'Religious bigotry must be dealt with in the same way as racism and homophobia'

Published on Monday 23 November 2009 21:58

THERE is no doubt that the situation in Scotland with regard to sectarianism has improved writes Bob McKay.

It is nonetheless shameful that in the 21st century our society and our communities remain scarred by it and, whether it is in the work place or the community, it needs to be addressed.

The sterile and futile posturing whereby one person's banter is another person's bigotry simply will not do.

In a world of equal rights in which tolerance and diversity are promoted and in which racism and homophobia are properly condemned, sectarianism must be addressed in the same way and by the same means.

The proposals, however, are focused on addressing the symptoms of the malaise and we would achieve more if we addressed the causes. These include separating children at age five, endorsing misplaced loyalties as some form of defence of our history and allegiances and the continuance of a society which is still permeated by the religious past rather than the Scotland of today.

A secular society would better defend the rights of all and reflect the society we are rather than the society we were.

We must seek to ensure that the Russian poet Anna Akhmatova's words no longer apply in Scotland: "As the future ripens in the past the past rots the future."

&#149 Bob McKay is secretary of the Humanist Society