Michael Scott (priest)

{{Infobox clergy

| honorific_prefix = The Reverend

| name = Michael Scott

| image =

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| birth_name = Guthrie Michael Scott

| birth_date = 30 July 1907

| birth_place = Lowfield Heath, Sussex, England

| death_date = 14 September 1983

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| religion = Christianity (Anglican)

| church = Church of England

| other_names =

| education =

| ordained = 21 December 1930

| writings =

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| children =

| parents = Percival Caleb Scott and Ethel

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}}

Guthrie Michael Scott (30 July 1907 – 14 September 1983) was an Anglican priest and anti-apartheid activist, who joined in the defiance of the apartheid system in South Africa in the 1940s – a long struggle for social justice in that country.{{cite news|url=http://allafrica.com/stories/200911231071.html|title=Namibia: Michael Scott - a Man of Conscience (1907 to 1983)|first=Catherine|last=Sasman|date=23 November 2009|newspaper=New Era|accessdate=26 January 2018|via=AllAfrica}} He was also an early advocate of nuclear disarmament.

Life

Scott was born in Sussex on 30 July 1907 and educated at King's College, Taunton, Chichester Theological College and St Paul's College, Grahamstown. He was ordained by George Bell in 1932 and began his career with curacies in Slaugham and Kensington.Crockford's Clerical Directory 1975-76 Lambeth, Church House, 1975 ISBN (invalid) 0108153674 alternate version: {{ISBN|0-19-200008-X}} {{OCLC|25885092}} {{OCLC|59162245}}

He was Domestic Chaplain to the Bishop of Bombay from 1935 to 1937; and then served at St Paul's Cathedral, Calcutta.

In 1943 he moved to Johannesburg where he was Chaplain to the St Alban's Mission. While there he became the first white man to be jailed for resisting that country's racial laws.{{cite web|url=http://www.dacb.org/stories/southafrica/scott_michael.html|title=Dictionary of African Christian Biography|accessdate=26 January 2018|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20140807045444/http://www.dacb.org/stories/southafrica/scott_michael.html|archivedate=7 August 2014|df=dmy-all}} In 1952, he co-founded the Africa Bureau, "an organisation to advise and support Africans who wished to oppose by constitutional means political decisions affecting their lives and futures imposed by alien governments."{{cite web|url=http://www.bodley.ox.ac.uk/dept/scwmss/wmss/online/blcas/african-bureau.html|title=Records of the Africa Bureau and related organisations|publisher=Bodleian Library|location=Oxford}} He was a leading international promoter of Namibian independence along with Chief Hosea Kutako and Captain Hendrik Samuel Witbooi.{{cite news

|title=Michael Scott, 'a troublemaker' who helped people of Namibia

|last=Vigne

|first=Randolph|author-link=Randolph Vigne

|newspaper=The Namibian

|date=7 July 2006

|url=http://www.namibian.com.na/index.php?id=28&tx_ttnews%5Btt_news%5D=25149&no_cache=1}}{{cite web|url=http://www.newstatesman.com/200605010040|work=New Statesman |title= The British Gandhi|publisher=|accessdate=26 January 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060526140743/http://www.newstatesman.com/200605010040|archive-date=2006-05-26|first=Peter |last=Wilby

|date=1 May 2006}} For his efforts in the Namibian War of Independence, he has a prominent street named after him in Windhoek.

With Bertrand Russell, he was co-founder of the Committee of 100 in 1960. He met Martin Luther King Jr. during Ghana's celebration of independence.{{cite web|url=https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/encyclopedia/ghana-trip|title=Ghana Trip|website=kinginstitute.stanford.edu|date=26 April 2017 |accessdate=4 December 2019}}

File:Kingston near Lewes, St Pancras Church, Michael Scott window.jpg

In later life, Scott was a friend of the philosopher Bertrand Russell. He died on 14 September 1983.{{cite news The Times|title=The Rev Michael Scott. Pioneer Campaigner against Apartheid|date= 16 September 1983|p= 14|issue= 61639}} There is a memorial window to him at St Pancras Church, Kingston near Lewes.{{cite web|url=https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/2884786|title=St Pancras, Kington Near Lewes: Michael... (C) Basher Eyre|website=www.geograph.org.uk|accessdate=26 January 2018}}

Along with his philosopher friend Bertrand Russell, Scott was one of the signatories of the agreement to convene a convention for drafting a world constitution.{{Cite web |title=Letters from Thane Read asking Helen Keller to sign the World Constitution for world peace. 1961 |url=https://www.afb.org/HelenKellerArchive?a=d&d=A-HK01-07-B149-F04-022.1.3 |access-date=1 July 2023 |website=Helen Keller Archive |publisher=American Foundation for the Blind}}{{Cite web |title=Letter from World Constitution Coordinating Committee to Helen, enclosing current materials |url=https://www.afb.org/HelenKellerArchive?a=d&d=A-HK01-07-B154-F05-028.1.6 |access-date=3 July 2023 |website=Helen Keller Archive |publisher=American Foundation for the Blind}} As a result, for the first time in human history, a World Constituent Assembly convened to draft and adopt the Constitution for the Federation of Earth.{{Cite web |title=Preparing earth constitution {{!}} Global Strategies & Solutions {{!}} The Encyclopedia of World Problems |url=http://encyclopedia.uia.org/en/strategy/193465 |url-status= |access-date=15 July 2023 |website=The Encyclopedia of World Problems {{!}} Union of International Associations (UIA)}}