---

Scotland Bishops Oppose "Sexual Orientation Discrimination" Bill

By Jenna Murphy

WESTMINSTER, September 3rd, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Scotland's bishops have released a joint statement outlining their vehement opposition to the Equality Bill - a bill which would specifically recognize discrimination based upon "sexual orientation."

The bishops state that the bill betrays a lack of "proper understanding of equality", according to the Scottish Catholic Observer. The bishops also emphasize that bills such as the Equality Bill, "impose ideological views on society with regard to sexual relationships."

The statement also says that the bill constitutes a direct attack on families and the well-being of the nation's children. "We highlight the importance of the human family as the building block of society. Centuries of experience and learning testify to the importance of supporting family life for the well-being of society," the bishops say in their response.

The Bishop of Motherwell, Rv. Joseph Devine (one of the statement's authors), is no stranger to political crossfire or to public criticism. Bishop Devine gained media attention this past year for intuiting the movement of a "giant conspiracy" based on the "homosexual lobby's" tendency to align themselves with historically persecuted minority groups (particularly the victims of the holocaust).

Bishop Devine was also on the front lines in last year's tumultuous battle in legalizing homosexual adoption to the demise of Catholic adoption agencies in Scotland. At that time, he stated that Catholic adoption agencies would rather close than allow children to be adopted by a same-sex couple.

"What started as a tolerance and compassion for gays had developed into the suppression of the majority heterosexual lifestyle," he continued. "Traditional family values are in the dock and the judge and jury are composed of politically correct extremists," said Bishop Devine last July.

Homosexual adoption, too, was addressed for its moral depravity in the recent statement by the Bishops.

"Catholic adoption agencies are now to be indifferent as to whether a child is to be placed with a married couple of a homosexual cohabiting couple; this is gravely wrong," the bishops say.

The Equality Bill follows several other recent attempts at social engineering such as Human Fertilization and Embryology (HFE) bill, a bill which widens access to experimentation and manipulation of human life in its early stages. The HFE bill, which Cardinal Keith O'Brien called 'monstrous' is also set for final reading in this fall.

Scottish Catholic Observer article:

"Families are Left Behind"
http://www.scottishcatholicobserver.org.uk/news1.htm

Related LifeSiteNews.com coverage:

Scotland Catholic Bishop Warns of "Huge and Well Orchestrated Conspiracy" by Homosexual Activists
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2008/mar/08031306.html

Scotland Bishop Says Homosexual Adoption Being Pushed by "Politically Correct Zealots"
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2006/apr/06040607.html

Catholic Adoption Agency Will Close Before Giving Children to Homosexual Parents, Bishop States
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2007/jul/07073003.html

More British Catholic Adoption Agencies to Close Doors instead of Bowing to Sexual Orientation Regulations
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2008/apr/08042306.html

 Back to Top

---

MORE NEWS: LifeSiteNews.com Home Page  Last 10 Days   Archives   Special Reports

Copyright © LifeSiteNews.com. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivatives License. You may republish this article or portions of it without request provided the content is not altered and it is clearly attributed to "LifeSiteNews.com". Any website publishing of complete or large portions of original LifeSiteNews articles MUST additionally include a live link to www.LifeSiteNews.com. The link is not required for excerpts. Republishing of articles on LifeSiteNews.com from other sources as noted is subject to the conditions of those sources.