THE PRESS SATURDAY, MARCH 4, 1978. The Church and the State

Press, 4 March 1978, Page 14

THE PRESS SATURDAY, MARCH 4, 1978. The Church and the State

IF the 11 Roman Catholic members of Parliament who voted for the Birch amendment to the Contraception, Sterilisation and Abortion Bill had voted against the amendment it would have been lost. The same could be said, of course, of any 11 of the other 33 members who voted for the amendment; but none of the non-Roman Catholic members had been subjected to the same pressures by a body to which they owed a higher allegiance than to their voters. The demands made on Roman Catholic members of Parliament by their church on the emotive issue of abortion justify, in our view, our unprecedented inquiry into the religious affiliations of members. The Roman Catholic Church will, no doubt, maintain that any State legislation on abortion is a matter of conscience on which every member of that faith will expect guidance from his (or her) church The non-Roman Catholic majority of the population, however, will see that church’s stand on abortion as religious intervention in politics. In a nominallv Christian society, in a State with no established religion, religious interference in politics will be resisted bv the majority If any religious denomination enters into politics, it must expect its adherents who are legislators to be identified as such

There is. of course, nothing improper about an attempt by a religious denomination to change the laws of the land: but. just as a member of Parliament who is a farmer or an importer

will expect to be identified as such when urging a measure in the interests of farmers or importers, so should a Roman Catholic. And, like any other pressure group, the Roman Catholic Church should expect its political activities to attract the same attention from journalists as those of. say. the Cham bers of Commerce or the Federation of Labour.

“The Press” does not make a practice of prying into the private lives of politicians and other public figures A public figure is entitled, like any other citizen, to his privacy: only when his conduct or his views may affect the performance of his public duty should he be subjected to the probing of journalists into his private life. In our view, the strong stand taken by the Roman Catholic Church was of such importance in the abortion issue that the religious affiliations of members should have been made known to the electorate before the crucial debate in the House on December 13 and 14 last year. On the principle of “better late than never,” we publish today the religious affiliations of all those who responded to our circular letter (and of several of those who did not. respond) To those members who were embarrassed by our inquiry

we express our regret — and suggest that their resentment should more properly be directed against the Roman Catholic Church which provoked the inquiry.