The Scotsman Sessions #430: Kevin Lennon and Molly Innes

The Scotsman

Transcript

00:00Now, ask me your questions.

00:13Ah, well, it seems to me that we forget that the Picts were under pressure from two rival

00:23Christianities, the Celtic and the Roman, and I wondered what bearing that might have

00:28had on the symbols on the stones.

00:32Don't tell me, Mr Mack, that you have some romantic notion that Columba and his Iona

00:37gang were soft and cuddly while the Northumbrians were hardened criminals.

00:42It doesn't matter which Christianity won out in Pictland, the biggest losers were always

00:48going to be the Picts.

00:49I don't think you could really survive in the 6th century by being cuddly.

00:55Columba was a warrior before he was a saint.

01:00Whatever you think of his faith, he comes across as somebody quite heroic.

01:03And what do you think of his faith?

01:06I think he was a man of his time.

01:09Don't equivocate.

01:10What do you mean?

01:12I don't know what his faith consisted of.

01:15I think he was doing what most of us do, searching around for meaning.

01:21Well, at least you have an opinion.

01:24But you don't sound very convinced.

01:26It was a long time ago.

01:27I wasn't there.

01:28I don't mean about Columba, I mean about faith.

01:32I'm not convinced.

01:36Then what on earth are you doing being a minister?

01:39If that's how you feel about it, get out!

01:42Make room for a genuine dyed-in-the-wool hypocrite.

01:47Ah, wait a minute.

01:49This isn't about your wife, is it?

01:53I beg your pardon?

01:55You haven't fallen out with God because he took your wife away from you, have you?

02:01God had absolutely nothing to do with it.

02:04I'm aware of that.

02:07I fell out with God, as you put it, long before Jenny died.

02:13But I'm wondering why you take so strongly against him.

02:17If you're an atheist, why does he bother you so much?

02:21He doesn't bother me.

02:23It's you lot that bother me, regurgitating stories about heaven and hell and causing endless misery as a result.

02:30Anyway, I am not an atheist.

02:32How do I know what's out there?

02:34And after this, I'm an agnostic.

02:37I'm only concerned with what we know.

02:39With what we can know.

02:43Me too.

02:45Do you mind if I call you Gideon?

02:48It's a hell of a name, but Mr Mac sounds like something out of a children's television programme.

02:56Gideon's fine.

02:58Look, do you drink whisky?

03:01Good.

03:03Fetch us a couple of glasses and pour us a drink.

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