Scottish Catholic Observer

When Nicola Sturgeon made the announcement that the Scottish Government was to bring in legislation for same-sex ‘marriages’ I decided to leave the SNP and that same day I emailed my resignation.

I have only ever been a member of the SNP. I joined on my 21st birthday in 1965 so it has been a very long association, 47 years. Over the years, the fortunes of the party have fluctuated from Winnie Ewing’s victory in 1967, the 11 MPs in 1974, the divisions of 1979 to the minority government in 2007, so my decision was a very sad one.

At the time of leaving, I was the chairwoman of Dundee East Constituency Association. Over the years I have held different positions in the local party. I was the first female SNP councillor on Dundee City Council when elected in 1999.

As a city councillor, I engaged with my constituents and I became education convener when the SNP took over the administration in 2009, very proud moments for me indeed.

In 2011, the SNP received an overwhelming and unexpected majority in Holyrood another proud moment yet the one that would lead to me leaving my beloved party.

That year, I discovered that there were moves afoot for same-sex ‘marriage’ legislation.  This led to a lot of hard thinking for me and as I have always put God and my family first, I decided I could not stand again for the council and so I did not put my name forward for re-election. I knew within myself that if the legislation came in I would make the decision I have made, to leave the party. This would not be fair on the constituents who had elected me as an SNP candidate, and as a former education convener, I also have concerns of what will be expected of our teachers.

Cardinal Keith O’Brien asked for a referendum, why did the government refuse? What are they afraid of? As someone who believes not only in God but also in democracy, I do feel we should use referenda more often especially in areas that are a deep cause of concern.

I am a practising Catholic. I have been all my life and I cannot imagine my life without God in it. This legislation is breaking God’s laws. In the book of Genesis “God created man in the image of Himself, in the image of God He created Him, male and female He created them. God blessed them saying to them, ‘be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth.”

Therefore, if God created them male and female, told them to be fruitful, and multiply, how could two males together or two females together reproduce, it is impossible. It is common sense that to reproduce you need one male and one female, even scientists attest to this, so why try to change the laws of nature?  Marriage is the covenant between two people, one male and one female in order to procreate; this is something that man cannot change.

This is a Christian country, one that for most of the twentieth century condemned other countries for their record on human rights.

These were countries such as China, Russia, Vietnam, Cambodia and so on. Now we verge on becoming a ‘Christian’ country that persecutes its own people because of their religious beliefs.

Catholic priests, Church of Scotland ministers, Episcopalian priests, Jewish rabbis, Muslim imams will all find themselves on the opposite side of this country’s laws when they try to uphold God’s Law. This is so wrong, and something we as citizens should strive to overturn.

Those who say religious can say ‘no’ are fooling themselves and trying to fool the people.  Once it is on the statute books and becomes the law of the country, any religious person who says ‘no.’ will be prosecuted, because the government tends to listen to the militant few who shout with the loudest voices and preach political correctness.

Elizabeth Fordyce, former SNP councillor and education convener in Dundee, is a

wife, mother, granny and friend