“Gay
row minister fined over crash that injured pensioner.”
Probably a new low here for the
Herald:
A retired minister, aged 69, was
involved in a serious accident and found guilty of dangerous driving. As the Herald reports it: “A CHURCH of
Scotland minister who opposed a gay man’s appointment as a minister has been
fined £500 and had his licence endorsed after he caused a car crash that left a
pensioner with serious injuries.”
A number of questions need to be
asked here. Is the event newsworthy?
Probably. Is the headline in any way
related to the case? Absolutely
not. It seems that in 2009 the minister
opposed the ordination of the first openly gay minister in a civil partnership
and had the temerity to say at the General Assembly that there was ““a danger
that we will make a decision about homosexuality in the ministry based on the
prevailing culture of our time”.
How in any way does the fact that
a retired minister opposed homosexual conduct mark him out as worthy of
denigration? It is only the fact that
the Herald is engaged in a pro-homosexual propaganda campaign that causes this
particular headline to be written. Why
was the headline not “Bible believing minister who upholds the traditional
Christian ethic on sex and marriage fined over crash that injured pensioner”? Is it now the case that the minority of
Church of Scotland ministers who hold to orthodox theology and ethics are to be
marked out for such contemptuous treatment?
The logical fallacy of
association, or more popularly “guilt by association”, is so basic that any
novice journalist should be aware of it.
However, as with all informal logical fallacies, it can be knowingly
used to tarnish an opponent’s position. This is exactly what the Herald is
trying to do – all ministers who oppose sodomy or homosexual practices in
members of the church are disreputable characters, the kind of characters who
will drive dangerously.
I should make clear that I am
making no comment on the actual issue of the traffic accident, on whether the
driver lost concentration or fell asleep at the wheel. What I am commenting on
is that ministers who hold to a biblical position can now be pejoratively dismissed
in the popular press.
The Herald has not allowed
comment on this article. This may be
because of some legal issue of which I am not aware, or it may be because they
do not wish to have their shoddy journalistic standards exposed.
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