Scotland: Labour lacks Christian values, says bishop

A Catholic bishop is urging his flock not to vote for Labour in next month's elections for the Scottish Parliament, claiming that the party is "devoid" of Christian values.

Joseph Devine, the Bishop of Motherwell, said that Labour's family policies, and in particular its support for civil partnerships and gay adoption, were testing the support of its traditional Catholic voters.
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He said: "I'll not ask people to follow me but if they want to take that lead that's fine enough."
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The bishop said that he would wait until he had seen other party's manifestoes before deciding for whom to vote, although he expected to make his mark for the Christian Peoples Alliance, a "pro-family" and "pro- life" party, which is opposed to gay adoption.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/03/12/nscbish12.xml

The Catholic Church is characterised far too often as simply:

•Interfering in the affairs of government.

•Objecting to changes in social legislation and thereby being seen as a negative or reactionary force.

•Identifying with one particular political party or only very limited political causes.

This is not the mission of the Catholic Church nor should it be seen as such

In fact
•The Church sees the State and its organising of society as distinctly separate from the mission of the Church.

•The Church will always support and co-operate with the state in its pursuit of the common good.

•The Church has a comprehensive and consistent view of what constitutes the common good.

http://www.rcpolitics.org/index.php?module=pagemaster&PAGE_user_op=view_page&PAGE_id=27