Gilead Comes To Scotland

From the article:

"In a sermon titled ‘Submit and Love’, Reverend Chris Demetriou told worshippers that a wife “should submit to her husband’s leadership” because “that’s the Lord’s pattern for us”. He added marriage with a wife at the head “will not reach its full potential” - instead, women should be subservient women and duly submit to their husbands “out of obedience to Christ”."

None of us should be surprised that this is what Christians think. So why is it news? The Church is a charity and in the UK charities have to behave in a certain way - they have a responsibility in other words - and if they break that then the regulator (the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator in this case) can and should get involved.

Alejandro Sanchez of the National Secular Society is quoted as saying:

"Mr Demetriou’s vision of a world of female subservience is straight out of The Handmaid’s Tale. It is misogyny like this that underpins the abuse and coercive control of women, which the Scottish government says it is committed to ending....In return for generous tax breaks, charities are meant to provide a public benefit and not cause likely detriment or harm. If ‘the advancement of religion’ enables charities to promote misogyny with impunity, it should be removed from the register of charitable purposes.”

He's absolutely right. This is 2024 not 1824. Some christian misogynist telling his flock to subjugate women never had a place, but even less so at a time when christianity is no longer a majority belief in the UK.