A COMPLAINT was received nine months ago about a Church of Scotland minister who heckled Jeremy Corbyn with comments about Islam yesterday.
The Kirk has now opened a separate formal complaints process after the Rev Richard Cameron referenced the tartan scarf the Labour leader was wearing on the first day of his 48 hour trip to Scotland, saying: “I thought you’d be wearing your Islamic Jihad scarf.
The minister, who told the surrounding journalists his name and occupation, went on to call Corbyn a “terrorist sympathiser” and ask: “Who’s going to be the first terrorist invited to the House of Commons when you’re prime minister?”
After the incident, social media posts from Cameron surfaced online in which he had called Islam a “religion of violence”, suggested Muslims kill their children for becoming Christian and accused gay people of celebrating “perversion”.
It was then revealed that
Humanist Society Scotland complained about Cameron’s behaviour on social media in February this year – a full nine months ago.
The society’s Scotland chief executive Fraser Sutherland complained about a tirade against Humanists, which was then closed after the Presbytery of Glasgow closed the complaint noting they had “given advice in relation to social media” to Cameron – who has been the Scotstoun Parish Church minister since 2000
“Unfortunately, I’m not surprised by the actions of Rev Cameron given I highlighted his aggressive approach to other faiths and beliefs on social media to the Kirk over nine months ago,” said Sutherland.
“It is disappointing that very little appears to have happened in this time and he’s continuing to denigrate people of different beliefs to his so publicly. It’s disappointing that it’s taken for him to target a UK political leader for the Church to take complaints against him seriously.”
Green MSP Ross Greer, a member of the Church of Scotland, tweeted that Cameron’s “bigoted nonsense” doesn’t represent the Kirk, adding: “The bigoted tweets surfacing certainly don’t.”
“Do I wish the Kirk were robust in rejecting fringe figures like this guy? Yes. We must do so much better to say this isn’t who we are & isn’t acceptable.”
A Church of Scotland spokesperson said: “There has been significant concern raised today about the comments made by Rev Richard Cameron and his social media use.
“At this stage all we can say is that there is a formal complaints process and that any complaints we receive in relation to this matter will be taken seriously and addressed.
They added: “We do deplore any comments which are Islamophobic or homophobic.”
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