TODAY First Minister Nicola Sturgeon will deliver the annual Cardinal Winning lecture, which coincides with the 100 year anniversary of when the 1918 Education Act allowed for Catholic schools funded by the tax-payer.

Despite the sectarianism that is known as “Scotland’s shame,” Ms Surgeon has already praised Catholic schools as being “good for Scotland”.

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The First Minister’s involvement in this lecture has raised eyebrows all round: Catholic fundamentalists are uneasy with her support for Northern Irish women looking for pregnancy terminations and, in stark contrast to the SNP government’s commendable recent pardon to gay men for historical “offences,” she seems to have forgotten Winning’s belief that homosexuality was “perverted.”

We respect Ms Sturgeon’s concern to be First Minister for all Scots, but she must tread carefully when lending the gravitas of her position to such an event.
Neil Barber
Edinburgh Secular Society