Religious sectarianism needs challenging at the highest levels

In launching a Scottish Government supported website to challenge sectarianism the community safety minister, Roseanna Cunningham, stated that 'we are committed to the creation of a modern sectarian-free Scotland that is not weighed down by the prejudices of the past'. Why then does the Scottish Government not seek to end the divisions between Roman Catholic and 'non-denominational' but Protestant state funded schools or challenge the practice of judges attending separate Roman Catholic and Protestant services at the start of each new legal term - or, indeed, the practice of MSPs attending separate Roman Catholic and Protestant religious services at the start of each new Parliament?

 

Further, why has the SNP Government proposed that an independent Scotland should retain a UK monarchy that excludes Roman Catholics from the throne in opposition to the expressed will of  the Scottish Parliament, on more than one occasion, that this prohibition should end.

 

It seems that the SNP Government, despite its avowal of anti-sectarianism, is prepared to tolerate some forms of sectarianism when it is politically convenient and involves some of the high and mighty. Hardly a good example!

Norman Bonney

Honorary President, Edinburgh Secular Society

Letter in the Edinburgh Evening News, 4 November 20113