SNP will lose support from people of faith if it embraces assisted suicide, says councillor

 (Photo: Unsplash)

The SNP has been warned that it stands to lose party members of faith if it supports calls to legalise assisted suicide. 

Councillor Chris McEleny told The National that backing assisted suicide was "simply not compatible to the faith based belief systems of many people in Scotland".

McEleny, a Catholic, continued that it would be wrong for the party to take positions on "profound matters of conscience such as euthanasia". 

"Therefore to adopt a party policy position that is incongruous to the beliefs of many party voters would make continued membership of the party not compatible with their faith," he said. 

His comments follow the call this week from Josh Aaron-Mennie, a member of the SNP's National Executive Committee, for a change to the law.

Aaron-Mennie plans to bring forward a motion on assisted suicide to the party's annual conference in October after watching his grandmother suffer at the end of her life.

He said the experience was "unbearable" and that she had been "denied dignity". 

The Scottish Daily Record reports that End of Life Choices, a cross-party group of MSPs, is preparing for a third push in Holyrood to legalise assisted suicide. 

News
Christian lawyers who defended nurses over single-sex changing room celebrate court win
Christian lawyers who defended nurses over single-sex changing room celebrate court win

Andrea Williams, chief executive of the Christian Legal Centre, which supported the nurses, said, "Allowing a man into a female-only space because he claims to be a woman violates human dignity, common sense, the law of the land and  biblical truth."

UK abortion figures reach highest level on record as campaigners urge rethink of current law
UK abortion figures reach highest level on record as campaigners urge rethink of current law

The figures mark the highest annual total since the introduction of the Abortion Act in 1967.

Church of South India stages protest against anti-Christian descrimination
Church of South India stages protest against anti-Christian descrimination

India has dropped a spot on the list of worldwide persecutors, but the situation remains much the same.

Church of England ends Living in Love and Faith process
Church of England ends Living in Love and Faith process

The Church of England's House of Bishops has announced it is bringing the Living in Love and Faith (LLF) process to a close.