A verdict that would shame Deep South

What kind of country’s legal system could have admittance of guilt by the accused, millions of people watching the assault live on television, the operations director for the security firm handling the event stating it was a religiously-motivated assault and yet, despite all of that, 15 members of a jury find the accused guilty of the practically pointless crime of “breach of the peace” (your report, 1 September)? The answer is: Scotland.

Members of the jury in the trial of John Wilson, accused of assaulting Celtic manager Neil Lennon at Hearts’ Tynecastle ground on national TV, have brought shame on Scotland as a nation and complete ridicule to the legal system. Verdicts like these were found in the institutionally bigoted Deep South of America in the 1950s.

Once you marginalise a community that much, there is no going back. I have lived in England for 13 years but was considering moving back to Scotland this year.

I have decided against bring my family up in a place where people have no desire to embrace the future. One Scotland, many cultures – don’t make me laugh!

William J Morgan

St Julien Gardens

Newcastle upon Tyne

Your report (31 August) concerning the warnings by Paul McBride, QC, that Scottish independence could bring about a “blossoming” of sectarianism, tended to fill me with the proverbial “alarm and despondency”, not to say puzzlement.

I recognise that Mr McBride has himself been the target of this stupid element in Scottish life, and that as an eminent member of his profession he can speak with a certain authority on the matter; nevertheless, for me there are somewhat glaring omissions in his assessment of Catholic/Protestant relations in Scotland.

Prior to retirement, in my experience as a Church of Scotland minister in a small east of Scotland community, co-operation with our Catholic friends was both inspirational and productive of a corporate Christian witness.

There is, though, the frequent and mistaken assumption that what happens in the Glasgow area must apply everywhere else.

In addition to this, it surely must be noted that the Protestant (so-called) protagonists in this sectarian world frequently display the Union Flag, or even the cross of St George.

Similarly, those on the Catholic (so-called) side of this stupidly non-Christian antagonism fly the flag of Ireland. How is it that an independent Scotland would relate to all of that?

I am concerned that it is the negativity of such as Mr McBride that can tend to exacerbate “sectarianism”. What Scotland, independent or not, needs in these times is not the raising of barriers, but the building of bridges.

Donald W Fraser

Blake Avenue

Broughty Ferry, Dundee

How many times are we to see trotted out the old chestnut of fixing sectarianism by blending faith schools into non-denominational schools (Letters, 1 September).

No school, be it Catholic, other faith, or non-denominational, teaches, fosters or encourages hatred, bigotry, division or sectarianism.

My children attended both faith-based and non-denominational schools and in neither did they learn such traits. These traits are indeed evident on our streets, in sports grounds and elsewhere, but the source, the breeding ground, is the home.

Hatred of others, be it based on religion, race, sexual orientation or colour, is passed down in the home. Parents have the greatest influence on their children.

If they inculcate tolerance and respect for others from an early age then their children are likely to adopt those characteristics. If they inculcate hatred, show their intolerance by example, then equally their children are likely to absorb that influence.

If we are to rid our society of the curse of sectarianism, we have to tackle it where it is taught, where it is nurtured, in the home.

John Doonan

Milrig

Kirknewton