I am a Christian (presbyterian with a 'Wee Free' background). AMA

[NoHaudinMaWheest]

This is a follow on from the brilliant orthodox Jewish threads to enable people to ask questions about Christianity without derailing those ones.

I was brought up in the Free Church of Scotland. It is often known as the Wee Frees so I have put that in the title but it is a somewhat derogatory term and not one I would usually use.

I left the Free Church when I was about 30 for really complicated reasons. I spent a long time as an Anglican but having recently moved back to Scotland I now go to the mainstream established Church of Scotland.
I have also attended various independent evangelical and Baptist churches in my time.

So I am happy to try to answer any questions but please note I really am not qualified to speak on behalf of Catholics, or many other Christian branches.

My grandparents lived in the western isles and we would spend every school holiday with them. I remember getting shouted at to come in the house when the church van was going past and not being allowed to have tv or music on. Also praying in Gaelic having no idea what was said! I am not religious but I love listening to the Gaelic church singing though.

Originally the Church of Scotland was ran by congregations but a series of parliamentary acts meant local lairds were choosing ministers often to award the living to friends younger brothers etc ( a bit like Mr Collins in Pride and Prejudice) during the late 18th and early 19th centuries many congregations especially in rural areas had devout congregations ruled by ministers more interested in dinign out and hunting than the spiritual welfare of parishioners
Literacy was surprisingly high in Scotland as from the time of John Knox there was the principle of there being a school in every parish ( John Knox was also an early pioneer of women being in education { not in leadership though}he thought they should be educated with their brothers until age 14 old fashioned now but radical in the 17th century) so most crofters could read and understand the Bible and would often have a copy of the Bible Matthew henry's commentaries and maybe a few Puritan books like John Owen.
There were numerous attempts at assemblies in Edinburgh to sort this but ultimately it did not achieve much, and Robert peel The Tory Prime minister at the time was an advocate of the upper classes controlling the church so in 1843 a group of approximately 200 ministers walked out in protest, in doing so they not only lost their jobs but their homes giving them up on a point of principle which was brave. They set up lead by Thomas Chalmers a rival now called the Free church of Scotland but then called the Church of Scotland (Free) ie it was free from governmental and financial control, It was a time a hardship but they set up new churches and schools very rapidly. in many places Lairds tried to stop them setting up chruches by refusing land. In Ferintosh they met in the hills in a natural arena , they still have an annual service to remmeber this
The basic thing was at that time the laity were much more spiritual than the leadership and they wanted spiritual men to lead them and teach them. not third sons that didn't make the army or care about the poor.

this is a longer explanation https://www.scotland.org.uk/history/disruption

Oh and Halloween - what is the Wee Free's stance on that?

Children of wee free families were allowed to participate in Halloween at school/Brownies etc but would NEVER be allowed to dress as a witch, devil, ghost, or even a skeleton. Perhaps a cat at a push.

Some of them, not all, also had an issue with Harry Potter.

Thank you, @Cottagecheeseisnotcheese . I love this sort of history 👍

Probably, but although I like ministers to be friendly, I also like a Bible-based sermon, so that I can learn something and do a bit of soul-searching.

Yes indeed.

Are we talking about non catholics taking communion at Catholic Mass? That’s a hard no!

do you know any nuns? would you at any point have considered it yourself? x

I know I am not allowed to take communion at a Catholic church because 1.) I am not a Catholic and 2.) I do not believe the same thing about communion so I would chose not to even if allowed

Do the Wee Frees have nuns?

I quite like that. The other one I like is also cheesy and I squirm a bit because of its inaccuracy, but I always preface it by being explicit about it only being an analogy and shouldn't be pushed too far - it's the Mars Bar. The three layers are inseparabll, but if you somehow take away any one part you still have an item of confectionary but it's not a Mars (e.g. if you take away the caramel layer you've got a Milky Way). I like it with kids because we can do it as a game with actual Mars Bars. I've also heard Twix but IMO that works less well because you can actually eat a Twix by eating the caramel and chocolate around the biscuit.

DC Thomson's in Dundee discriminated against Catholics and were open about it despite not having to say as much. They put great importance on the school a job applicant attended instead as it was a dead give away to your religion.

Presbyterianism does not have nuns or monks

Do you find your upbringing has had any long-lasting effects on your day-to-day life ? I was brought up regular Presbyterian and still find it difficult to “gamble”. The guilt when I bought my first lottery ticket in my late twenties was immense. Also my mother was extremely strict about language eg I was not allowed to say “gee” as this was slang for God and therefore blasphemy.

There's the equivalent of Sunday school in RC parishes in America.

Kids who are parish members but who don't go to the parish school attend religious ed on a weeknight or on Sunday morning. Classes are held in the school or parish hall or other church campus buildings.

@Fink I like that Mars Bar analogy, and yes, one of the reasons I like the Aquafresh one is because you can get kids to try and separate the three different colours and see how impossible it is. I will say though that it’s an analogy I came across over 20 years ago and I don’t know how well it would work now as I don’t think the Aquafresh advert would be known to kids these days. Back then, the kids really got the whole idea of each colour doing a different job because they knew the advert and the recognisable jingle.

Right. RCs here get the Catechism at school. It's not an RC tradition to have a Sunday School and I've always wondered if they were like our Divinity lessons.

At school we were always taught the shamrock explanation of the Trinity. Attributed to St Patrick of course.

Do you think that Gordon Brown brought something extra to his Premiership, being a son of the Manse?

Not in all Catholic churches.

It’d be a rare catholic priest and he’s going directly against canon law, ignoring constant reminders from the Bishop. Not something I feel strongly about but Holy Communion is only for those who’ve received FHC instruction and ceremony. It’s a sacrament.

I'm a Catholic who has run Sunday school on and off for a number of years. It depends on the parish, but some do have it as a big thing. Since covid, we have kids' bible study online on a Sunday afternoon and one of the morning Masses more geared to them. We don't take them out of the Mass for children's liturgy anymore but that is quite widespread in some Catholic parishes. I agree that it's not as embedded as in some other denominations.

Sorry to disappear. We had visitors. I'll try to catch up now.

Maireas Scotland was (perhaps still is to a lesser extent) a hotbed of sectarianism. I don't think it was all really theologically based but it was common for people not to be given jobs based on having gone to a Catholic school for example. There were hugh ructions in my family when my cousin got engaged to a RC chap even although neither of them really went to church.

I think another poster has explained about Sunday School. When I was a child we had to learn stuff by heart for Sunday School each week- a verse of a metrical psalm, a verse or two of Scripture from a passage which we would do for several weeks and the answer to a catechism question. There were also annual exams.

I see, @Fink . We got all our instruction at school.

LlynTegid as CottageCheese said thatn was Lord Mackay. He was an elder in the Free Presbyterian church (which is different from the Free church of Scotland) and was removed from the eldership. Some members disagreed with that decision and left to form the Associated Presbyterian Churches. I am pretty sure that the Free Presbyterians would make the same decision today but the Free Church would not either then or now as it would be regarded as a matter of individual conscience.