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New Christian Right group in Scotland

elizabeth veldon | 05.11.2006 17:18 | Education | Gender | Health

A new Christian Right Wing Group are seeking to gain seets in the Scotish Parlament.

From the BBC:

A Christian political party set up by a Dumfriesshire woman is to contest next year's Scottish parliamentary elections for the first time...'

They are Anti-Queer, 'Pro' life, want abstanance only teaching in schools and an end to contraception. This has been extracted from their website:

Homophobia and heterosexism. We dislike the term “heterosexism”; it seems to imply that those of us who are heterosexual, ie. the vast majority of our population, are in some way at fault or causing an offence to the tiny minority who are not heterosexual.

We deplore homophobia and believe that all people are worthy of respect and care even if we are unable to endorse their life-styles.

The document says that “the assumption of heterosexuality as the norm in sexual relationships (heterosexism) create stigma and discrimination which lead to feelings of isolation, stress and anxiety for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people”.(6) (7)

Heterosexuality IS the norm and the belief that this is so, is widespread across Scotland, indeed through the world. Homosexuality is NOT morally equivalent to heterosexual marriage. We deplore homophobia as we have already said and believe that all persons should be respected. However, the document, in our view, overplays its concerns about homosexuals when it is realised that we are dealing with VERY small numbers compared to those who are heterosexual. For example, there are under 40,000 same-sex households in England and Wales. The 2001 census reveals that these 80,000 people represent 0.15% of the population of England and Wales. The census results for Scotland also show that the Government has been hyping up the number of gays in the population (1).



Box 3 also contains recommendations on recognising the sexual identity of people with physical or learning disabilities.

We applaud this recognition and would like to point out that there are 800,000 people in Scotland with some kind of disability. Yet the Report gives FAR more space and concern to other TINY minorities. Is this because the homosexual lobby is very well organised (nothing wrong with that) and hardly anyone speaks up for people with disabilities OR is there a more sinister reason?


...



We oppose the rejection of “abstinence only” sex education and believe that young people should be encouraged to delay the onset of sexual activity as tends to happen anyway in the higher socio-economic groups, and not just “in the case of some faith groups” as the Report states.


...


Both SHARE and the Healthy Respect Initiative adopt approaches of making condoms and other contraceptives more easily available. We believe that these approaches are unhelpful unless also allied to encouraging the delay of sexual activity.

...

The strategy does not rule out sexual health clinics being based in or placed near secondary schools where school nurses, or similar, are able to give out oral contraceptives and the morning after pill without the knowledge and consent of parents. We are appalled that this might happen and will oppose it vehemently.

...


We oppose speeding up access to abortion. Many women feel pressurised into having abortions and later regret such hasty decisions. Post-abortion trauma is very real and I have witnessed it in young teenagers, who would rather have had MORE time to consider such a momentous decision.

Para 4.68 recognises this by saying that “unresolved emotional impact can continue for many years”. Once again there are inconsistencies in the Report or perhaps there was not consensus amongst its members.


 http://www.cpalliance.net/docs/ReportfromScotlandtoCouncil2004-09-11SexualHealthStrategy10_0.doc

And they've got powerfull friends too:
Cardinal Throws Weight Behind Scottish Christian Democratic Party for Holyrood 2007 Elections
(25/10/2006)
His Eminence Cardinal Keith O’Brien gave his firm backing to the objectives of Scotland’s first Christian Democratic party in a historic first meeting in Glasgow this week. The meeting on Tuesday 24th October was also attended by the Archbishop of Glasgow, Rt. Rev. Mario Conti and the Bishop of Argyle and the Isles, Rt. Rev. Ian Murray.

 http://www.cpalliance.net/news.asp?ID=221

Bishop Appeals to Christian Democrat party Conference to Fill Vacuum in Scottish Politics
(22/10/2006)
Speaking in Glasgow Saturday 21st October at the annual federal conference of the Christian Peoples Alliance, the Bishop of Paisley, Rt Rev Philip Tartaglia, welcomed the party to the political stage in Scotland and said that as the "mainline political parties are less and less able to make room in their programmes ...

 http://www.cpalliance.net/news.asp?ID=220


Hopepage at:  http://www.cpalliance.net/index.asp

elizabeth veldon
- e-mail: elizabethveldon@yahoo.co.uk

Comments

Display the following 8 comments

  1. Right-wing? — StrongTea
  2. fair point..... but — not an atheist
  3. The only good Chirstian is dead — Underwhelmed
  4. Homophobia — Tom Gorilla
  5. Not Right Wing - Just Right — Kev
  6. missing negative — Tom Gorilla
  7. Christophobia not better than islamophobia — immigrant + atheist
  8. it does exist you know — elizabeth veldon