A majority of Scottish Christians are experiencing a “palpable feeling of exclusion,” expressing concern about a lack of political representation as well as the abuse and negative commentary Christian politicians receive.
Almost 70% of Christians surveyed claimed to have experienced prejudice through negative comments or attitudes towards them, while 75% of respondents said they are concerned by the abuse Christian politicians receive.
Scotland’s First Minister, John Swinney, and Deputy First Minister, Kate Forbes are both open about their Christianity, with Mr Swinney describing himself as a man of ‘deep Christian faith’.
Ms Forbes, a member of the Free Church of Scotland, has come under intense media scrutiny previously for her Christian values, including after a campaign interview during which she said she personally believed “sex is for marriage” and that having children outside of marriage “would be wrong according to my faith”.
The new survey of over 1,000 people comes from Scottish think tank, Logos Scotland.
It found that almost three quarters of Christian respondents “disagreed” or “strongly disagreed” that “The Scottish Government has been supportive of Christian principles in its recent legislative programme”.
Non-Christian respondents were found not to share these views, saying that Christians do not receive any discrimination and that they did not think criticism of Christian politicians was a cause for concern.
However, 55% of non-Christians when asked either didn’t know whether the Scottish government is supportive of Christians or thought that it isn’t supportive of Christians.
This comes on the heels of another study carried out by Voice for Justice UK, which surveyed over 1,500 Christians and found that more than half of respondents experienced hostility and ridicule when sharing their Christian beliefs.
The report, The Costs of Keeping the Faith, stated that only 36% of young Christian respondents felt free to express their views at work, while 56% of respondents said that they had experienced hostility and ridicule. 18% said they had faced discrimination, including during interviews or when facing potential promotions.
Spokesperson for the Observatory on Intolerance and Discrimination against Christians in Europe (OIDAC), Anja Hoffmann, said that “across Europe, Christians are increasingly singled out for discrimination,” and that this trend is “especially worrying in Scotland and in the whole UK”.
“Those who express Christian values publicly, such as politicians, are particularly targeted and silenced. We shouldn’t forget that this kind of intolerant behaviour does not stop with the victims who lost their reputation and career; it also severely intimidates all Christians,” Ms Hoffmann said.