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Northern Irish Christian Politician Embattled for Voicing Christian Views on Homosexuality, Abortion

By Hilary White

LONDON, July 22, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Iris Robinson, the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) MP for Strangford, has been attacked in the press and the Northern Ireland Assembly, after she told a radio host that the government has a duty to "uphold God's law" and prohibit abortion.

She made her comments to BBC Radio Ulster's Stephen Nolan programme on Thursday in a debate with socialist journalist Eamon McCann, who wants to see the extension of the 1967 British Abortion Act to Northern Ireland.

"The government have the responsibility to uphold God's law morally," said Mrs. Robinson. "Abortion is morally wrong. The government are there to represent the morals of the scriptures."

Sinn Féin MLA John O'Dowd said in response, "Iris Robinson's comments were ill-advised and show a great deal of poor judgment on her part in light of other outrageous comments she has made in recent months regarding homosexual people."

"The role of government is to serve the people who elect it, Christians and non-Christians alike," he said.

PUP leader Dawn Purvis responded saying, "There are good Christian principles that are reflected in our policies but that's not to say we want to take a step backwards and have government uphold 'God's law'. We are trying to create a modern society that upholds fundamental freedoms and human rights and interpretation of the Bible would probably go against that."

Last month, in a BBC Northern Ireland radio interview, Mrs. Robinson expressed her personal dislike of homosexual behaviour, using the biblical term "abomination" to describe it, but said that there was psychological help for people suffering unwanted homosexual inclinations. The response was a flood of complaints alleging that Robinson had broken the country's "hate speech" laws.

Since making her comments she has been under a police investigation and over one hundred separate complaints have been made against her, many by professional homosexual political activists.

This week, news reports have claimed that Mrs. Robinson said in a debate in the Northern Irish Assembly, Stormont, that homosexuality was worse than the sexual abuse of children. Hansard, the official record of the Assembly, recorded her saying, "There can be no viler act, apart from homosexuality and sodomy, than sexually abusing innocent children." A Hansard official told media that the comments were reported accurately.

But Mrs. Robinson has insisted that the report is inaccurate and denies that these are her views. She issued a statement saying, "I clearly intended to say that child abuse was worse even than homosexuality and sodomy...at no point have I set out to suggest homosexuality was worse than child sex abuse."

Mrs. Robinson, who is also the wife of Northern Ireland's First Minister, Peter Robinson, told the BBC on June 9 that there is a "witch hunt" against Christians speaking out in public. "I am defending the word of God. I think at the moment there is a witch hunt to curb or actually stop or prevent Christians speaking out and I make no apology for what I said because it's the word of God."

"I was very careful in saying that I have nothing against any homosexual," she said. "I love them; that is what the Lord tells me, to love the sinner and not the sin."

Very few voices have come to Mrs. Robinson's defence in either the Irish Assembly or the British House of Commons. Fellow Parliamentarian, Jeffrey Donaldson, also a member of the Democratic Unionist Party, said she has a right to speak her mind on the homosexual political agenda.

Eamon McCann, however, the journalist and avowed socialist with whom Mrs. Robinson debated on the program, said that her views should disqualify her from serving in the government.

"A person who believes what Mrs. Robinson said cannot represent all citizens," he told the Belfast Telegraph. "Also when somebody says they are guided in politics by God, they can't be a democrat because to go against them is to go against God. So very, very serious and fundamental issues are raised by what Mrs. Robinson said."

Northern Ireland MP Investigated for "Homophobic" Remarks
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2008/jun/08060908.html

UK Commons Embryo Bill Debate Heated with "Woolly Liberal Thinking"
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2008/may/08051604.html

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