Government is attacking ‘family values’, says Cardinal O’Brien
By Anna Arco

26 February 2010

Cardinal Keith O’Brien has accused the Government of waging “a systematic and unrelenting attack on family values”.

The Archbishop of St Andrews and Edinburgh said the Government had consistently ignored the concerns of the Church, in one of the fiercest attacks on Labour officials by a senior Church leader. His comments came after Scotland Minister Jim Murphy claimed that Christianity had given the Labour Party “much of its intellectual legitimacy to challenge the vested interests of the old order”.

Cardinal O’Brien said: “Any recognition of the role played by faith and religion in society is to be welcomed. However, a tangible example by the Government over the last decade that it acknowledged or endorsed religious values would also have been welcomed.

“Instead we have witnessed this Government undertake a systematic and unrelenting attack on family values. This is a charge I personally put to Gordon Brown when we met in 2008 and I have seen no evidence since then to suggest anything has changed.

“When introducing legislation to permit experimentation on and destruction of human embryos the objections of the Church and other faiths were ignored. When introducing legislation to permit civil partnerships and same-sex adoption the objections of the Church and other faiths were ignored. In refusing to tackle the soaring toll of abortions, the views of the Church and other faiths were ignored.

“Most recently in advancing legislation which would completely and permanently undermine religious freedom this Government has taken no note whatsoever of the concerns of people of faith.”