Church says many Scotland’s Catholics ‘feel marginalised’ by the infighting over religion and issues such as gay marriage, abortion and gender conversion, which could potentially damage the SNP at the ballot box
By Bill Heaney
The Catholic Church in Scotland has warned against the “hypocrisy” of the attacks on Kate Forbes, the favourite leadership candidate to take over from Nicola Sturgeon as First Minister.
The MSP has suffered a backlash over her membership of the Free Church of Scotland and her personal beliefs, including same sex marriage and gender reform.
It was against this backdrop that Peter Kearney, the Church’s spokesman in Scotland, warned the SNP is in danger of alienating Catholic voters and said: “We do have evidence that this debate is leaving people feeling very very uncomfortable.”
He said a poll by one Scottish Catholic group found 80 per cent of people responding found the debate over Ms Forbes’ views made them feel more marginalised, pointing out that the teaching of the Catholic Church is also opposed to abortion and same sex marriage.
Many experts believe the SNP’s electoral success has been built on the support of Scotland’s Catholics.
Polls have also shown that people from an Irish Catholic background are more likely to vote for Scexit.
Now that backing is being put at risk by the in-fighting over religion in the SNP leadership contest, with both Ms Forbes and Humza Yousaf, a practising Muslim, facing scrutiny over their beliefs.
In an interview with the Herald newspaper, Mr Kearney said: “It’s difficult to imagine anyone entering elected politics who didn’t have ‘deeply held views’, whether they are economic, social, environmental or religious views shouldn’t matter. What matters is that they don’t impose those views on others, but instead respect differences.
“Previously this was possible by political parties allowing certain moral matters such as abortion, same sex marriage and assisted suicide, to be treated as matters of conscience, where parliamentarians were permitted to vote freely in accordance with their conscience. This was an example of tolerance, sadly it has given way to conformity in politics.
Ash Regan is considered an outsider in the SNP leadership race
“Human rights law describes certain “protected characteristics” among them: race, gender and sexual orientation, which cannot be used as a basis for discrimination.
“It is important that we remember religion is also a protected characteristic, deserving of respect.
“If someone was deemed unsuited to office on the basis of any other protected characteristic there would, quite rightly, be outraged and indignant reactions. As a society we will be guilty of hypocrisy if we don’t defend everyone’s right to freely hold, manifest and express their religious beliefs.”
‘A lot of Catholics feel marginalised’
He also blasted the SNP, Labour, Greens and Lib Dems for refusing to allow their MSPs to vote according to their conscience on the Gender Recognition Reform Bill.
He said: “The danger here of not allowing individuals to vote according to their conscience is that it will dramatically reduce the pool of people who want to go into parliament. People will believe their views won’t be respected. We run the risk of denying ourselves people with talent and ability.
“In our pursuit of diversity we have embraced conformity. There is absolutely an intolerance of certain types of difference. We are less tolerant of people’s religious orientations. Some of the things that have been said about religious opinions leave a lot of Catholics and a lot of Christians feeling marginalised.”
The third leadership contender, Ash Regan, is opposed to the GRR but has spoken in favour of equal marriage. She has not been asked about her religious background but her biography states that she was born in Glasgow to a Protestant mother and a Catholic father.
As per usual, religious tribalism and sectarianism has descended on this political contest. It reared its ugly head yet again over St Patrick’s Weekend when it was announced that “Catholics only” and “Protestants only” rules would be applied for spectators at upcoming Celtic v Rangers football matches at Ibrox and Parkhead.
Bitter sectarian bile pours down from the stands at both grounds and their environs when these matches take place and arrests are made frequently for assaults and breach of the peace.
Segregation of schools on religious grounds has existed in Scotland since the beginning of last century when Catholics set up and financed their own schools.
It is frequently alleged that if this segregation were to disappear then sectarianism would end with it, but the Catholic Church denies this and says it defends the segregation policy which remained in place even after Devolution.
Meanwhile, the Scottish Daily Express is reporting this morning that community leaders say the SNP “local or regional authorities” in Scotland won’t back St Patrick’s Day celebrations in cities like Glasgow, which have a strong Irish heritage.
Cities around the world have held parties parades this weekend, from New York, Boston and Birmingham to even those with with smaller Irish communities such as Madrid, Stockholm, Auckland and Munich.
Glasgow – which ranks alongside Liverpool as the most ‘Irish’ city in Great Britain – had no official celebrations. This was repeated across Scotland, despite people of Irish ancestry making up 20 per cent of the population.
Remarkably, given the SNP’s push to recruit Scots from Irish backgrounds to the cause of Scottish independence, there are claims the Nationalists are reluctant to support St Patrick’s Day events.
Evin Downey, a development officer for Conradh na Gaeilge (The Gaelic League) in Glasgow, is quoted as saying that support from the SNP-run city authorities compares badly to the backing for Glasgow Mela, a celebration of Indian culture.
He told the Sunday National: “The St Patrick’s Day celebrations are not as big a thing as the Glasgow Mela … that is backed big time by the city council. We don’t get any support from any local or regional authorities.
“It has been a while since we’ve asked because we felt we were knocking on a closed door for a few years. We decided to put our effort into more positive things.”
Mr Downey claimed that sectarian tensions and even the football rivalry between Celtic and Rangers could explain the reluctance for a St Patrick’s Day parade in Glasgow.
He said: “In reality, if you are to talk about a parade, there would be a security element in Glasgow that wouldn’t be there in other places. It’s hard to separate anything in Glasgow.”
Hundreds of people enjoyed a pint and the craic at the St Patrick’s Festival, held at Oran Mor in the city’s West End at the weekend, although it received zero public funding from Glasgow City Council or arms-length body Glasgow Life.
Patrick Callaghan from Comhaltas, an organisation that promotes Irish music and culture around the world, said: “We applied first of all under the guise of representing Glasgow’s largest ethnic minority community and we were told by the at-the-time director of Glasgow Life that the Irish community weren’t an ethnic minority community.”
“There is a certain element of this city that immigrants over the centuries built,” he added. “Be that the Irish community or the Asian community.
“And we just want to celebrate our cultural identity in Glasgow as a valued part of the wider fabric of society. But that doesn’t seem to be so welcomed.”
Nonsense article that exposes the overwhelming religious erntitlement that they can impose their world view on everyone else.
If you don’t believe in same sex marriage, don’t marry someone of the same sex. It’s not rocket science.
No one who espouses legalising same sex marriage is forcing anyone to marry someone of the same sex.
The religious brigade however SEEKS to block people who want to marry someone of the same sex, achieved through a process of forcing their religious world view on them.
Kate Forbes is being attacked not for her personal or private beliefs, she is being attacked for believing she has the right to impose those beliefs on other people. There’s a big difference and I suspect you know that and the whole tone of this article is about playing the victim card.
So it’s really simple. If you believe in one god or another, great. Good for you. Your belief stops at you however and you have absolutely no right to impose that belief on me.