"NOW look! No-one is to stone anyone until I blow this whistle, do you understand? Even, and I want to make this absolutely clear, even if they do say Jehovah.” These are the last words of John Cleese’s character as he officiates at the stoning of an old man in the Monty Python comedy Life of Brian.

Stoning is in no way comedic and sadly one of the cruellest forms of execution still used in barbaric countries today. Python, however, beautifully illustrated the hypocrisy of moral indignation and how those taking the so-called moral high ground are often as guilty of intolerance as those they seek to condemn.

Although the movie has been accused of blasphemy this scene encapsulates the teachings of Jesus Christ who said: “Let he who is without sin throw the first stone.”

READ MORE: 'I feel heartsore': Kate Forbes releases statement on 'hurt' caused by equalities row

Kate Forbes has been put on the ducking stool this week and it has been painful to watch. She has given some very open and unpolitical answers when asked to explain her personal faith. She has tried to explain the separation between her personal and deeply held religious beliefs and the operation of government in a democracy.

If she had been part of Alex Salmond’s government on February 4, 2014, when Holyrood voted for gay marriage, she like everyone else on the SNP benches would have been afforded a conscience vote.

We now understand that Humza Yousaf (below), who was quick to condemn Kate, conveniently absented himself from the chamber that day. The vote wasn’t whipped (mandatory) and SNP members had a free vote to allow people of faith and others who disagreed with the policy to vote as their conscience dictated.

The National: Humza Yousaf

It was a controversial bill but I, like many other lesbians and also gay men, was delighted when it passed. Would the absence of a hypothetical Kate Forbes or a busy elsewhere Humza Yousaf have dented the joy in its passing or affected the parliamentary majority for extending marriage to same-sex couples? No, of course not, on both counts.

Kate has handled her interviews badly and, like many people, I didn’t agree with her answers and the inflexibility with which they were delivered. I don’t see how what she has said can build a consensus and take people with her. But that does not mean she should be pilloried or, as some of the SNP’s more intolerant members have suggested, suspended and investigated.

So far as I can see, Kate has given no indication that she would use her role as leader of the SNP or FM to impose her beliefs on the rest of us via legislation. As Joan McAlpine pointed out this week in one of her powerful Twitter threads, this in stark contrast to Humza, who was happy to try to embed in our law the secular ideology (without scientific foundation) that any man can become a woman, including a rapist, because sex is simply a matter of self-perception.

READ MORE: Douglas Ross 'sounding scared' of Humza Yousaf, says Nicola Sturgeon

Humza was also happy to pass the Hate Crime Act which threatens to criminalise anyone who disagrees with this ideology, and he ditched his own government amendments providing a free speech defence when the mob turned on those supporting them accusing them of “transphobia”.

The good news for those of us who believe in free speech is that more than 18 months later the legislation is still not in force for a variety of reasons including the growing realisation that it would not survive a human rights challenge because it discriminates against people who don’t subscribe to gender identity ideology.

Before I move on, I would like to stress that I support legislation to criminalise hate speech (which already exists in Scotland) and reform of the Gender Recognition Act (GRA) but in both cases only with inbuilt safeguards to protect free speech and the rights of everyone in our society, including women and LGB people.

What I do not support is legislation that forces anyone to subscribe to someone’s else’s belief system.

I need to be crystal clear about this lest the mob who have set upon Kate in the last few days turn their attentions to me.

READ MORE: Kate Forbes responds to John Swinney comments on equal marriage views

And yes, there is a mob out there, consisting of members of the SNP, Greens and other parties and none who been encouraged to think that any woman who disagrees with their belief system is fair game for monstering, abuse and sometimes criminal threats.

The apotheosis of this was when politicians in Holyrood stood to applaud a trans rights activist who reportedly threatened women with extreme violence on Twitter. Alex Cole-Hamilton later lauded this person in a speech, which he has since disavowed.

Sometimes it looks like our politicians are more interested in virtue signalling than due diligence on who they bring inside their tent.

At the height of the Kate Forbes pile-on, as SNP staffers and party members merrily breached the party’s code of conduct by publicising their complaints about her online and calling for her head on a plate, I called for an elder statesperson in the party to step in and call off the dogs. The fact that this did not happen is a sad reflection of the deterioration of the way in which our party currently conducts itself in the public forum. It needs to stop.

Fortunately, SNP members have among their choice of candidates one who had the decency to call for calm and an end to the mudslinging. She is also someone who is not tainted by the governmental policy failings which contributed to Nicola Sturgeon’s resignation. Nor has her leadership bid blown up on the launch pad.

The National: Ash Regan

I am supporting Ash Regan and I will be proud to introduce her at her launch today. Ash knows that the path to independence lies through strong, effective government. As first minister, she would focus on the nation’s priorities; NHS recovery, social care, the cost of living crisis, the economy, creating well-paid jobs, education, energy and the environment. She would run her government as a team effort with the aim of good governance for its own sake and to give people the confidence to vote for independence.

It will be back to the motto of “record, vision and team” which won us the 2011 election outright and nearly took us to independence in 2014.

Ash is also unequivocally in favour of equal rights for LGBT people and will defend the rights we have under the Equality Act, Human Rights Act and equal marriage legislation.

She also supports reform of the GRA, just not self-identification which threatens the rights of women, girls and LGB people. She, like me, wants to find a route to reform that fulfils our manifesto promises to respect the rights of everyone.

However, Ash will not waste time and public money on legal battles with the British Government which we cannot win and which opinion polls show the public don’t support.

She knows that devolution does what it says on the tin. Power devolved is power retained.

Section 35 is just an inevitable, if egregious, aspect of that. Rather than banging her head against the brick wall of the limitations of devolution, Ash will concentrate on furthering the case for independence. And I mean the case for, rather than endless debates about process.

READ MORE: Ash Regan brings former Alba Holyrood candidate onto SNP leadership campaign

It has wrongly been claimed that Ash unequivocally supports Nicola Sturgeon’s policy of a de facto referendum. However, she does think the party should debate the way forward and she does want to put independence front and centre of our manifesto and to devise a strategy which takes power back into our hands.

She will take her proposals on this to a conference for consideration.

She will also bring the independence movement back together through an independence convention involving all independence parties, organisations, think tanks and civil society to organise a new independence campaign body.

Finally, I have confidence that Ash will take the necessary steps to restore good governance in the SNP, to restore our internal democracy, respectful debate and respect for the party’s code of conduct.

The events of the last week have underlined the need for the SNP to get its house in order.

Since having this column in The National I have called for a more open style of government bringing in the talent we need and I have tried to suggest ways our party and its leadership can listen to and work with the wider Yes movement. I have been impressed by what Ash has said on these issues.

Leaders build teams and I’m confident that in Ash Regan we will have someone who will let her ministers and the Cabinet develop their individual portfolios so we can have the best vision and strongest team for Scotland.

So many people inside and outside of Government want to work together to take our country forward.

They’ve been ignored or held at arm’s length for too long. Ash is showing us that we work best when we work respectfully together.