New Christian Right group in Scotland
elizabeth veldon | 05.11.2006 17:18 | Education | Gender | Health
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
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
Hide the following 8 comments
Right-wing?
06.11.2006 14:27
StrongTea
fair point..... but
06.11.2006 23:58
shower of bastards i say
i read the bible once.... might aswell have watched thundercats
(superb moral guidance there)
not an atheist
The only good Chirstian is dead
09.11.2006 20:29
The church has less sway in Scotland than the Black Pamthers.
Underwhelmed
Homophobia
20.11.2006 11:28
In practice, it is used as a blanket term that means doing or saying anything even
remotely negative about homosexuality. In other words the gay community is demanding a totally postive stance towards them,, which goes far beyond rights. Who do they think they are!
Of course they should be free from taunts like 'queer' and should be passed over simply because of their orientation. The basic rights accorded by Civil Partnerships is commendable, but is sad many groups were omited from this legislation. In a secular environment, we have no right to conduct witch-hunts.
Unfortunately this is not enough for them. They want marriage and to be families, destroying the traditional family in the process.
This is the real problem. They want to destroy society as haS been for millenia. We are no longer to be part of family units, groups and comnmunities, the individual is to be supreme.
I would not want to stand on a ticket for the destruction of society!
This is part of a campaign for Abolition of Sin. This is not the attraction it might seem. Readers of Narnia Tales will recall the Island where dreams come true
Tom Gorilla
Not Right Wing - Just Right
20.11.2006 23:05
Also, I noticed from the coverage of their 2007 Holyrood Elections Launch that Professor Bob Holman, he of the Herald, poverty expert, said that he "admired" their policies on poverty (that is quite a commendation).
I was also amazed to read in the Scotland on Sunday that they were the first party to vote against the war on Iraq. When you think about it, this seems to be consistent with the Christian Democratic parties that are in power in other parts of Europe - a moderate, centrist approach to politics (something we are absolutely crying out for up here). You can't call them right wing, then, and I think that's why the other parties are scared of them. The other thing that got me was that they have a Muslim as their one of their senior party officials and don't seem to be restricted to Christians or even to people who believe. They told me that they would even let an Atheist join the party, if he/she agreed to sign up to their basic (very reasonable) aims and objectives.
We have to remember that in Holyrood there is no real opposition and that Labour, the Lib-Dems, SNP, the SSP and the Greens all vote unanimously on most pieces of legislation (most of which the majority of people in Scotland would oppose if they knew anything about it i.e. attacks on the family, quicker divorces, to remove section 28, civil partnerships etc.) - CPA (Scotland) seems to be based on values, rather than bad ideology. In fact, I e-mailed them just last week to see if they were for real and they told me that are launching a new website WWW.CPASCOTLAND.ORG in mid-December. The other website contains just a few details about them but belongs to CPA down south.
Me thinks that something interesting is happening in Scottish politics, for the first time in ages.
Kev
missing negative
21.11.2006 10:00
Tom Gorilla
Christophobia not better than islamophobia
02.12.2006 11:17
Christianity is religion and ALL religious groups are on the right side, never left. Even islamic groups are RIGHT, never left.
immigrant + atheist
it does exist you know
09.12.2006 16:43
And Queer peopl,e destroy family life? I AM part of a family.
elizabeth veldon
e-mail:
elizabethveldon@yahoo.co.uk