St.Who's Day?

Today is St.Andrew's Day, Scotland's national day. Scotland has only had a national holiday since 2006, which surprised me. Which makes me wonder why a country's national saint doesn't get as much publicity as say a certain Irish saint. His feast day is celebrated around the world on March 17th. Even those with no links to Ireland seem to claim St.Patrick as their own on that day.

Like other saints, St.Andrew is claimed by lots of other countries too, with Romania, Greece, and Ukraine among the frontrunners. Even Barbados stakes a claim to him! In southern parts of Europe, on the day before St.Andrew's Day there's a superstition that a young lady sees her future husband. It also happens to be the most popular day for vampire activity. I trust the two aren't connected.

Anyway, back to St.Andrew. Why isn't he celebrated in the UK more widely? If the Irish can successfully market a Welshman as their own, why can't Scotland market one of the original twelve apostles? Heck! The Catholic Church never even formally canonised Patrick yet still is a saint! 

Admittedly, Andrew didn't banish all snakes south of York. He didn't use the thistle to illustrate Christian thinking. In fact, there's precious little we know about him. Many books of the Bible don't even mention him. Andrew may have been a humble fisherman, so it is hard to find his unique selling point.

Perhaps that's it. He's just not as sexy as good old Paddy.

The influence of church or state

Today in the UK House of Commons our MPs voted in favour, by a margin of 330 to 275, of a bill calling for assisted dying. This free vote, meaning an MP was not obliged to vote a particular way by their party’s whip, means that the first steps in changing the law have passed. It now need to go through the rest of the parliamentary process, including a vote in the House of Lords, before it can become a reality. 

I’m unsure which way I’d have voted given the chance. I’ve watched relatives and friends with serious illness suffer towards the end of their life, so I understand why this debate happened. However, I’d want to ensure that the appropriate safeguards were in place to prevent people being forced or coerced into accepted their fate. There seems to be sufficient thought made to this. For example, it will only be available to those who are terminally ill and must be approved by two doctors and a judge.
 
The issue for me is that I can’t be sure what I’d want until faced with the reality of a terminal diagnosis. It’s all right saying I’m in favour of having the option of an assisted death, but I may think differently when faced with making the choice. Having the option is very different from saying you want it, so that’s OK, and you can always change your mind. That’s why I’m sympathetic.
 
As someone brought up in religious household, what is interesting is the disconnect between the church and state. In the UK the monarch is head of the Church of England, but thanks to Oliver Cromwell, no longer has control over their government’s policies. That said, I doubt this vote would have even taken place, let alone pass, 50 years ago. Attitudes have changed, and so has the power of the religious bodies to influence how we think. 
 
We’ve seen religious influence wain in other countries also. In my homeland Ireland, the pull of the Catholic churches influence is nothing like it was when I was growing up. Recent years have seen votes pass there on same sex marriage and abortion. My aunt, a missionary nun, would be proud of her church if she’d have lived to see the law pass! She was an educated lady, who saw firsthand what the absence of choice did to people. In her own way she was able to voice her thoughts within the confines of her role.
 
Whatever your thoughts on assisted dying, remember that people are coming from the right place. It’s a complicated topic, with different experiences and emotions. Whatever the result of this vote, let’s remember that this is about peace and dignity at the end of a person’s life.