ONE OF the Catholic Church’s most senior figures has sparked outrage
after claiming images of abortion should not be suppressed any more than
pictures of Nazi concentration camps.
The Rt Rev Joseph Devine, the Bishop of Motherwell,
also said abortion was as much a reality as the evil suffered by British
soldiers captured in the Second World War by the Japanese.
His comments were in response to the arrest of two Christian campaigners detained for unfurling 7ft banners showing images of aborted foetuses outside a clinic in Brighton.
Pro-choice campaigners yesterday condemned the bishop for the inflammatory statement, made after the protestors, Andrew Stephenson, 37, and Kathryne Sloan, 21, were cleared of public order offences by a judge who dismissed the case.
In the wake of the incident, Rev Devine wrote: “As other commentators have observed, such images should not be suppressed from the public consciousness any more than pictures of famine or the reality of war. If we cannot face the pictures, how can we conceive of endorsing the reality? I have no doubt that the publication of the photographs of the victims of Auschwitz and the Burma railway brought home the horrors of such evil catastrophes far more effectively than a million pleading words. 200,000 abortions take place in Britain each year. Why is the pro-choice lobby so desperate to hide the truth about abortion from the public?”
The British Pregnancy Advisory Service said the bishop’s statement was “hugely inflammatory”.
Spokeswoman Clare Murphy added: “I think most people would find it utterly despicable to compare abortion to the Holocaust. It is deeply insulting to the millions of Jewish people who died during the Second World War. I can’t imagine anyone would feel that comparing abortion to the Holocaust is a useful or pertinent analogy.”
Campaign group Abortion Rights said it was “completely inappropriate” for a member of the Catholic community to make “statements which appear to condone harassing behaviour”.
The British Humanist Association said comparing abortion to genocide betrayed a “twisted lack of moral perspective” and “degraded political debate”.
Meanwhile, Rev Devine caused further controversy after accusing the Green Party of masquerading as an environmental group to hide an “anti-religious, pro-gay” agenda.
Commenting on the case of Christian councillor Christina Summers, who was expelled from the Greens after defying party policy by voting against same sex marriage, he said: “For years it [the Green Party] has operated under the cover of ‘saving the planet’ while publicly playing down its anti- religious faith, anti-democratic agenda. To seek to coerce loyalty to the party above loyalty to individual conscience calls to mind the worst kind of totalitarian politics.”
Patrick Harvie, leader of the Green Party in Scotland, dismissed the comments as “slightly absurd”.
His comments were in response to the arrest of two Christian campaigners detained for unfurling 7ft banners showing images of aborted foetuses outside a clinic in Brighton.
Pro-choice campaigners yesterday condemned the bishop for the inflammatory statement, made after the protestors, Andrew Stephenson, 37, and Kathryne Sloan, 21, were cleared of public order offences by a judge who dismissed the case.
In the wake of the incident, Rev Devine wrote: “As other commentators have observed, such images should not be suppressed from the public consciousness any more than pictures of famine or the reality of war. If we cannot face the pictures, how can we conceive of endorsing the reality? I have no doubt that the publication of the photographs of the victims of Auschwitz and the Burma railway brought home the horrors of such evil catastrophes far more effectively than a million pleading words. 200,000 abortions take place in Britain each year. Why is the pro-choice lobby so desperate to hide the truth about abortion from the public?”
The British Pregnancy Advisory Service said the bishop’s statement was “hugely inflammatory”.
Spokeswoman Clare Murphy added: “I think most people would find it utterly despicable to compare abortion to the Holocaust. It is deeply insulting to the millions of Jewish people who died during the Second World War. I can’t imagine anyone would feel that comparing abortion to the Holocaust is a useful or pertinent analogy.”
Campaign group Abortion Rights said it was “completely inappropriate” for a member of the Catholic community to make “statements which appear to condone harassing behaviour”.
The British Humanist Association said comparing abortion to genocide betrayed a “twisted lack of moral perspective” and “degraded political debate”.
Meanwhile, Rev Devine caused further controversy after accusing the Green Party of masquerading as an environmental group to hide an “anti-religious, pro-gay” agenda.
Commenting on the case of Christian councillor Christina Summers, who was expelled from the Greens after defying party policy by voting against same sex marriage, he said: “For years it [the Green Party] has operated under the cover of ‘saving the planet’ while publicly playing down its anti- religious faith, anti-democratic agenda. To seek to coerce loyalty to the party above loyalty to individual conscience calls to mind the worst kind of totalitarian politics.”
Patrick Harvie, leader of the Green Party in Scotland, dismissed the comments as “slightly absurd”.