Cardinal Issues Call to “Re-Christianise” Scotland

The head of the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland has issued a call to “re-Christianise” Scotland. The call has met, however, with anger among non-Christian faith communities.

|TOP|Cardinal Keith O’Brien said in a forthcoming BBC radio interview that Christianity had been present in Scotland since St Ninian landed at Whithorn in AD397, but that the country no longer lived up to Christian standards, reports The Scotsman.

The Cardinal said that he “tolerated” people who live differently and that he did not intend to demote the stature of other faiths but stressed that Scotland is a Christian country.

“I feel I must take a stand when Christianity itself is questioned in this country,” said Cardinal O’Brien.

"In a re-Christianised Scotland I would certainly respect the beliefs of people of other faiths, the great world faiths, and acknowledge when they are celebrating their feasts, just as they acknowledge when we celebrate the feast of Christmas and these sort of things.”

He added, however, the hope that followers of other faiths to acknowledge that Scotland is a Christian country.

|QUOTE|The remarks have met with anger among leaders in Scotland of the Hindu and Muslim faiths, with a spokesman for the Hindu Temple in Glasgow describing them as “obnoxious” and criticising the call for people of other faiths to realise they live in a Christian country.

Inyat Bunglawala, from the Muslim Council of Britain, said: "Mr O'Brien should be addressing his comments to Christians. I think Muslims are surprised that many Christians don't take their faith so seriously.”

Cardinal O’Brien described Scotland as a “multi-cultural country” but added that the “basic core faith in Scotland” remains Christianity.

He said: “And I would like to think that in other countries, where other faiths are in the majority, the Christian faith would be given the same recognition as other faiths are given here."

Cardinal O’Brien is also a member of the inter-faith council, which meets once a year.

|AD|“I am all for that - working together ever more effectively,” he said. “But we cannot detract from the fact that Scotland is a Christian country."

In response the negative backlash against Cardinal O’Brien’s comments, a spokesman for the Catholic Media Office in Glasgow highlighted that the Cardinal had made similar remarks since he was appointed as the head of the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland in 2003.

"The context in which he talks about re-Christianising is to try and reintroduce faith-based values in society - it is in no sense a diminution of the value of other faiths,” stressed the Catholic Media Office spokesman.

He said that there was “nothing new” about the assertion that the core faith in Scotland was Christianity.

“Scotland has a Christian identity, a Christian heritage. No-one that we are aware of is offended by that, certainly no-one from the other faith groups,” he said.

Osama Saeed, the Scottish spokesman for the Muslim Association of Great Britain, said he didn't think the remarks were controversial. "Mr O'Brien is a Christian leader and he is going to spread Christianity - I don't find that particularly surprising. If people are expecting Muslims to react badly, I don't think that will be the case. When he talks about re-Christianising Scotland, he is merely going back to a time when it was Christian and acknowledging that that has been lost."

The head of the Scottish Episcopal Church, the Most Reverend Bruce Cameron, said: "As Christians we are committed to the core Christian task of Christian mission and sharing faith. But part of that is ... dialogue with those of other faiths."

The BBC interview with Cardinal Keith O’Brien by Sally Magnusson will be broadcast on Radio Scotland on Sunday 15 January on What I Believe at 8am.