The Young Adult Volunteer Program (YAV), part of Presbyterian World Mission, is beginning its 21st year this fall. It continues to grow and includes new national and expanding international sites for the 2015-2016 academic year. All align with the critical global initiatives adopted by World Mission, including poverty alleviation and reconciliation in cultures of violence.
Scotland announced on July 25 it will allow same-sex weddings as early as 2015, becoming the first country in the United Kingdom to do so.
Gay rights campaigners expressed “disappointment” that the Scottish government has delayed passing legislation that would recognize gay weddings while leaving faith groups free to choose whether they wanted to conduct such ceremonies
Although a recent survey showed 62 percent of Scots favor gay marriage, the country’s main religious denominations overwhelmingly disapprove of it — though many observers think religious voices are less influential than they used to be.
The Scottish government was right to show compassion and to release the Libyan man convicted of the 1988 bombing of a U.S. plane over Scotland, an official of the (Presbyterian) Church of Scotland has said.