Scotland S Shame

The journalist reveals the scandal behind Scotland’s Pan Am Flight 103 bombing trial and the questionable conviction of a Libyan terror suspect. The Lockerbie bombing of 1988 remains one of the most notorious acts of terrorism to be perpetrated in the United Kingdom. Its political and foreign policy repercussions have been enormous. Decades later, debate still rages over the conviction of Abdelbaset al-Megrahi, as well as his controversial release in 2009 on compassionate grounds. In Scotland’s Shame, journalist and researcher John Ashton argues that the guilty verdict, delivered by some of Scotland's most senior judges, was perverse and irrational. He details how prosecutors withheld numerous items of evidence that were favorable to Megrahi. It accuses successive Scottish governments of turning their back on the scandal and pretending that the country's treasured independent criminal justice system remains untainted.

In one of the most controversial lectures of recent times, Scotland's foremost composer, James MacMillan, accused his country of being a land of `sleep-walking bigotry' where visceral anti-Catholicism' disfigures national life. Pandora's Box, it turned out, had been opened in truly spectacular fashion. By his remarks, the media became obsessed with the issue and for weeks Scotland's broadsheets were crammed with columns and letters exploring all aspects of the topic. Clearly MacMillan had touched a nerve. Was Scotland really `Northern Ireland without the guns and bullets'? Although the debate was intense, however, few contributions rose above the level of swapping competing anecdotes. More heat then light was generated in the process. It soon became clear there was a crying need for more reflective assessments and for hard evidence to confirm or deny the many assertions made in the course of the discussion. Scotland's Shame is the first book since the MacMillan lecture to tackle the issues he raised head on. A team consisting of the best writers, researchers and academics in the field has produced a readable volume which is accessible in approach to everyone interested in the subject. Their conclusions will often surprise and intrigue.

The question of sectarianism in Scotland belongs within a wider framework than it has hitherto been placed. It offers insights into continuing, indeed pressing, debates about religious identity and civil and political society in the modern world. This book questions the view that religion and politics do not, and cannot, mix in pluralistic, tolerant and increasingly secular societies, and reveals that memories - bitter memories - can outlive, and obscure, the demise of actual conflict.

A new and wide-ranging study of Christianity in Scotland, from the eighteenth century to the present.The contributors include D. W. D. Shaw, Ian Campbell, Kenneth Fielding, William Ferguson, Barbara MacHaffie, Peter Matheson, John McCaffrey, Owen Chadwick, David Thompson, Keith Robbins, Andrew Ross, Stewart J. Brown and George Newlands.Topics encompass varieties of unbelief, challenges to the Westminster confession, John Baillie, Queen Victoria and the Church of Scotland, the Scottish ecumenical movement, the disestablishment movement, and Presbyterian-Catholic relations.

Introduction : is Scotland sectarian? --1.nineteenth century --2.thirties --3.present --4.Ulster, football and violence --5.Why bigotry failed.

Eleven international scholars analyse key works by Sir James MacMillan, and contextualise his unique musical-theological approach.