Church of Scotland: Everyone has a Responsibility to Challenge Evil amid Terrorism

The Church of Scotland Moderator, the Rev David Lacy, has said in an interview with the Scotsman that greater understanding and dialogue between faiths was urgent in the wake of the terrorist attacks in London last month and the ensuing moral and political debate. He added that everyone has a duty to challenge evil.

Rev Lacy shared the view of several government ministers who blame the current emphasis on individual human rights for hindering their efforts to combat terrorism.

He said: “I deplore the statements of certain human rights activists who just interpret their activity as increasing human freedom, and it actually serves to increase human licence.

“It’s because of original sin; if people are more free they are more free to be evil.”

The Inverness-born cleric went on to stress the need for greater respect for rights between ethnic minorities and majorities, as well as faith groups in the UK.

He said: “I believe that we should be far more welcoming to asylum-seekers in this country. We should accord them their full human rights. They should be looked on as brothers and sisters and welcomed into the British family.”

The Moderator said, however, that this respect also had to be reciprocated by the asylum seekers living in Britain. He said: “But I also believe that they should look to us as brothers and sisters too, and that we should all treat each other in an equal way. There should be responsibilities on all sides.”

When asked how this belief transferred to the likes extremist Muslim radicals such as Omar Bakri Mohammed and Muhammad al-Massari, Lacy stated unequivocally that “they have been welcomed as brothers and have treated us as enemies.”

He said that the behaviour of such clerics to live in the UK and use its services whilst simultaneously inciting hatred was one of ‘hypocrisy’. He said British system was happy to care for them but that “we expect them to love us in return and accept our right to be who we are.”

He added: “If the good do nothing, evil holds sway.”

Rev Lacy said that the source of the problem was “religiosity” rather than religion and the misusing of faith as a badge in tribal arguments.

He went on to condemn Muslim extremists for not being true to their own faith, comparing them to “so-called Protestants” involved in sectarian violence against Roman Catholics.

He said they did not deserve the name Protestant or Christian and that believers from all churches and religions have to engage in dialogue with one another and be true to their own principles if the problem is to be resolved.

Lacy, who took up the post of Moderator in May, however, expressed his optimism about the state of the Church of Scotland despite a dwindling membership which has seen two-thirds leave the Church since 1945.

He said: “I was getting ready to spend this year going around the Church and encouraging and trying to talk them up. From what I have seen, the Church of Scotland is in a much better shape than I expected. The Church is in decline numerically, that is true. But the membership is more committed.”