By Hilary White
GLASGOW, March 13, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The Catholic bishop of Motherwell Scotland has called the successes of the homosexual political movement in recent years the result of a “huge and well-orchestrated conspiracy.” He said that homosexual activists have found success by equating themselves with holocaust survivors and victims of racial violence to entirely reshape public opinion and government policies. “We neglect the gay movement at our peril,” he said.
Bishop Joseph Devine said the homosexual movement has succeeded in creating for itself the image of a subclass equivalent to a “race”, “as if to create for themselves the image of a group of people under persecution”.
“Issues around sexuality are powerful factors in shaping public policy. I want to ask you if you are able to see the giant conspiracy that’s taking place before our eyes, even if we didn’t see it at the time? I take it you’re beginning to see that there is a huge and well-orchestrated conspiracy taking place which the Catholic community completely missed.”
The bishop gave this year’s Gonzaga Lecture, titled Sectarianism and Secularism: Bugbears for the Catholic Church in Scotland, held at a Catholic school, St. Aloysius’ College in Glasgow. He has since been roundly attacked in the press both by homosexual activists and editorialists.
Describing the homosexual lobby as “the opposition”, Bishop Devine particularly criticised Sir Ian McKellen, the openly homosexual actor who played Gandalf in the Lord of the Rings films and who was knighted this year for his activism for the gay political cause.
He said the work is being done by “a very small group of people, but very active and organised – and extremely indulgent. The opposition know exactly what they’re doing. We don’t.”
The bishop’s remarks have aroused the interest not only of gay activists but of members of the Scottish Parliament as well. Patrick Harvie, an established homosexual activist MSP, tabled a motion condemning the bishop’s comments. Harvie was particularly incensed that the bishop had advised parents not to “tolerate” a child who begins to “come out”, or to identify himself as a homosexual.
Harvie told PinkNews, a homosexual online news site, that the bishop had overstepped the mark in condemning the homosexual “tolerance” doctrine. “Not only do his comments mark a revisionism about what happened to gay people in Nazi Germany but he has also called on parents not to tolerate their gay children.”
The bishop’s comment came in response to a question from a parent who asked what to do in the face of a child’s “mission to become homosexual”. Bishop Devine responded, “This must be a nightmare moment for any parent. There are many days when I’m glad to not be a parent. I would try to handle it with a degree of compassion, but would not tolerate that behaviour. I would not condemn, but I would not tolerate it.”
Bishop Devine has drawn the wrath of the homosexual movement before for his forthright denunciation of their anti-Christian political aims.
He responded today to criticisms, saying he stood by his remarks. “It is all about a lifestyle alien to the Christian tradition. There is a giant conspiracy against Christian values, an agenda here,” he told media. In 2006, he blasted the Scottish Parliament for allowing homosexual partners to adopt children, calling it “yet another violation of family life”.
Read related LifeSiteNews.com coverage:
Scotland Bishop Says Homosexual Adoption Being Pushed by “Politically Correct Zealots”
https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2006/apr/06040607.html
Lord of the Rings Star Using Fame from Film to Promote Homosexual “Marriage”
https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2006/may/06050409.html
Increase Sentences for Gay “Hate Crimes”: Scottish Parliament
https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2008/jan/08011508.html