IT is very good news to learn that the SNP has said that it will back a convention of all the Yes parties. How often have we hear spokespersons for the SNP declare that somebody’s position or opinion is “unforgiveable”? How often have we seen a good and reliable SNP MSP or MP being cast out of the party for some infringement of the rules or a reasonable, and often minor, difference of opinion from the “whip”? Was that the kind of party we wanted to lead us?
This lack of forgiveness was especially noticeable at the time of the Alex Salmond trials, fired by civil servants but also by fierce feminism. So then, with the illogicality of wildfire, it spread through the SNP lieges. That is what media can do.
READ MORE: Keith Brown says SNP back convention of 'all' pro-indy parties
It was Lenin who invented the concept of “political correctness”, and we know there is no forgiveness whatsoever in communism. Without wishing to give offense to secularists, I venture to say that Christianity is the only belief to recognise the imperfections and sins of wayward mankind but insists that we must forgive one another if we hope to be forgiven by God.
It is only two generations ago since every child in Scotland knew the Lord’s prayer by heart, learned at home or at school. This, alas, is no longer the case. But as 40% of the Scottish public defined itself as “Christian” in the census, it would be sensible for SNP politicians to take forgiveness seriously.
Lesley J Findlay
Fort Augustus
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