably politically motivated and therefore formulated for its time. And surely this is the crux of the matter; moral standards and codes are a function of their time and place. They too have a genetic basis and thus are an integral part of the evolutionary process that makes us who we are. In his studies of the honey bee, a species highly regarded in scripture, Charles Darwin agonised about the evolutionary basis for the fascinating hexagonal configuration of the honey comb, but he also used the bee to ponder on the nature of humankind's moral codes. In doing so he triggered the thought that if by some evolutionary quirk humankind had acquired, or perhaps never lost, the bee-colony phenomenon of the queen ensuring the pre-birth extermination of all her fertile sisters and the eviction of all males from the colony at the end of the breeding season, scripture would presumably have had to accept a quite different set of moral standards. Again, had the innate desire of mothers to seek what is best for their children extended to the strategy adopted by the cuckoo, our concept of what is morally acceptable would have had to be very different from what it is. Of course for evolutionary psychologists the genetic basis of moral standards is now an 'in' subject. Within what appears to be a stable marriage, a woman's clandestine relationship with another man is seen by some evolutionary psychologists as a natural gene-driven desire by her to enhance a particular attribute in her child. In other words, in evolutionary terms it is merely a vestige of a variant of the 'cuckoo' gene. Even on the subject of male homosexuality, psychologists now look to the animal world for explanations of its evolutionary origin. For example, in a wide range of feral animal species male homosexual activity and male bonding into a coalition is recognised as conferring breeding advantages when it comes to seeking out females in that it enhances the chances of each member of the coalition securing a female. Whatever our views on issues such as male homosexuality it seems to me that somehow we have to come to terms with the concept that each of us is the legacy of millions of years of evolution and therefore diversity in form and intellect is our hallmark. We have also to recognise that we now find ourselves, through our corporate intellectual ability and its associated scientific innovation, in an environment and life style that has changed dramatically in little more than half a century. The current speed of change in our environment and life style is far outstripping the time span required for evolution to bring about any significant change in our genetic make up. Coping with the situation we now find ourselves in requires creativity and the stretching of our intellectual powers as never before. In so far as creativity necessitates the courage to let go of certainty, it now seems more appropriate than ever before to replace dogmatism with doubt in matters relating to religion. That is why I feel that if advocates of fundamental religious teaching were to embrace evolution and perhaps concentrate more on the possibility that God just might be a concept of perfection invented by humankind rather than condemning those of us who do not share their religious views for being objects of imperfection created by God, their message would be more meaningful, more acceptable and a much greater force for good in modern society than is the case. |
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