Scottish Government Marriage Consultation not Fit for Purpose
9 December 2011
The Scottish Christian Party has published its response to the SNP Government’s consultation on the redefinition of marriage, which was publicised at a recent Press Conference in Inverness.
In its submission to the Scottish Government, the SCP has criticised the consultation as “not fit for purpose”. It says that the focus on religious bodies is too narrow and fails to take into account the wide-ranging effects of redefining marriage.
Dr Donald Boyd, the leader of the SCP and co-author of the response, said: “The Scottish Government’s consultation fails to address the issues associated with redefining marriage. It is shocking that it does not discuss the consequences for children and families, education, Scottish law nor a list of other issues. The response by the Scottish Christian Party is a comprehensive assessment of the issues which are at stake, and it is available for download from our website.”
The SCP submission points out that children are not mentioned nor discussed in a consultation about marriage. “The whole scope of this consultation undermines the authority of parents” and “if the agenda of the aggressive homosexual lobby continues to be followed, then young children will be taught in school to explore and experiment with homosexual behaviour.”
The report claims that there is a loophole in the Family Law (Scotland) Act 2006, which needs to be closed because it allows international law to undermine the law of Scotland about marriage. “It is a legislative mistake for the Family Law (Scotland) Act 2006 to legitimise without review marriages, including muslim polygamy, contracted in another country. This should be reversed.”
In a hard hitting conclusion it states: “It will be a mark of perpetual disgrace, and a blot on Scottish history, that no sooner has the Scottish National Party formed a majority Government than one of its first measures is a moral and social revolution of such a nature that it will destroy the time-honoured understanding of marriage, undermine the family, threaten the well-being of children, disrupt Scottish education, compromise healthy living, satisfy the communistic agenda of cultural Marxism, introduce anomalies into Scottish Law which will leave a legacy of legislative confusion, and be a stick with which the aggressive homosexual lobby can continue to beat Christians.”
Dr Boyd observed that the Scottish Government is “committed to detailed and thorough consultation” and that it will “meet face to face with religious bodies and other key organisations during the consultation period.” He has written to the Scottish Government to take up this offer to discuss these issues with them.
As well as providing online help, the Scottish Christian Party held two meetings in Inverness to assist people to complete their questionnaires. A report is available on its website with links to further stories.
Edinburgh Public Witness
A United Christian Witness outside the Scottish Parliament on Thursday 8th December, followed another Protest outside the Scottish Parliament last week, on the same day as the public sector pension strike, when Scotland for Marriage launched its campaign for a public referendum on the Scottish Government’s proposals.
Update 9/12/2010 10:30hrs
The online submission form for the Scottish Government was inaccessible from midnight till 8 a.m. this morning with a notice to the effect that this Consultation is now closed. Access to the form was restored by 10:15 a.m. It appears that someone put the wrong closing date into the online system so that many people were unable to make use of the online system during the last minute scramble created by the SNP Government moving the goalposts at the last minute. These people may not return on the final day in the mistaken belief that the consultation is closed. This is another manifestation of the incompetence of this consultation exercise.
