God Does Not Hate Roman Catholics
Sir
This letter describes two dubious protests, the first one conducted in 2017 by an individual who displayed a large placard with the message “God Hates Catholics” outside a Roman Catholic Cathedral in Paisley where parishioners were assembling for mass on the Sabbath day. The placard also had the words “Gods Hates The Kirk” on the back of it. The “protestor” was charged and convicted of a statutory breach of the peace and later lost an appeal against the conviction.
God does not hate Catholics! That message is wrong, ill thought out and it most certainly is not “speaking the truth in love” in accordance with Scripture! Moreover, the protestor is infringing on the rights of the church-goers to freedom of assembly, so his method is wrong as well.
Another protest took place outside the “Blessed John Duns Scotus” RC church in Glasgow on the afternoon of Saturday 18 September 2021, where around 100 Roman Catholics who are part of an “anti-catholic bigotry” group called “Call It Out” objected to a peaceful Orange Order parade which was coincidentally passing by what would have been an empty building on that day. The bands, as always, respectfully stopped playing as they fleetingly passed the RC church. The protestors had earlier demanded the parade be rerouted to avoid passing their church. This latest attempt to create a “no-go zone” proved unsuccessful. Their protest, although peaceful, is entirely unfounded because the parade was perfectly lawful and disciplined, while the RC church building or any parishioners were not the main focus of attention or any bigoted hatred.
The most provocative ingredient of this anti-Protestant group is their loud demands to create no-go zones all over Glasgow – in the hope of thwarting these lawful Orange parades altogether. That is against Articles 9, 10 and 11 of the European Convention Human Rights, so Call It Out are in deep error here!
And don’t forget, one of the items paraded by the Orange Order on their marches is a copy of the OPEN BIBLE – something that Rome has never liked. Look what Rome did to John Wycliffe, the first man to translate The Bible into English – his very bones being burned in a frenzy of hate after his death.
Andrew Forsyth
Glasgow
