Wednesday 24 February 2010

Jim Murphy's Electioneering Riles the Cardinal



Yesterday I wrote about Jim Murphy using religion as part of his electioneering plan.

Today it's reported Cardinal Keith O'Brien, the leader of Scotland's catholics, issued a stinging rebuke that could significantly damage Labour's prospects in Scotland at the forthcoming general election.  Cardinal O'Brien said he could not think of a "tangible example" of the party embracing the views of the Catholic Church in the past decade.

Instead, he argued Labour and Gordon Brown had consistently undermined religious freedom by ignoring objections to new laws permitting experimentation on embryos, civil partnerships and same-sex adoption.

In a carefully scripted retort, Cardinal O'Brien said:

"Any recognition of the role played by faith and religion in society is to be welcomed. However, a tangible example by the government over the last decade that it acknowledged or endorsed religious values would also have been welcomed. Instead we have witnessed this government undertake a systematic and unrelenting attack on family values."


Mr Murphy and the Labour party have been well and truly ticked off by the Cardinal and quite rightly.  Using religion for political gain is not particularly acceptable to the majority of Scots.

Clarinda, one of my readers, commented on my last post: 'I doubt Mr Murphy has had a religious revelation - but more of a spiritual speculation on his odds for re-election'.  I can't help but agree with her and I somehow think the Cardinal may have been smart enough to see that too.

source

4 comments:

Demetrius said...

The Cardinal might have added that these days the Labour Party is trying to be the opium of the people.

subrosa said...

I see you're as sharp as a tack today Demetrius. :)

Clarinda said...

Demetrius - either the opium as you observe or the usual Labour poppycock?

subrosa said...

You too are too smart for me today. The quicker the olympics are over the better than I can get back to normal - although wit before 5pm is rare here.

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