Official Report 898KB pdf
Good afternoon. I apologise for the delay. We have been experiencing some connectivity issues.
The first item of business is time for reflection. Our time for reflection leader today is William More, head of operations in Scotland, Aid to the Church in Need (UK).
Presiding Officer and members of the Scottish Parliament, thank you for inviting me to address you today.
Before I worked for Aid to the Church in Need, I was a music teacher, and, to this day, I still find the fusion of words and music fascinating. So, I am going to begin by quoting Bob Dylan.
“Freedom just around the corner from you,
But with truth so far off, what good would it do?”
Tomorrow evening, Aid to the Church in Need’s annual global campaign, red Wednesday, aims to shed light on the persecution of Christians and other faith minorities. That day asks us to stand in solidarity with those who suffer on account of their faith. The truth of the suffering of our brothers and sisters is not so far off. Understanding of the global situation not only demands a response from us but confirms what we believe about freedom, which is the supreme value in our culture—not the freedom to be indifferent, which is in the air that we breathe in our culture, but the freedom to not stand by and let that suffering happen.
I stand before you today with the relative freedom to say anything that I want to say and to express my emotions, my feelings and my experiences of faith, but some of the people we help do not have that freedom. They cannot voice their emotions, their feelings and their experiences of faith for fear of harassment, arrest, torture or death.
Akash Bashir, who was 20, was on the welcome group at his church in Pakistan when he stopped a suicide bomber from entering the church, saving the 1,000 massgoers inside—all because he believed in Jesus. Ayman Labib, a 17-year-old high school student from Egypt, was killed by his classmates and his teacher after he refused to remove a crucifix he was wearing—all because he believed in Jesus. Diego Valencia, a volunteer at Our Lady of La Palma parish in Spain, was mistaken for the parish priest by militants and was chased out of the church and killed with a machete—all because he believed in Jesus.
Very often in society, we are asked to privatise our faith, but that is opposed to the New Testament, which tells us to proclaim the gospel to all nations.
I invite you to reflect on the persecution of Christians and of other faith minorities, to stand up for faith and freedom even when it meets with opposition, and to be willing to declare the right to religious liberty confidently and with love. I leave you with the words of St Francis of Assisi:
“Lord, make me an instrument of your peace. Where there is hatred, let me bring love.”