Scotland’s Cardinal Keith O’Brien is using some uncharacteristically strong language about gay adoption. A new law will require all adoption agencies, Catholic or not, to not consider sexual preference, i.e. homosexuality, when reviewing applications, so the Church wants a “conscience clause” exception. (Of course, rather than seek an exemption only for themselves, perhaps they should fight this as a bad law altogether.)
Cardinal Keith O’Brien, the leader of Scotland’s Roman Catholics, has warned that Scotland’s adopted children must not become “guinea pigs in some distorted social experiment aimed at redefining marriage, subverting the family and threatening the good of society”.
Unfortunately, anti-Catholicism is still pretty deeply entrenched in Scotland and so asking for an exemption is being portrayed a trying to impose “Romanism” on the country.
Calum Irving, director of Stonewall Scotland, the gay rights campaign group, said: ... “The Catholic church is continually asking for its belief system to be imposed on the rest of Scottish society and I hope that the executive legislates in a non-discriminatory way. Granting the Catholic church exemptions is a slippery slope.”
Unfortunately, here in Massachusetts we have to call together a committee representing the four dioceses to discuss the issue before we’ll ask for what Cardinal O’Brien has demanded: that we be allowed to follow the dictates of our conscience and not be forced to “do violence” to adopted children, as Pope John Paul put it.
Technorati Tags: adoption, anti-Catholic, religious freedom, Scotland
