The Scotsman Sessions #430: Kevin Lennon and Molly Innes
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FunTranscript
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.