Capitalisation

Church-related words

  • Church: "Church of Scotland" should be written out in full in the first instance, to avoid ambiguity. "Church" or "Churches" refer to the universal Church. "Church" would also be in uppercase when the full name is used, e.g. Murrayfield Parish Church, but lower case in "the church seats 300 people". When discussing different denominations or the world church use lower-case church. e.g. The World Council of Churches is made up of 345 member churches.
  • Bible: Uppercase when referring to the Scriptures (also upper case); lower case when the word is used generically, (e.g. "the librarian's bible."
    • Bible references are in the following style: Isaiah 12:2, written as follows: "For God so loved the world" (John 3:16) or "We learn in Isaiah 12:2 that…"
  • Job titles are generally lower case ("head teacher", "minister", "elder". "Being a minister is challenging". However, "I am becoming a Minister of Word and Sacrament."
  • "Moderator" should be capped if referencing the person: "The Moderator said", but not when the role is referenced generally: "we will ask a moderator to attend". The Moderator is always the Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland – never the Moderator of the Church of Scotland.
  • Rev must only be used with a full name (i.e. Rev Tony Green, but never Rev Green.) If not using the first name, then drop the Rev for Mr/Mrs/Miss/Ms. "Rev Tony Green was at church. Mr Green was happy to conduct the service."
  • General Assembly: Always capped, as are the Church of Scotland departments. "Presbytery" is capped when named but lower case in subsequent references (e.g. "The matter was discussed at St Andrews Presbytery. The presbytery then decided…"). In general, Church job titles should be lower case (e.g. "presbytery clerk."
  • Church legislation is capped when the full piece of legislation is named (the Declamatory Pupil Act of 1877) but lower case in subsequent references (the act said that the pulpit…)
  • Clergy in other denominations should be given correct titles according to the rules of that denomination. Mass should be capitalised.
  • God and Jesus: upper case. Wherever possible, try to avoid using personal pronouns relating to God. Where it's unavoidable, use "he" or "his" without capitals.
  • Communion: uppercase
  • The Word: upper case when used as a substitute for Jesus or the Bible

General

Aside from the usual (first words in sentences, proper nouns, etc.), we capitalise:

  • The first letter of the first word in a list
  • The first letter of the first word in a headline, page name, or subheadline
    • Note that ONLY the first letter of the first word is capitalised. All other words, aside from proper nouns, are lowercase.