Kate Forbes: ‘Conflict will come, but will you rise up to defend truth?’

Kate Forbes has reflected on the privilege it was to publicly stand for Christ during her SNP leadership bid.

Addressing the Alliance for Responsible Citizenship (ARC) conference, the former Deputy First Minister of Scotland spoke of the intense pressure she experienced in 2023 to lie about her beliefs.

Even though she was publicly ostracised for affirming biblical sexual ethics, and eventually lost the leadership contest to Humza Yousaf, she said it “felt like a victory” that she had “not given in”.

The question is whether men and women will rise up like they did of old, standing firm on conviction, shaped by confidence, with the courage to defend truth

Courage

The former MSP stated: “The question for us is not whether conflict will come.

“The question is whether men and women will rise up like they did of old, standing firm on conviction, shaped by confidence, with the courage to defend truth or as Dietrich Bonhoeffer put it, ‘daring to do what is right, not what fancy may tell you’.”

She encouraged others to defend the “external truths that will outlast every single one of you across the grand sweep of history – the biblical concepts of freedom, liberty, human dignity, the worth of life, and flourishing for all”.

‘Umbilical cord of freedoms’

Criticising the current political sphere’s lack of “space for conscience”, she highlighted that “proponents repeatedly and regularly de-legitimise any contributions from people of Christian faith as being automatically biased and therefore irrelevant”.

Moreover, she noted that the “moral framework” of those who subscribe to the “new philosophies of our day” are “accepted without question, as though anybody who is free of the burden of an inner conscience grounded in historical truths is unbiased and unprejudiced”.

She urged such people, who “live in a society that is still largely shaped by biblical concepts and norms”, to “consider many of the authoritarian, regressive, oppressive regimes of death around the world – that’s the alternative, because our freedoms are not inevitable or guaranteed.”

“There is an umbilical cord between them and the Bible. Separate that, and I invite you to consider the alternative.”

Social pressure

Earlier this year, a report revealed that most UK Evangelicals are confident in living out their faith, despite their concerns over increased social pressure.

‘Confident faith, contested culture’, published by the Evangelical Alliance, found widespread confidence in the legal rights and freedoms enjoyed by Christians, with a warning over the “relational, cultural and reputational” cost that believers face.

Almost half indicated that “it has become harder to practise their faith publicly in the past five years” and felt that it is increasingly difficult “for Christians serving in public life”.

The report is based on a survey of 884 respondents, and aims to provide “a snapshot of evangelical perceptions in this current moment of cultural uncertainty and transition”.