Scottish politician disciplined for talking in opposition to abortion

Does the dying of the Queen mark the top of the Christian Church’s affect in Scotland? Is the hard-won liberty that Christianity delivered to the nation about to get replaced by a comfortable authoritarian progressivism? The case of a Scottish politician disciplined by his social gathering for daring to talk up in defence of the newborn within the womb is an indicator that this can be the best way issues are heading.

John Mason is an SNP MSP (Member of the Scottish Parliament) for Glasgow. He’s additionally a Baptist Christian who is just not ashamed to talk of his religion. There are a shocking variety of Christian MSPs within the Scottish parliament. However Mr Mason has now fallen foul of his personal social gathering and has been formally disciplined for “inflicting misery and trauma to ladies in the best way he expressed his views on abortion rights, however not for his views or his religion”. His case is a chilling indication of how Orwellian and authoritarian the SNP, and thus the Scottish authorities, have turn out to be.

What did he say? The Scottish authorities are making a terrific fuss about their plans to have ‘buffer zones’ round abortion suppliers. Mr Mason went to watch a protest and observed that a few of the activists had been holding up indicators saying ‘some ladies do remorse abortions’.

He tweeted: “Absolutely these indicators are very mild and providing assist? I don’t see something hateful or harassing about these indicators.”

He went on to state that he went to one in all these protests to not take part, however to talk to the folks there, earlier than including that he thought abortion was seldom ‘important or important’. On condition that he was simply expressing the view of the Catholic Church, the Church of Scotland, the Free Church, the Baptists, FIEC and lots of others, one would hardly assume that this merited self-discipline.

It’s the letter of self-discipline, dated 29 June, from MSPs Stuart McMillan and Gordon MacDonald which is each revealing and disturbing.

“We wish to make it clear that we completely respect your proper to carry your views on abortion and your proper to freedom of speech and expression. We don’t, nevertheless, imagine that you’ve the suitable to impose these views on others,” they stated.

However there isn’t a proof that Mr Mason was searching for to ‘impose his views on others’ – except merely expressing your view is now thought of by the SNP to be imposing it. In that case each time an SNP politician expresses their views, they’re searching for to impose them and subsequently ought to be disciplined.

However the Orwellian irrationality of the letter doesn’t finish there. As a substitute, they provide you with one other gem. Though they argue that Mr Mason has the suitable to free speech, additionally they state that, “The verbalisation of your views has brought about nice misery and trauma to many ladies and have additionally been considered misinformation by medical professionals.”

So, Mr Mason is entitled to have his views and he’s entitled to free speech, however he’s simply not entitled to ‘verbalise’ them. Solely in a nation which has departed from its Christian roots and turned to the meaningless ‘Alice-in-Wonderland’ progressive view of language, may any such sentence be written.

Be aware the 2 areas this self-discipline is predicated on. Firstly, that Mr Mason was spreading ‘misinformation’ (based on ‘medical professionals’). However what’s the misinformation? That some ladies remorse abortions? It’s not troublesome to ascertain that that could be a truth.

Or is it the assertion that abortion is seldom “important or important”? The 1967 Abortion Act was drawn up on the idea that abortion ought to solely be when it’s important or important. In the event you regard the newborn within the womb as a human being, then killing it should be, at finest, the final step.

When abortion is used as a type of contraception, or for non-essential causes (cleft lip or inconvenient timing) then certainly it’s cheap for folks to query simply how important or important it’s? I do know many medical professionals who would agree with Mr Mason – however after all the SNP is following the fashionable progressive apply of solely citing ‘consultants’ who agree with their very own insurance policies.

The opposite space of self-discipline is that Mr Mason’s views have brought about “misery and trauma to many ladies”. I discover that lots of the Scottish authorities’s leaders and politicians have brought about misery and trauma to many women and men. Assume for instance of the assaults on ladies attributable to the Scottish authorities’s Gender Recognition Act – and the abuse that opponents of it, resembling Joanna Cherry, have needed to face.

But no self-discipline has been meted to those that push that offensive and belittling coverage. How in regards to the SNP politicians whose views in opposition to the monarchy have brought about ‘misery and trauma’? Ought to they be disciplined?

Take the extraordinary instance of Ian Blackford, the SNP Westminster chief who broke with the longstanding SNP coverage of not interfering with different jurisdictions within the UK by voting to impose abortion on Northern Eire. Mr Blackford is astonishingly a member of the Free Church of Scotland, who additionally ought to have disciplined a member of the Church who goes in opposition to the teachings of Christ.

Or take one other well-known SNP politician, John Nicolson. In 2018 he felt completely free to accuse Christians on the island of Lewis of being ‘the Tartan Taliban’. In response to this I wrote an article in the Daily Mail by which I wrote of my concern “for a Scotland the place the rising energy of the State is used to indoctrinate and implement an intolerance of all who dare to query ‘Scotland’s values.'”

“Above all I’m involved for a Scotland the place a centralised State police drive is used to control our ideas, morals and speech,” I added.

That scenario is now coming to go. When the social gathering of presidency warns which you can have free speech, however you aren’t allowed to talk, or which you can have freedom of faith, however you aren’t allowed to specific it, then we’re in a deeply harmful and divisive scenario.

Mr Mason has been positioned on a warning discover and advised that “there should be no additional breaches” within the subsequent 24 months. However the SNP also needs to be warned. I do know many Christians inside the SNP and if the social gathering continues on this bigoted and authoritarian route, then they may lose a few of their greatest supporters and brightest stars.

Above all, they need to bear in mind that God is to not be mocked – and that they aren’t God. There are various in Scotland who haven’t bowed the knee to the progressive Baals and who don’t settle for that the federal government has the suitable to find out our morals, ideas and phrases.

The federal government could make legal guidelines; it can not management our hearts. Freedom of speech and freedom of faith are treasured jewels that our ancestors fought and died for. We aren’t about at hand them over to a privileged elite who assume that they alone can decide what we expect, really feel and do.

David Robertson leads The ASK Project in Sydney, Australia. He blogs at The Wee Flea.