Imagine writing this…
I want a secular Scotland. I want this century to be the very first in Scotland’s story where religious belief and ecclesiastical power did not routinely dictate the way people were governed or lived their day-to-day lives.
…having earlier said…
Humza Yousaf was the first Muslim to lead a national government in the western world. This in itself is an extraordinary badge of honour for Scotland.
…and:
In a rare example of an SNP leader praising the United Kingdom, he celebrated the multicultural message sent to the world by having a Hindu in Downing Street, a black first minister in Cardiff, a Muslim mayor in London and a Scots Asian in Bute House.
But such was the double standard/hypocrisy/asymmetry/cognitive dissonance (call it what you like) demonstrated by Times columnist Kenny Farquharson in a recent column, kicking off by declaring:
Kate Forbes is unfit to be first minister of a 21st-century Scotland. A 1920s Scotland, maybe. A 1950s Scotland, perhaps. But not Scotland in 2024.
But this is merely Round 2 of the double standard displayed towards Forbes and her Presbyterianism, as she demonstrates the temerity to once again put herself in the frame for leadership of the SNP (although not, at the time of writing, formally declaring her candidacy).
And, of course, the double standard relates to the totally different approach afforded by bien pensant Scotland to Christians and Christianity as compared to Muslims and Islam. No point going into the nitty gritty of that in this post, but can you imagine Kenny writing anything even remotely similar to what’s in his piece, but about Humza Yousaf?
No, me neither. But, of course, the stock answer to reconciling the double standard is mentioned in passing in Kenny’s piece:
The problem is not faith, per se. The problem is the way her particular faith intersects with our public polity.
The problem is not her beliefs. The problem is her opinions.
Which is consistent with how Humza reconciled his faith with Scotland’s uber-progressive SNP, and orthodox thinking more generally. But life and politics aren’t as straightforward as that (even ignoring allegations that Mr Yousaf conveniently missed a Holyrood vote on equal marriage so as not to offend fellow mosque-goers).
Witness, for example, Humza’s and his wife Nadia el-Nakla’s approach to Israel/Palestine/Gaza – isn’t that grounded in religion and faith, and indeed another example of the asymmetry afforded to Islam as compared to other religions?
Or, apropos what Farquharon calls “the way [Forbes’] particular faith intersects with our public polity”, how about Yousaf tweeting a photograph of Muslim family prayers at the first minister’s official residence soon after taking office – imagine Forbes posting anything even remotely similar:
And, in fact, Forbes’ Presbyterianism is probably more in line with those who Humza breaks bread with(!) in the mosque, or of indeed with other, er, longer-established denominations of Christianity in Scotland, but you just can’t imagine Kenny F pointing that out. Also, Forbes’ (small-p) presbyterianism is maybe more widely appreciated by the wider public than the likes of the Scottish Greens would care to admit, as demonstrated by opinion poll figures, not to mention how close she came to securing the SNP leadership last time round.
Who would fully trust Humza on stuff like this anyway? For example, in 2018 he said:
Proud to be part of a Scottish Govt that makes the positive case for migration & diversity. One that says Scotland will be a welcoming country.
But a couple of years later, while a senior member of Nicola Sturgeon’s cabinet, and a rung or two from the very top of the political ladder, according to Humza the Scottish Parliament, the civil service and public life in Scotland more generally are riven by ‘structural racism’, the beneficiaries of which were those awful ‘WHITE’ people.
Another couple of years, and it’s:
Being the first Muslim to lead a Western nation means a lot to me. I hope it also inspires others, particularly when multiculturalism is portrayed by some as a weakness.
In Scotland, I am proud we are a welcoming nation & our diversity is seen as one of our greatest strengths.
Eh? What happened to the structural and institutional racism? Conveniently forgotten about when Humza reached the top of the greasy pole? Pretence and opportunism, much? (I’d call Humza the Vicar of Bray, but that would surely be an Islamophobic hate crime…)
Anyway, much more about that sort of stuff in later posts on here. And ignoring Kenny F’s ‘right side of history’-style rhetoric, one example of where I suspect most Scots would disagree with him on a substantive policy point:
What comfort could be drawn from a Forbes first ministership by gay couples, given that this fundamentalist Christian politician has said she would not have voted for equal marriage? How secure would gay people feel about their hard-won civil rights?
On the other hand, how ‘secure’ do women feel about biological males being allowed to waltz into spaces traditionally reserved for biological females? Not very, I’d guess. Or how secure do ‘gay people’ feel about being told that they have to stop being sexually attracted only to people with the same biology because such ‘genital preference’ is ‘transphobic’? Or, indeed, what about us awful straight/cis/hetro folks being told that we have to be same-sex attracted (effectively) because otherwise we’re ‘genital fascists’, or some other, er, bollocks? Hetrophobia, surely?
But, of course, that’s the thinking of people like our (current) first minister, and de facto first minister Patrick Harvie, et al. And if that makes the majority of the population feel insecure, and without comfort to be drawn, then tough. But that’s, by implication, what Kenny F thinks is consistent with ‘a Scotland marked by generosity of spirit, not punitive social conservatism’.
Footnote: Since my perception of Kenny Farquharson’s article is that it is “motivated by malice or ill will towards a social group”, that ‘social group’ being being defined by the ‘protected characteristic’ of ‘religion or belief’, then I feel it’s my public duty to report him to Police Scotland under the hate crime regime.
Not that I would expect a criminal prosecution, but because my perception would mean that it would at least be recorded as a ‘non-crime hate incident’ (NCHI).
Except that I wouldn’t be that petty. And also because Police Scotland have moved the goalposts since the new hate crime regime was implemented precisely one month ago, so Kenny’s article would be unlikely to be recorded as an NCHI anyway.
Or, at least, while we know Police Scotland has moved the goalposts, to where and to what extent we can only guess at this time. But much more about that to come on this blog.