First Minister Alex Salmond
Edinburgh Interfaith Association Lecture at St John's Church, Edinburgh.
January 22, 2009
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It is an honour to be asked to deliver this year's Edinburgh Inter-Faith Association Lecture.
I am delighted to be here today with leaders from so many faith groups in Edinburgh.
In particular I would like to thank The Reverend John Armes, Rector of St John's Church, for hosting us this evening. And let me also thank Victor Spence, General-Secretary of the Edinburgh Interfaith Association, for organising this event.
This evening we come together in celebration - to mark the 20th anniversary of the Edinburgh Interfaith Association, an institution of tremendous value to this great city and to Scotland.
It was Andrew Carnegie who said, "there is no habitation of human beings in this world so fine in its way….as this, the capital of Scotland."
That's quite a claim. And all the more extraordinary coming from a Fifer!
But there is much to it. Edinburgh was and is today a wonderful and harmonious city. And that is in no small part thanks to organisations such as yours, which are day by day enriching our communities and enriching Scotland.
We should also commend the Edinburgh Inter-Faith Association's broader ambitions.
Your commitment to reach out, far beyond the city limits, far beyond the shores of Scotland, bringing the foremost figures in interfaith relations from across the world here to discuss and to teach. And working with organisations worldwide to promote respect and understanding among all the faiths.
As well as marking the Association's 20th birthday, we are here tonight to celebrate the importance of faith in shaping Scottish culture and Scottish society.
And to admire the full diversity of faiths and cultures - the threads in the tartan that are being woven together to create a powerful, positive image of the modern Scotland.
This evening I want to speak with you about that modern Scotland, and your role in helping to nurture and shape it.
I want to reflect on the role that faith and basic human values have played in shaping Scottish society.
I want to talk about your work - and the work of the Scottish Government and our partners - to promote strong, positive inter-faith relations.
And lastly, I want us to consider together the Scotland that we are building today, and to ask how we could - all of us - achieve even more for Scotland, as a nation, as a society, and as a community of shared values.
Faith and values in Scottish society
First, let us look at the importance of faith and values to Scotland - qualities that have forged the character of Scotland and the spirit of its people.
So much of the character of Scotland comes from the central historic role of the churches.
Building strong communities and the foundations of a welfare state, by caring for the poor and the vulnerable.
Helping to instil an outstanding intellectual and moral education through the schooling system.
Speaking for so long as the conscience of the nation.
And, through the work of the Christian missions, educating and helping to advance some of the poorest parts of the world - and bringing a sense of wider global responsibility home to many Scots.
Enduring Scottish values
That solid moral foundation, centuries old, has also fused with the fundamental values of the Scottish mind and the Scottish heart.
A philosophical and scientific tradition that found powerful expression in the Enlightenment, and pertains to this day.
And a set of enduring values. Values which are expressed so well , perhaps best of all, in the four words engraved on the Scottish Mace. Wisdom. Justice. Compassion. Integrity.
These are values that I believe are as strong as ever in our society. Because they are embodied in the basic civic institutions of the modern Scotland - in our faith groups and churches, in our charities and voluntary organisations, in our schools and universities, in our trade unions, in our government.
They are values that have always prevailed in Scotland, that we have always recognised.
And values that found powerful, moving expression in the words and songs of Robert Burns.
I know full well that Burns was never the chosen son of all of Scotland's religious community. He had, for example, an at best ambivalent relationship with The Kirk. And unlike us, he spoke and wrote of ideals and standards that his own actions did not always match.
But knowing that your organisation was the first anywhere in the world to host an inter-faith Burns Supper, I do feel on slightly safer ground invoking his name!
Because you know, as I do, that for all his faults, Burns sensed and articulated the universality of justice, of compassion, of truth.
He helped to define the aspirations and ideals of the people of his time. And he spoke with a simplicity and a basic humanity - an empathy - that resonates today.
That is why, in three short days - 250 years to the day since Burns' birth - we will begin a year-long Homecoming celebration all across Scotland. Inviting every Scot and friend of Scotland worldwide to come to these shores - to share our spirit and our culture and to take pride in the modern and confident nation we are today.
Scotland's faith communities
Scotland is indeed, every day, growing in diversity, creativity and strength. We are a nation of some five million people, bringing together so many languages, cultures and faiths.
The most recent Census, in 2001, found that around two-thirds of our citizens were members of a particular faith. As a Presbyterian I personally stand among the three million Christians in this country. And as First Minister of Scotland, I am proud to see growing strength in other faiths - a hundred thousand of our citizens today, and we hope many more in the future.
I have always held that is this growing diversity, this ever more intricate tartan, that gives the modern Scotland its strength and its vigour.
And the same welcome trend places ever greater importance on your mission - our shared mission - to build deep and lasting respect among the faiths. Gandhi said: "my effort should never be to undermine another's faith but to make him a better follower of his own faith."
The leaders of our faith communities often express most clearly the nature of faith itself, and what unites the different religious communities of the world.
The Chief Rabbi, Sir Jonathan Sacks, delivered the Gifford Lecture here in Edinburgh in November. He spoke movingly on why, alongside scientific advance and globalisation, faith remains strong. Why we as humans will always retain empathy and hope, and keep in our heart the desire to help others.
The Dalai Lama said: "My religion is very simple. My religion is kindness."
Ultimately that is the message - that is the core of all faiths - and of all religious teachings.
The work of Edinburgh Interfaith Association
The approach of Edinburgh Inter-Faith Association is in full accord. And Scotland's government is grateful for your work to build mutual appreciation among the faiths and a better understanding of the broad common ground - the golden rules - that unite the core of our beliefs.
I know that this year's Inter-Faith Week was the biggest and best yet, with the excellent 'Identity' exhibition - by young Sikh and Muslim men - one of its highlights. I am delighted that the Scottish Government was able to provide its financial support to these activities.
We see the courage and leadership you are showing in other, vital areas - by helping to advance the dialogue in Scotland following the very welcome global 'call' by Muslim scholars to Christian leaders.
And, equally, through the Association's close involvement with Edinburgh City Council's Holocaust Memorial Day. In a profound gesture of solidarity, the Day will be commemorated next Monday at a service at St Thomas Aquinas High School.
Building cohesion among Scotland's faiths
Each of us here today is part of a coalition across Scotland that seeks to build respect and understanding for all our people and our faiths.
We know that there is much yet to do - but we are making progress.
The issue of sectarianism continues to divide some communities.
Football has been a focal point for these tensions, but it goes wider. That is why we are strengthening the partnership within Scottish society
Sense over Sectarianism is a focal point for this work - bringing together Rangers and Celtic football clubs, the charity Nil By Mouth, Glasgow City Council and leaders from the Church of Scotland and the Catholic church.
The Scottish Government is firmly behind this partnership, providing £413,000 over a three year period to support its work.
And more widely we are working with and supporting the police, schools, churches, youth groups and others to put an end to sectarianism in Scotland.
There is no doubt about the strength of our shared resolve, and our will to succeed.
Tackling Islamophobia in Scotland
We must take the same, zero-tolerance approach to any sign of Islamophobia in Scotland.
Some aspects of public attitudes in Scotland have given cause for concern. One official survey showed a growing view that Scotland might lose its identity if more Muslims came to this country.
Let me say clearly that this view is without foundation. And it is flatly contradicted by a 2006 survey by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, showing that young Pakistanis, and indeed young Indians, are even more proud of their Scottish identity than their white compatriots.
The story of Scotland's long, fruitful relationship with Islam - fourteen centuries of history - was recently documented by Bashir Maan in his new book, 'The Thistle and the Crescent'. And we should take pride that the contribution of Scotland's Muslim community continues to grow.
At the end of last year, for example, I attended the launch of the Strathclyde Muslim Police Association, Scotland's first, and a big step forward for our communities.
The Show Racism the Red Card campaign against Islamophobia is a further important move. The campaign DVD was launched in December with leaders from across the Scottish Parliament - and I am very pleased that it will be made available to all of Scotland's schools.
Contribution of Scotland's faith groups
There is of course a huge role for Scotland's faith groups and our Inter-Faith partnerships to challenge prejudice of any sort, and in its place to sow seeds of respect and understanding.
I and my colleagues in government know just how much Scotland's faith groups can contribute to advancing Scottish society. Your insights and your perspectives are invaluable.
That is why last year we founded the Working Group on Religion and Belief Relations, to bring together important partners and to harness the immense goodwill that is shared by all of Scotland's faith groups.
The Working Group has been tasked with preparing a new Scottish framework for religion and belief. And when it reports this summer, my Ministers and I will be keen to see and to act on its recommendations.
Reflecting the values of the modern Scotland
I regard it as a clear strength of Scotland's Parliament and our government that there are such close links to faith groups, and to inter-faith organisations across the country.
I do not doubt that the conduct of our Parliament benefits by debate and challenge from our religious leaders, and that that influence also keeps the moral compass of Scotland's polity rightly aligned.
I spoke earlier of the values inscribed on The Mace. Those core Scottish values of wisdom, justice, compassion and integrity.
In its first decade, our Parliament has already borne out these values - and I believe in increasing measure as it has grown in stature.
Over the years we have seen the expression of a distinctive Scottish ethic, with decisions of symbolic and substantive weight on areas such as land reform, tuition fees and free personal care.
The government in which I serve also seek to embody those values of The Mace - in our policies, in our words, in all our work.
Indeed we have sought to deepen these influences. By restoring the historic right to free education in Scotland, as one of our first acts in government.
By creating a framework for the early years, so that all our children can have the best possible start.
By taking tough and necessary action to combat the harm that alcohol, drugs and tobacco cause to individuals and to society as a whole.
By helping to even out inequalities in health care and life chances across our country. By working to reduce poverty, especially fuel poverty, nationwide.
And, at home and internationally, taking on responsibility for safeguarding our environment and fighting harmful climate change.
The National Conversation
The Scottish Government is observing our social democratic contract with the people. We are guided by the core values of our democracy and our society.
But as we all know, there is a new and distinctive aspect to this government. Our aim and our mission to deliver profound constitutional change, to set Scotland free.
We have always been clear that such constitutional change is not an end in itself. It is the beginning, not the end of a journey. And the responsibility that comes with independence is greater than that of a nation under devolution.
But with that responsibility comes the freedom to make major, positive choices for the future.
Choices on vital issues such as defence, where an independent Scotland could be a nuclear-free Scotland.
On international development and peacekeeping, where Scotland could play a much larger, positive role, matching the efforts our neighbours in Ireland and the Nordic countries.
On justice and home affairs, where Scotland would be free to pursue a humane policy on asylum and to welcome greater migration and new communities to our shores.
On the economy, of course, the ability - particularly in difficult times - to make the necessary changes in taxation and spending to protect our most vulnerable families and households.
And, concerning the constitution itself, the freedom to repeal the discriminatory provisions of the Act of Settlement, which entrench a completely outdated hierarchy of faiths and have no place in a civilised nation.
In December 1999, within months of its reopening, the Scottish Parliament passed unanimously a motion to abolish the Act of Settlement.
Therefore I welcome the Justice Secretary, Jack Straw's recent signal that he is looking to reform the Act. The Scottish Government will assist these efforts in any way that we can.
However I also understand that the Justice Secretary is content to wait until the next UK Parliament before presenting legislation.
Better in those circumstances, some might argue, for Scotland to have the power to effect change for ourselves!
These are the major issues - the constitution, the economy, defence and security, and justice and home affairs - where Scotland, for all the talent and aspiration of our people, is largely without a voice and without a stake.
The National Conversation that we have launched seeks expressly to advance that debate.
It is a conversation for all of Scotland. And as one of the pillars of Scottish society, our vital civic institutions, Scotland's faith communities have a privileged seat and an authoritative voice in these discussions.
Conclusion
It is our shared aim to build a Scotland that is peaceful, positive, diverse, creative, compassionate.
Together we are already doing much to help achieve that vision. Each of you, in the faith communities you serve, is helping your neighbours day-by-day to achieve their own lives, to pursue their won spiritual journey.
And together, as a community of faiths, you help to embody and sustain the most cherished values in our society.
I believe in the tremendous power of our people and this nation. In our ability to be an even greater moral community, an ever more powerful and positive force for change - at home and across the world.
It is in our diversity, and our understanding and celebration of that diversity, that the future of Scotland lies.
Your work and your teachings show the way to that understanding, to that brighter, better vision of Scotland.
So let me thank you all - in this Association and beyond - for your dedication and your sacrifice.
And let us look forward to building a new Scotland, founded on a new and stronger community of faith.