Voices of faith in politics should not be silenced, MSPs told

The voices of people with faith should not be silenced, the Scottish Parliament has been told.

In his Time For Reflection at Holyrood, Pastor Paul Coventry addressed the attitude of dismissing the views of people of faith as “illegitimate”. He said that such comments are often heard in debates about important social issues like assisted suicide.

Celebrity activist for assisted suicide Dame Esther Rantzen was criticised last week for writing to MPs the day before the Westminster debate on the topic, accusing opponents of having “undeclared personal religious beliefs”.

Salt and light

The pastor of Greenock Baptist Church said: “Often, when a politician or a citizen reveals that their position on a subject has, to some extent, been informed or shaped by their religious convictions, those views are dismissed as illegitimate or inadmissible.”

Pastor Coventry rejected the idea that “religious faith is a private matter and has no place in the public sphere of ideas”, quoting Jesus’ command for his followers to be salt and light in the world.

He asked “where would our nation be had it not been for men and women of strong Christian conviction advocating for social change?”, pointing to the Christians who campaigned for hospice care, prison reform and the abolition of slavery.

“where would our nation be had it not been for men and women of strong Christian conviction advocating for social change?”

He concluded the refection stating: “Dignity, fairness, equality, compassion are not natural and common sense enlightenment values; they are rooted in our Judaeo-Christian ethic, which holds human beings to be made in the image of a loving and a gracious God. May they continue to be unashamedly heard.”

Hope in Jesus

Holyrood’s Time for Reflection, which is held each Tuesday afternoon, includes representatives from different faiths, as well as those of no religious affiliation.

In February, Adrian Ferguson of Perth Gospel Hall told assembled MSPs that one day, everyone’s power, wealth and influence will be “irrelevant” and “long forgotten”.

He contrasted this truth with an account of how his late mother was deteriorating from vascular dementia and losing all of her life’s possessions, yet she was able to declare: “I have Jesus in here and he is Lord, and they can’t take that away from me.”