The Scottish Government accepts that to confine a stirring up offence to an intention to stir up hatred would be prohibitively restrictive in practice as in real-life cases it may often be very difficult to prove beyond reasonable doubt what the accused's intent was, even where it is very clear that their behaviour would be likely to result in hatred being stirred up.

"1905, that is."

Best of all, Episcopalian priests are excited that they'll be able to eisegete and explain away problem texts without a word of complaint from anyone. "We can say pretty much anything now," the priest continued. "Usually you get some confused looks when you start saying that the text doesn't really mean what it says. Then, oddly enough, those churchgoers don't bother coming back to church to hear you teach the Bible the next Sunday. It's very strange."

Christians have not always exercised this Augustinian discernment. In three historically pivotal revolutions, many Christians opted for secularized versions of the kingdom of God. Slow changes in their own societies seemed too slow.

The first was the French Revolution. In 1789 the three Estates General were challenging Louis XIV and the Ancien Regime. They were pushing for gradual, incremental reform. Louis was advised to accommodate them. He refused.

Lincoln appealed to the Declaration in opposing slavery; Martin Luther King appealed to it in opposing segregation; and the country has worked hard over the years to convert its principle from an aspiration to a lived reality. This purpose met strong resistance, right up to a civil war, but the line of development is clear.