Quote Originally Posted by Phil View Post
That's right, Church of England, Scottish Epicopal church and Church of Ireland are all branches of the Anglican church and all of which have an appointed hierarchy of bishops (the Episcopacy) as does the Roman Catholic church. I understand what Jock is saying but am not aware of religious persecution between Catholic and Protestant in Scotland of the kind that occurred in Ireland. What persecution there was was the killing of many thousands of Covenanters in the late 1600's as a result of the king wishing to impose an episcopacy upon the churchgoers at that time.
Just to correct the issues here; first off.. The Church of Scotland (CofS) known informally by its pre-Union Scots name, The Kirk (of Scotland), is the national church of Scotland. It is a Presbyterian church, which had it founding out of the Scottish Reformation. It is not a state church, like the Church of England, which the sitting monarch is the head of. While in Scotland the monarch is only a member. As a Presbyterian church, the Kirk has no bishops, but is rather governed by elders and ministers (known as presbyters) sitting in a series of courts. Now as to the ruling of the Roman Catholic Church being ruled by Bishops, I beleve that the Pope has been omited from the conversation.

Frank