![\"\"](\"https:\/\/logosscotland.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/sixteen-miles-out-zn2M1iILVUk-unsplash-200x300.jpg\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Over the last couple of days I think I have had more spontaneous conversations about faith and politics that I have ever had before.\u00a0 A light has been shone on the tolerant society that we claim to be, a light that has discovered that we are tolerant of everything except faith and religious views.<\/p>\n
Of course this has all been brought out into the open by Kate Forbes standing for the leadership of the SNP, and being roundly vilified in the media for her view on conscience issues.<\/p>\n
I have worked in public affairs for around 30 years, and a lot of that was working for Christian organisations.\u00a0 I am often frustrated by the focus on the sex, drugs and rock and roll issues of Christian politics; why are we only allowed to have views on the sex stuff?\u00a0 What is radical about the Christian response to asylum and immigration, housing policy, culture, environmental issues or the economy?\u00a0 As people of faith do we think radically, and from a biblical perspective, on those issues enough? Is our thinking equally as advanced and biblically based?\u00a0 It is an interesting challenge for \u201cthe church\u201d and there are some theologians who are looking at what our contribution should be on some of these more \u201cmainstream\u201d political issues including Dan Strange, James Eglinton and Doug Gay.\u00a0 But it does feel that we only get attention when we speak on the sex stuff. Are people only interested in what we have to say when we are being counter-cultural or traditional on those issues?<\/p>\n
The big guns of churches have started to get involved as well.\u00a0 The Catholics and Free Church have both put out statements in support of Kate Forbes and her right to speak.\u00a0 The Church of Scotland has given conflicting statements ranging from ill tempered responses from former moderators to more measured responses from other senior members of the church.<\/p>\n
\u201cKate Forbes\u201d has been trending on twitter for around 4 days now (at time of writing) with the vast majority of comments and posts in support of her right to hold views and speak on them. While newspaper stories are condemning – the commentariat is broadly supportive of her right to stand and to speak. That is certainly the view that I am picking up on from the grass roots as well.<\/p>\n
I certainly don\u2019t remember a time when faith and politics has been brought into such a sharp focus in Scotland.\u00a0 It has challenged many people to think about how tolerant they are and what standard we hold our politicians to.\u00a0 For years the public have complained about our politicians having no principles and being dishonest. When we are faced with a politician displaying\u00a0 bucketloads of both, condemnation has been quick.\u00a0 MSPs who had endorsed Ms Forbes quickly jumped ship, I suspect that many of them will now start to row back on that position quite quickly.<\/p>\n
For the last 5 years Scotland has been on a crazy course with radical left wing policies coming to the fore, the influence of the green party in Government has been significant and ultimately led to the downfall of Nicola Sturgeon, she fell on the mantle of liberalism that proved unpopular with the public with many feeling that the agenda had moved too far.\u00a0 People were confused about where this agenda was coming from, what principles were underpinning it, many were asking why was Sturgeon pursuing these goals with such passion as she never explained her thinking.<\/p>\n
Now we have a candidate that is prepared to spend hours talking to the public and explaining exactly on what foundation her principles come from and what she not only thinks but believes about issues, that is proving to be appealing in this age of populism.\u00a0 The other candidates are being challenged now as well and being asked what do you believe instead of what do you think or what policies would you implement.\u00a0 That can only be healthy in any democracy, to have principled, thinking people in Government and opposition, to have people who believe things, passionately, but can explain why they believe it. Who are willing to stand up for those beliefs even if it does mean that they ultimately fail.<\/p>\n
So where does that leave us \u2013 interesting times that is for sure.\u00a0 Scotland is at a crossroads of political thinking. We are a tolerant, socially liberal society without a doubt, but that shouldn\u2019t mean that we are intolerant of other views and that those who hold those views are barred from politics or commenting on politics.<\/p>\n
Ms Forbes has opened a huge can of worms, the lid is off and there is an opportunity for Christians to speak, it is vital that we don\u2019t miss that opportunity and that we stand four-square behind Christians in all spheres of politics so that they feel as brave as Kate to stand up for their belief, to hold fast to our Lord and to know that this is a battle that we are in and can sustain.\u00a0 I don\u2019t agree with Kate politically but she is one of the bravest, honest, upstanding and devout Christian politicians\u00a0 that I know. She raises the bar for all of us and we should be ready to meet it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Over the last couple of days I think I have had more spontaneous conversations about faith and politics that I have ever had before.\u00a0 A light has been shone on the tolerant society that we claim to be, a light that has discovered that we are tolerant of everything except faith and religious views.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":364,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,10],"tags":[42,41,43],"class_list":{"0":"entry","1":"post","2":"publish","3":"author-shona-haslam","4":"has-excerpt","5":"post-363","7":"format-standard","8":"has-post-thumbnail","9":"category-blog","10":"category-home","11":"post_tag-christians","12":"post_tag-kate-forbes","13":"post_tag-politics"},"yoast_head":"\n