Thank you, your Eminence.

With my cultural, and religious, background, I am constantly amazed at the fact that I regularly appreciate the pronouncements of various senior figures in the Church of Rome.  I recall, many years ago, actually telephoning the offices of the archdiocese of Glasgow to express my gratitude to the late Archbishop (later, Cardinal) Thomas Winning; I have publicly expressed my gratitude in the letters page of The (Glasgow) Herald newspaper; and, once again, I wish to do so - this time to Cardinal Keith O'Brien, Archbishop of St Andrews and Edinburgh.

The Cardinal is widely reported, today, as having made the (in my opinion) very valid point that aid packages from the U.K. government to certain countries should be conditional on a firm commitment, by the relevant foreign government, to religious freedom; and a pledge to protect Christians and other religious minorities.

He is reported as stating that "To increase aid to the Pakistan Government when religious freedom is not upheld and those who speak up for religious freedom are gunned down is tantamount to an anti- Christian foreign policy.  Pressure should now be put on the Pakistan Government, and the governments of the Arab world as well, to ensure religious freedom is upheld.  The provision of aid must require a commitment to human rights."

His comments were made at the launch of a Report into the persecution of Christians - a subject that is frequently aired on this blog - and follow the recent murder in Islamabad of Shabbaz Bhatti, the only Christian in the Pakistani Cabinet and an outspoken critic of the country’s blasphemy laws.  It is to be hoped that the words of such a high-profile clergyman will have some positive effect on the situation.

However, I was also interested in the reported response of the Foreign Office.  According to The Herald, Alistair Burt, the Foreign Office Minister, said the UK Government shared the Cardinal’s concern about the plight of Christians.  Mr Burt pointed to how Mr Hague (the British Foreign Secretary) had set up a new Advisory Group on Human Rights, which identified religious freedom as a key human rights issue at its first meeting in December. He also stated that: “It is vital that Pakistan guarantees the rights of all its citizens, regardless of their faith or ethnicity. We will continue to press for religious freedoms to be upheld in Pakistan and around the world.” (my emphasis!).

I would love to know how the present British Government manages to make such high-sounding comment with regard to the persecution of Christians in other countries, while apparently ignoring the increasing marginalistion of Christians in the U.K.!  I suspect that Mr & Mrs Bull (B&B owners); Lesley Pilkington (Christian counsellor); and Mr & Mrs Jones (former foster parents); would wish to take the minister to task in the light of the recent cases in which these people have been involved - interestingly, all at the instigation of the homosexual lobby (funded by the taxpayer, in the form of the Government-funded Equality and Human Rights Commission.)

My other concern is that while Cardinal O'Brien is standing up, publicly, and making his voice heard, the voices of the Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland (and those of the other Presbyterian denominations); the hierarchy of the Episcopal Church in Scotland; the General Secretary of the Scottish Baptist Union; the leadership of the Congregational churches, the Methodist churches, Independent churches, and anyone from the Brethren movement, are deafening only in their silence!

Many of us need to seek forgiveness, for failing to speak out on behalf of our persecuted brothers and sisters.  The solemn words of the Lord Jesus, as recorded in Matt.7:21-23 and Matt.25:41-46 are worth pondering!