Why should the Church remember Burns? He was a drunkard and a womaniser and left a string of illegitimate children across the country.
But as well as that he was a thorn in the side of the Church of that time. He had recognised the hypocrisy of an organisation that was concerned about respectability rather than faith. His poems "Holy Willie's Prayer" and "The address to the unco guid" lambaste the two-facedness of the Church. "The Cotter's Saturday Night" tells a story of a real faith that doesn't need the Church.
There's a story (I read it on the internet so it must be true!) that at one time the local church had a notice on it saying,
"All are welcome here with the EXCEPTION of Robert Burns."
Underneath was Burn's reply,"He who wrote this wrote it well, but the same shall be writ on the gates of hell."
The Church in every age does well to listen to the criticism of Burn's. Are we interested in faith or respectability?
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