First Minister Alex Salmond would do well to remember that there isn’t a King Alex Bible and stay out of religion, he isn't Moses!

Dear All

There is currently a debate on gay marriage that is going the rounds; the subject is toxic for political parties because it involves religion.

An argument that has been floated is that this is an equality issue.

At present heterosexual couples can get married in a civil service provided by the State.

Everyone accepts that as normal.

Gay couples cannot access the same right, so on the specific issue of civil marriage they have a legitimate claim that they are entitled by law to the same services provided by the State.

I think they are legally and morally entitled to civil marriage.

But as the debate is framed as equal marriage, this isn’t what ordinary people are talking about; they are talking about gay religious marriage.

The elephant in the room which dominates the debate on marriage!

There is no legal right or human right to force religious organisations to marry gay couples.

The European Court has come out and been quite firm on that, the reason is again simple, this isn’t how human rights work.

In others words a human right isn’t a human right if a third party has to agree to you accessing your ‘human right’.

At present there is a ‘consultation’ by the Scottish Government on gay marriage which presents the Scottish National Party with serious problems.

If they push through gay marriage they will alienate members of the Protestant, Catholic and Muslim faith in Scotland.

Some of the minor religious organisations wish to allow gay marriage in their facilities and churches but the main religions are very much anti because they believe this is an attack on their faith.

There is a King James Bible, but there isn’t a King Alex Bible and the SNP should remember this before they go ‘playing at religion’.

The SNP Government wants to keep both sides ‘happy’ so possibly the SNP Government will go down the line of gay civil marriage and back out of putting any religious aspect in any future bill.

I would expect that gay civil marriage would get on the statute books since Alex Salmond and Nicola Sturgeon both back it. And if they back it the rest of the SNP MSPs will fall into line behind it.

But the SNP would be wise to kick the issue into the long grass until after the referendum, win or lose they will probably press ahead with this despite what religious organisations say.

Yesterday, First Minister Alex Salmond was pressed on his stance since Barack Obama and David Cameron came out in favour of gay marriage.

Willie Rennie seized the opportunity to accuse Alex Salmond of being timid over his response to gay marriage in the chamber.

Although agreeing that Alex Salmond should not prejudge the consultation on gay marriage, he went on to say he should give a guarantee that it would be introduced in Scotland.

So much for democracy and listening to the people from the Lib Dems!

I am willing to support gay marriage because everyone should be treated equally in the eyes of the State.

The Pope in Rome isn’t going to sanction gay religious marriage and he is seen by many as the spokesman for the Christian world, similarly the Muslim faith isn’t going to allow this in Mosques.

The SNP Government has dug themselves a hole and the quickest way to defeat at the ballot box is to keep digging.

There will be no King Alex Bible or Queen Nicola Bible in Scotland and if they aren’t careful, they will be booked onto a trip into the political wilderness from an angry public.

As Balian of Ibelin put it in the movie, Kingdom of Heaven:

'This army cannot move away from water'.

The SNP cannot move away from Protestants, Catholics and the Muslim Communities.

And Alex Salmond isn't Moses either!

Yours sincerely

George Laird
The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University