Edinburgh - The Church of Scotland has rejected the British government's compromise over the bill which seeks to incorporate the European Convention on Human Rights into UK law, writes Robert Nowell. The bill goes through its committee stage in the House of Commons this week.
The church's fear is that proposed laws might allow the courts to intervene in its internal affairs. To allay those fears the government is to introduce a clause stating that the courts must have "particular regard" to the importance of the convention's right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion.
But the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, on the first day of its week-long annual meeting in Edinburgh, has indicated it wants an amendment reaffirming the 1921 Church of Scotland Act, recognising the Kirk's independent government and jurisdiction in matters spiritual.