Editing Sorley MacLean (section)

===Calvinism===
{{further|Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland}}
[[File:Recreation ground on the Isle of Raasay - geograph.org.uk - 1476596.jpg|thumb|A sign requests that the playground not be used on Sunday.]]

MacLean was raised in the [[Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland]], which he described as "the strictest of [[Reformed fundamentalism|Calvinist fundamentalism]]".<ref>{{cite journal |last1=MacLean |first1=Sorley |title=Hallaig |journal=[[PN Review]] |date=1 November 1994 |volume=21 |issue=2 |page=10 |url=https://www.proquest.com/openview/be7e3ba14ab11e3e57c8ff9443ef793c/1?pq-origsite=gscholar&cbl=1817849 }}</ref> Calvinism taught that [[Predestination in Calvinism|God would save a small portion of humanity]], the [[Unconditional election|elect]], while the vast majority were doomed by the [[total depravity|sinfulness inherent in human nature]]. Only 5% of the congregation took [[Lord's Supper in Reformed theology|communion]]; the remainder were considered mere "adherents" who were probably destined for [[damnation|eternal torment]] in [[Christian views on Hell#Protestantism|hell]]. Free Presbyterians believed that the [[Free Church of Scotland (since 1900)|Free Church]] was too lenient, let alone the [[Church of Scotland]]. They prohibited any form of amusement on the [[Sabbath in Christianity|Sabbath]], but had a rich tradition of [[Gaelic psalm singing|unaccompanied psalm singing]].{{r|open|p=17}}{{r|displacement|p=8}}

MacLean later said that he had abandoned religion for socialism at the age of twelve,{{r|open|p=17}} as he refused to accept that a majority of human beings were consigned to eternal damnation.{{r|landscape|p=232}} In 1941, he wrote that "perhaps my obsession with the cause of the unhappy, the unsuccessful, the oppressed comes from this."<ref>{{cite book |last1=Watson |first1=Roderick |author-link1=Roderick Watson |editor1-last=Kendall |editor1-first=Tim |editor1-link=Tim Kendall |title=The Oxford Handbook of British and Irish War Poetry |date=2009 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-174351-1 |page=330 |chapter-url=https://www.oxfordhandbooks.com/view/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199559602.001.0001/oxfordhb-9780199559602 |chapter='Death's Proletariat': Scottish Poets of the Second World War}}</ref> The pessimism of the Calvinist tradition had a strong impact on his world-view, and he also retained "a puritanical contempt for mere worldly riches and power".<ref name="larach"/>{{r|open|pp=32, 38}}{{efn-lr|As MacLean put it in a letter to [[Hugh MacDiarmid]], "A renegade [[Disruption of 1843|Seceder]] makes quite a good [[Marxist]]".{{r|thesis2|p=218|hobit}}}} Later in life, he had a complicated view of the church and religion. Although he criticized the Presbyterian church's suppression of Gaelic song, [[Scottish traditional music]], and the oral tradition, as well as the negative effect of church teachings on some social groups, especially women, Professor Donald Meek <small>([[:gd:An t-Ollamh Dòmhnall Meek|gd]])</small> wrote that at times MacLean seemed to articulate the ideas of [[liberation theology]].<ref name="larach"/> [[John MacInnes (Gaelic scholar)|John MacInnes]] has argued that his [[evangelical]] Presbyterian background was an important influence on his choice of Gaelic as the medium for his poetry and the manner of its expression.<ref>MacInnes, John (1981), ''A Radically Traditional Voice: Sorley MacLean and the Evangelical Background'', in Murray, Glen (ed.), ''[[Cencrastus]]'' No. 7, Winter 1981 - 82, pp. 14 - 17 {{issn|0264-0856}}.</ref> MacLean defended the Free Presbyterian Church against opponents who had little familiarity with it,{{r|open|p=17|hobit}} once describing Free Presbyterian Church elders as "saintly, just saintly men".{{r|family|p=218}} Sometimes he altered his poetry to avoid offending the religious members of his family.{{r|Easter|p=452}} He also admired the linguistic and literary sophistication and creativity of Protestant sermons in Gaelic.{{r|family|pp=216–217}} The wide vocabulary, high [[register (sociolinguistics)|register]], and passion of these sermons had a significant impact on his poetic style.{{r|open|p=17}}{{r|landscape|p=239}}