Churches applaud legal win

Church leaders in Scotland have expressed their relief at a judge’s decision to overturn a Scottish Government ban on public worship.
And now the way has been cleared for them to do so, they are able to open their doors to their congregations and communities from this weekend.

This week, an action brought by 27 church leaders saw the Court of Session come down in favour of the faith community after it challenged far-reaching restrictions that were a clear breach of their freedom to practice religion.

Speaking after the decision of Court of Session judge, Lord Braid, had been announced, the Reverend Dr William Philip, minister of The Tron Church in Glasgow, said the group is ‘very pleased’ it had been recognised how ‘essential’ corporate worship is to Christians in Scotland.

‘’We have recognised the serious decisions the Scottish Ministers had to take in response to the pandemic,’ he said. “However, its approach to banning and criminalising gathered church worship was clearly ...