Scottish MP says she left her party after being 'unwelcome as a Christian'
Scottish MP Dr Lisa Cameron shared on BBC Radio 4’s Woman’s Hour how she had felt marginalised in the Scottish National Party (SNP) because of her Christian faith and pressured to vote against her convictions. Now defected to the Conservative Party, Dr Cameron voted against the 2020 new abortion regime for Northern Ireland and disagreed with bills which sought to legalise assisted suicide in England and Wales.
Dr Cameron is a member of the Free Church of Scotland. During the interview with BBC Radio, commenting on how her beliefs were seen in the SNP she said:
"You made to feel like, 'yeah you're a Christian but just don't kind of raise it very much, certainly don't fall in line with any of your beliefs.' So, I had voted against abortion regulations previously in the Parliament and that had been another issue that some people in the SNP had said at the time that I shouldn't be able to be selected because of those issues as an MP last time."
As noted by Dr Cameron, she went through similar issues as Kate Forbes, a previous SNP candidate for leadership who was attacked for upholding biblical moral ethics during the SNP leadership contest.
Speaking to The Scotsman, Dr Cameron emphasised how her Christian beliefs made her feel alienated from the party because of her position on the Gender Recognition Bill. "I felt I wasn’t able to have a freedom of religious belief in terms of enacting it. I had to curtail things, because I knew it was going to prompt outrage," she told in the interview.
Source: The Christian Institute; The Scotsman; BBC Radio
Photo: UK Parliament