Let MSPs reveal religious links

WITH the furore over the proposed new anti-sectarianism laws refusing to go away, perhaps the party leaders at Holyrood could help lance this boil on Scottish society.

In the interests of transparency and honesty, and before any vote is cast, they could ask every MSP to declare any past or present membership of any religious or quasi-religious group or society – Opus Dei, the Freemasons, the Orange Order, the Knights of St Columba, that kind of organisation. Past membership as well as present is most important for the people to form a judgment on decisions and voting in the past as well as the future.

This transparency would solve many of the problems at a stroke and ease suspicions. The leaders could set an example by making the simple declaration themselves.

Alexander McKay, Edinburgh