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Doug Gay

Feb 17 • 3 tweets • 2 min read

Faith In Public Life #itscomplicated Example One - Gordon Brown was a member of the Church of Scotland whose General Assembly has an established anti-Trident position; but as PM he supported UK nuclear deterrent. So its not enough to say person A's denomination has this policy...

Faith In Public Life #itscomplicated Example Two - Tony Blair was Anglican, then Roman Catholic - neither of those churches support(ed) Same Sex Marriage, but Blair did. So its not enough to say person B's denomination has this policy...

Faith In Public Life #itscomplicated Example Three - Humza Yousaf is a Muslim - his faith tradition teaches practising Muslims should follow a Halal diet; as Health Secretary he ensures Muslim patients have access to this in hospitals; but he does not promote it for non-Muslims..

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Doug Gay

@DougGay

Feb 16

Lots of pre-emptive opinions being aired about Kate Forbes for FM and her faith as a factor in that. I don't know Kate personally and don't know if she will stand. But as a political theologian and a Kirk minister I am interested in the issues being raised. /1

Only an extreme and tiny minority would argue that being a Christian makes her or anyone else unsuitable for public office. So the issue being raised is 'what kind of a Christian' she is. As an academic with expertise in Scottish religious cultures, I expect bad takes... /2

In a previous thread I drew attention to some of the issues in more general terms: eg widespread ignorance of UK evangelicalism and its diversity; how the issue looks when Evangelicals are placed alongside Roman Catholics, Orthodox Jews and Muslims /3

Read 15 tweets

Doug Gay

@DougGay

Feb 16

Lots of folk will be revisiting this in coming days - Political Thinking with Nick Robinson - The Kate Forbes One - BBC Sounds bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p0…

holyrood.com/inside-politic…

premierchristianity.com/interviews/kat…

Read 6 tweets

Doug Gay

@DougGay

Feb 15

Predictably, discussions of the role of faith in public life are kicking off - not all of them well informed. The 'f-bomb' (fundamentalist) being dropped without much awareness of the broad spectrum of UK evangelicalism and its associated ethical and political stances. /1

UK Evangelicalism includes streams which verge on being theocratic, but also many other streams which aren't. Most people who think adultery is a sin don't think it should be illegal. Not all people with conservative moral views want to mandate them in law or policy for others./2

Or, they may want to see some enshrined in law but not others. Some UK Evangelicals and Orthodox Roman Catholics are well to the left economically, are committed environmentalists, vegans, pacifists - people's views don't come in simple identikit packages. /3

Read 8 tweets

Doug Gay

@DougGay

Feb 15

Huge respect, gratitude and appreciation for what Nicola has done and she will be very tough to follow. An important role model and an extraordinarily able politician. A watershed in Scottish politics. The future for both SNP and Yes is much more unpredictable now. /1

Barring a huge upset, the steam roller of FPTP Union politics is about to deliver an unhinged and grossly disproprtionate Starmer majority in England, which I think is a deeply shameful and undemocratic prospect. But we in the SNP will need to be canny about how we respond. /2

Not sure who in the party has the stature to unite us, given the competing dynamics and dilemmas which have emerged in the past year. It depends what Nicola's personal mandate and charisma was holding together in public perception, even as it began to slip away. /3

Read 4 tweets

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