Church and state in Scotland: the Articles Declaratory

A special commission has been tasked by the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland to report on that article of the Church's constitution which declares it to be the national church in Scotland. Marjory MacLean's paper offers some background and sets out questions very pertinent to the debate.Publisher PD

Crown rights of the Redeemer : a reformed approach to sovereignty for the National Church in the 21st Century

This thesis argues that the Church of Scotland is hampered in the proper exercise of its inherent power of spiritual jurisdiction by the predominance of a model of sovereignty that owes more to secular political science than to Christian theology. Chapter One analyses sovereignty from a Reformed theological perspective, founding on a prior doxological conception of the sovereignty of God. The result is a model of 'diakonal' sovereignty expressed in covenant relation between God and his people. Chapter Two describes the emergence of a conception of the relationship of authority between Church and state in post-Reformation Scotland that relied excessively on a 'Two Kingdoms' theory of authority. Chapter Three describes the constitutional crisis produced by the events of the 1840s, and the solution that was enshrined in the Church of Scotland Act of 1921 and the Fourth Article Declaratory appended thereto. This settlement is useful for asserting the Church's internal freedom to regulate spiritualia; but as a model of a legally sovereign institution, it was always constitutionally imperfect and obsolescent. Chapter Four traces the fate of the settlement in the last eighty years. The Church's legal privilege has diminished, and its independence been threatened by legislation and case-law; meanwhile the nation state has fragmented to such an extent that it may no longer have the ability to guarantee the Church's freedoms under the terms of the Act. Chapter Five recounts fourteen conversations held with men of experience and influence in the field of Church-state relations; conversations in which issues of Establishment (now barely relevant in the constitution of the Church), religious human rights (a partial, but inadequate alternative basis of religious liberty) and spiritual freedom itself (a separate matter from spiritual jurisdiction) were discussed in depth. Chapter Six concludes that a new philosophy of legal authority is needed to replace the one supporting the 1921 Act and the Articles. It must be a philosophy of service not domination; and it should not be enslaved to any particular understanding of sovereignty, not even a temptingly traditional, Scottish model. It must serve ecclesia semper reformanda and the Church as communio, not as societas perfecta. This produces a suggested re-writing of the Fourth and Sixth Articles Declaratory, on the separation of jurisdictions and the relationship between the Church and the civil magistrate. Only such a re-writing can restore the relevance of the constitutional foundation of the Church of Scotland and defend the spiritual freedom the Church must demand - to obey God above all earthly authority

Church and State in Scotland: The Articles Declaratory

A special commission has been tasked by the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland to report on that article of the Church's constitution which declares it to be the national church in Scotland. Marjory MacLean's paper offers some background and sets out questions very pertinent to the debate

An inside verdict

As Acting Principal Clerk of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, Dr Marjory MacLean provides a response from within the Kirk to Harry Reid's book Outside Verdict: An Old Kirk in a New Scotland. Her contribution focusses on the aspects of Reid's book concerned with the administration of the church. This takes in leadership, distinctiveness, manses and overseas charges, decision-making, the General Assembly and the central administration in Edinburgh

Levothyroxine in Women with Thyroid Peroxidase Antibodies before Conception

BackgroundThyroid peroxidase antibodies are associated with an increased risk of miscarriage and preterm birth, even when thyroid function is normal. Small trials indicate that the use of levothyroxine could reduce the incidence of such adverse outcomes.MethodsWe conducted a double-blind, placebo-controlled trial to investigate whether levothyroxine treatment would increase live-birth rates among euthyroid women who had thyroid peroxidase antibodies and a history of miscarriage or infertility. A total of 19,585 women from 49 hospitals in the United Kingdom underwent testing for thyroid peroxidase antibodies and thyroid function. We randomly assigned 952 women to receive either 50 μg once daily of levothyroxine (476 women) or placebo (476 women) before conception through the end of pregnancy. The primary outcome was live birth after at least 34 weeks of gestation.ResultsThe follow-up rate for the primary outcome was 98.7% (940 of 952 women). A total of 266 of 470 women in the levothyroxine group (56.6%) and 274 of 470 women in the placebo group (58.3%) became pregnant. The live-birth rate was 37.4% (176 of 470 women) in the levothyroxine group and 37.9% (178 of 470 women) in the placebo group (relative risk, 0.97; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.83 to 1.14, P=0.74; absolute difference, −0.4 percentage points; 95% CI, −6.6 to 5.8). There were no significant between-group differences in other pregnancy outcomes, including pregnancy loss or preterm birth, or in neonatal outcomes. Serious adverse events occurred in 5.9% of women in the levothyroxine group and 3.8% in the placebo group (P=0.14).ConclusionsThe use of levothyroxine in euthyroid women with thyroid peroxidase antibodies did not result in a higher rate of live births than placebo. (Funded by the United Kingdom National Institute for Health Research; TABLET Current Controlled Trials number, ISRCTN15948785.