Since Jack McConnell became First Minister, the Scottish Executive have vigorously pursued an anti-sectarian policy. In a short time this policy has seen notable achievements. The Criminal Justice (Scotland) Act of 2003 gave legal recognition to 'religious prejudice' as an aggravating factor which must be taken into account when the appropriate sentence is given for a criminal offence. It is worth pointing out that as yet in Scotland religious hatred or prejudice is not in itself a criminal offence. A separate criminal offence must be proved before issues of religious prejudice can be considered. The police report a steady increase in the number of cases where religious prejudice has been a relevant factor. This probably reflects the adaptation of the police to the new legislation rather than an increase in the phenomenon of religious prejudice.

Encouraged by this legal development, the Executive held the first ever national conference on Anti-Sectarianism in Dundee in Apri1 2004. This was designed for a wide range of people - social workers, the police, representatives of Rangers and Celtic, educationalists and others - and was in fact oversubscribed. Since then a number of conferences have been held where a more restricted audience has been targeted. Amongst other more recent developments a website called Don't Give It, Don't Take It has been launched to provide teachers and youth workers with materials to train them in anti-sectarianism and to inculcate in youngsters the appropriate attitudes on this issue.

There is much that is commendable in the initiatives of the Scottish Executive. Obviously Protestant/Catholic sectarianism has blighted and continues to blight parts of Scottish life. It may well be harmful to the reputation of Scotland abroad and so to both the sort of investment in and immigration to Scotland that the Executive is keen to encourage. These are justifiable concerns. It is also good to stigmatise any hatred based on religious allegiance. There is, however, a danger that the advocates of this policy become too ambitious and in effect begin to set up religious tenets of their own. Opposition to religious hatred can easily expand into indifference toward religious distinctives. Citizens can be asked to be as welcoming to different religious systems as they are to people of different racial origins.

It was clear, for example, at the initial Anti-Sectarian Conference in 2004 that the Scottish Executive are aiming well beyond the traditional Protestant/Catholic divide. Their spokeswoman, Mary Milligan, looked for "a Scotland free of religious hatred". She indicated that the Executive were concerned with new manifestations of religious hatred; she gave Islamophobia as an example of what they had in mind. This broad view of anti-sectarianism is confirmed by the contents and tone of the Don't Give It, Don't Take It website, where sectarianism is understood as a form or subset of religious intolerance. The latter, in turn, is taken very broadly as 'treating someone negatively because of their faith'. All this might simply be described as naively unrealistic. However, the website begins to enshrine a questionable religious stance of its own when it recommends inter-faith cooperation in these terms – 'An interfaith approach is one that recognises and celebrates differences and should be positively endorsed'. In short, this website, sponsored by the Executive, wants us not merely to tolerate religious differences but to welcome them, with the implication that we sit loose to our own religious beliefs if they are incompatible with others.

The Executive would do well to be more modest in their aims, because the scope of religious hatred is vast, if we take seriously the testimony of the Scriptures. Every human being, devoid of the grace of God, has an antipathy to God and will want to take it out on his followers. Jesus himself warned against unreal expectations when he told his disciples that he had come to bring not peace but a sword - meaning not that they should take up the sword, but that the sword would be used against them. In typical Jewish fashion he gave the extreme example of setting members of the same household the one against the other (Lk 12:49-53). At best any government can aim only to limit the more blatant or public manifestations of religious hatred. It is beyond their power to eliminate all religious hatred, since it has a spiritual, indeed a satanic, dimension. Besides, the Executive are unwise (as well as wrong) in commending an inter-faith approach. Even at a purely pragmatic level, they must be aware that most religions, not merely Christianity, make exclusive claims. It is not open for sincere believers to set aside or simply privatise their distinctive beliefs. The Executive gave recent evidence of the divisiveness of fundamental convictions when they endorsed legislation allowing civil partnerships between same-sex couples. Many from all sections of the Christian church are very unhappy about this development which they believe undermines the marriage ordinance as set out by God in the Scriptures. It will never be possible to reconcile the views of the gay lobby with those of the vast majority of Christians, as well as adherents of the Muslim and Jewish faiths. The Executive risk alienating still further the good-will of Christians, and of other religious communities, if they continue to endorse the sort of inter-faith co-operation which plays fast and loose with religious distinctives.

For our denomination too there remains a challenge. We insist on the right and duty to witness to those of other faiths and of none. But it is not enough to contend for the faith once and for all given to the saints; it is also important how we contend for that faith. We must eschew sectarianism and all forms of religious hatred. "The Lord's servant must not quarrel," says the apostle Paul, "Instead, he must be kind to everyone, able to teach, not resentful. Those who oppose him he must gently instruct, in the hope that God will grant them repentance leading them to a knowledge of the truth" (2 Tim 2:24-25). There is no biblical mandate for stirring up hatred on religious grounds. We of all people should be aware that there is already more than enough hatred in the world. Our testimony must be to a better way.

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