Give it a rest on lecturing people on what they should or shouldn't do on Sundays
Martyrs Memorial Free Presbyterian Church on the Ravenhill Road, Belfast, is just around the corner from where I live — so, naturally, I take a passing interest in what's going on there. We're practically neighbours, after all.
Last Sunday, during the Belfast City Marathon, a giant blue banner was draped across the front of the church, reminding everyone to remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy.
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Belfast Telegraph
09-05-2025
- Belfast Telegraph
Give it a rest on lecturing people on what they should or shouldn't do on Sundays
Martyrs Memorial Free Presbyterian Church on the Ravenhill Road, Belfast, is just around the corner from where I live — so, naturally, I take a passing interest in what's going on there. We're practically neighbours, after all. Last Sunday, during the Belfast City Marathon, a giant blue banner was draped across the front of the church, reminding everyone to remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy.
BBC News
16-11-2024
- BBC News
Why Sunday is still sacred on Lewis and Harris
Islanders on Lewis spend their Sundays in a way the rest of Scotland - and the UK - have not seen in pools and sports centres are closed and most businesses are the rest of the Western Isles there is no public transport on is a strong tradition of Christian church-going on Lewis - and neighbouring Harris - with the Church of Scotland and Free Church to the latest Census figures, Church of Scotland (35.3%) was the most common religious group in the Western Isles. But a row over the seven-day opening of a Tesco in Stornoway, Lewis, has brought this traditional way of life into focus. And today's first Sunday opening marks a historical change. Faithful observance of the Sabbath, or Lord's Day, is embedded in the culture of Lewis and the Bible's Ten Commandments, the Sabbath is a spiritual time for worship and rest from work and the past, islanders didn't hang washing outside as a mark of respect for the Sabbath - and on occasions some church-goers even chained up children's swings to help ensure peace and James Englinton is a a senior lecturer in Reformed Theology at Edinburgh University and has family from said chaining swings had become a trope used by people who don't understand island Englinton added: "It's very much projected on to that culture and that kind of stuff makes the Sabbath sound very dour, killjoy and weird."What you have on Lewis is a living example of a local culture that practices a day of rest as a community."On mainland Scotland people think that's quite odd, but it's a normal thing across continental Europe." The Rev Hector Morrison, who is from Lewis and is principal of Highland Theological College UHI, said one reason for the longevity of Lewis and Harris' Sunday traditions were evangelical were events when communities felt committed to a very pious way of Rev Morrison says parts of Lewis and Harris experienced revivals every 10-15 years up until at least the has fond memories of growing up in Lewis and says the Sabbath never seemed former minister adds: "I believe that Sunday will remain special for Lewis and Harris people not primarily because it is so deeply embedded in the island's culture, but as long as the gospel itself remains significant and powerfully at work in these islands. "Each new generation which comes to love the Lord, will want to keep the Lord's commandments." Other religions across the Western isles include Catholic, particularly in the southern isles including Barra, and there is a mosque in Lewis and Harris the last 20 years have seen significant changes to restaurants have opened and there is a petrol station with a shop trading on island's first commercial flights started in October 60 campaigners gathered to meet the plane when it landed at stood in quiet protest and handed out leaflets saying travelling on the Sabbath was a sin and damaging to a person's soul and island life.A young oil industry worker was among the passengers on that first told the BBC at the time a Sunday air service offered him a chance to balance working away from home and getting back to spend quality time with his family. Seven years later the first ferry - a lifeline form of transport in the Western Isles - sailed from Stornoway to mainland Scotland on a Sunday.A small group prayed and sang a psalm as cars boarded the boat, but several hundred other people stood and clapped as a show of support for the sailing. Among the protestors was Govan-born Free Church minister Rev Angus Smith. He led a demonstration against Skye Sunday ferries in 1965 and was removed by police after sitting in front of cars waiting to in 2018, a screening of Star Wars: The Last Jedi marked the first time a cinema was open on a Sunday in Lewis. There was a small protest outside. When it comes to Tesco islanders have mixed Aucott-Hall said: "The town has lots of other things open on a Sunday anyway so why not Tesco?"If the place was shut I would understand but it's not."If I can go and buy a pint of beer I should be able to buy a pint of milk."But Ruth Pickard is not in favour of the told BBC News: "I'm totally against it. We moved up here from Yorkshire 34 years ago and one of the attraction was the peace and quiet and the way of life."What you can't buy six days a week, I don't know what you need on a Sunday."Lewis-based BBC journalist Donald Lamont said the debate is not a simple told BBC Radio's Good Morning Scotland: "It's not as straight forward as those of a religious persuasion versus those who are not. It's more nuanced than that. "There are a lot of people expressing sadness, a lot of people are ambivalent and there are those who are pleased with the news."
BBC News
09-11-2024
- BBC News
Eruv with 12-mile route approved in Hale despite 900 objections
Plans to erect a series of poles to create a special area for Orthodox Jews have been approved by councillors despite hundreds of objections. The proposals for an eruv to be put in place around the village of Hale, Greater Manchester, on a Saturday were first put forwards a decade eruv is a symbolic boundary exempt from a Jewish rule that forbids the carrying or pushing of items outside Jewish homes on the Sabbath than 900 local residents objected but Trafford's planning committee gave the plan the go-ahead. The 52 street poles will each measure between 22ft and 26ft high and will appear at 26 individual area includes Hale Road and Grove Lane to the north; Shay Lane and Burnside to the east; Bankhall Lane and Rappax Road to the south and Ashley Road to the poles will be placed either side of road junctions and connected by filament fibre of the committee were told that the creation of an eruv did not require planning permission, only the physical infrastructure such as the poles and of the sites are on green belt land and some are in local conservation areas, but councillors heard officers believed the application demonstrated "very special circumstances that overcome the harm by reason of inappropriateness". Six members of the public, split equally between those in favour and those against, addressed the a long debate, the committee voted in favour of approving the plans, with three councillors voting against. Listen to the best of BBC Radio Manchester on Sounds and follow BBC Manchester on Facebook, X, and Instagram. You can also send story ideas to external and via Whatsapp to 0808 100 2230.
