Scottish independence: Bible tale cited by SNP MSP

SNP MSP John Mason has suggested the Old Testament story of the Tower of Babel could be used as an argument for Scottish independence.

John Mason MSP. Picture: TSPL

Mr Mason, a committed Christian, has compared Scotland’s constitutional battle to the biblical episode, which saw God stop the people of Earth, who then spoke a common language, from building a tower to heaven.

The story, in the Book of Genesis, says God created different languages to confuse the builders and “scattered” them all over the world.

Writing in evangelical magazine Idea, the Shettleston MSP said he did not believe God was taking sides in the independence debate.

But in his article he asks himself what the Bible’s teaching on independence might be.

“I would maintain there is no one Christian line to take on Scottish independence,” he writes. “However, there is a principle from the time of the Tower of Babel that God split the peoples up as too much centralisation was a potentially a dangerous thing. So it could be argued that we should be wary of larger national units and supportive of smaller ones.”