Official Report 890KB pdf
The first item of business this afternoon is time for reflection, and our leader today is the Right Rev Frank Dougan, Bishop of the diocese of Galloway.
Good afternoon, and thank you, Presiding Officer, for this opportunity.
This is not my first debating chamber. In a previous life I was a convener of debates at Glasgow university union. Some of you will know that the debating chamber in the GUU is modelled after the House of Commons—so it is a bear pit. It is designed to be like that: a chamber where you face off against your opponents; an adversarial place.
This room was designed differently. One description that I read says that this layout
“is intended to blur political divisions and principally reflects the desire to encourage consensus amongst elected members.”
Would it be unkind of me to ask how that is going?
Let us be honest: how we behave towards each other is not going to be principally driven by the shape of the room. We should be treating each other with dignity and respect—the very words that were sent to me in the guidance notes for this address—and dignity and respect come from something deeper. They are attitudes that can only be rooted in a deep-seated belief in the value of every single person. That means that, contrary to what we might often say, respect is not something that needs to be earned; it is something that everyone is owed because of their innate dignity as a human being.
For Christians, and others, it is also rooted in our belief that we are made in the image and likeness of God; that God has loved every single one of us into existence. We have a dignity that no one can remove and that no one should disregard.
I came across a beautiful line recently that sums up how we should welcome the God of love:
“Receive him with open, outstretched hands, for it was on his own hands that he sketched you. Receive him who laid your foundations on the palms of his hands.”
That is why I believe in the dignity of every person, because our names are written on the palms of his hands. Some might agree; some will not. However, we can all agree that how we treat each other does not depend on how the seats are arranged but on the fundamentals of where we believe a person’s value lies.
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