CRITICS of a new pressure group set up at the Scottish Parliament have been labelled an "anti-religious hate" organisation by a church leader.
A cross-party group on religious freedom was approved at Holyrood yesterday, despite concerns being raised over key backers including the exclusively Christian organisation Aid to the Church in Need UK which has the stated aim to "heal wounds inflicted by atheism".
The Scottish Secular Society questioned the need for the new organisation and some of the key organisations set to join it, pointing out that they were almost exclusively Christian and fearing that it would seek to protect "entrenched and inappropriate privileges" enjoyed by religious organisations. It added that Aid to the Church in Need UK "should have no place amongst our parliamentarians." The charity's communications executive will serve as the cross-party group's secretary.
The claims sparked anger from the moderator of the Free Church of Scotland, which accused the Secular Society of anti-religious prejudice. Rev David Robertson said: "The Scottish Secular Society are little more than an anti-religious hate group who are determined to prevent religion from having a place in Scotland. It is inconceivable that any liberal thinking person would oppose the group’s purpose of freedom of religion for all.
"It is ironic that one of the Scottish Secular Society’s objections is because of some of the people involved. This is ironic because we want freedom of religion for all, not just who the Scottish Secular Society approves of."
Dave Thompson, the MSP who will lead the new group, told a Holyrood committee yesterday that it will be open to members of all faiths and none. His application was rubber stamped, despite a hearing finding that some procedural rules had not been followed correctly.
The Scottish Secular Society hit back following the criticism, pointing out that it had helped publicise the cause of people persecuted for their religious beliefs, including the Christians Asia Bibi in Pakistan and Meriam Ibrahim in Sudan.
Robert Canning, the organisation's vice chair, said: "We do not, however, see why a religious freedom pressure group needs to be approved by the parliament of Scotland: a country whose citizens are already perfectly free to follow and express any religious beliefs they please as long as other people's rights and freedoms are not adversely affected."
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