Anti-Catholic bigots blamed by Cardinal
Nov 29, 2006
Cardinal Keith O'Brien has blamed "blatant anti-catholicism" for most of Scotland's racially-aggravated crime.
(Evening Times, 28/11/06) Cardinal Keith O'Brien claimed Catholics were five times as likely to be victims of religiously-aggravated crime.
And he "questioned the wisdom of numerous high-profile initiatives focusing on football clubs" as most cases do not relate to football.
His comments came as Executive figures showed an 80% rise in reports for religious hate crimes between 2004 and 2005.
More than half took place in Glasgow, with Lanarkshire the second worst area.
The report focused on 726 charges - mostly breaches of the peace - between January 1, 2004, and June 30, 2005, which were considered to include "religious aggravation".
From January to June 2005, there were 234 cases, compared to 130 the previous year - an 80% rise.
Between January 2004 and June 2005, 92% of
635 accused people were male, with the majority aged between 21 and 40.
Most offences - 28% - took place in the street, followed by 19% in football grounds, and 15% in residential areas.
Just under a third of cases - 174 - were linked to football with 64 related to parades.
Almost half of the cases involved alcohol.
One hundred incidents took place in a football stadium - including 63 in Celtic Park, 25 at Ibrox, and 11 at Hampden.
In the majority of cases - 68% - the conduct of the accused was viewed as derogatory to Roman Catholics, while 31% was anti-Protestant.
Justice Minister Cathy Jamieson said: "We can see crimes motivated by bigotry and religious intolerance are not only being punished, but they are being publicly recorded as the disgrace they are.
"Bigots and bullies have no place in Scotland."
But the Cardinal said "I am forced to question the wisdom of numerous high profile initiatives focusing on football clubs or the constant marginalisation of sectarianism in Scotland as little more than drink-fuelled, post-match rivalry."
"It is not, poverty, alcohol or football which underpins most cases of religiously aggravated crime in Scotland, but blatant anti-Catholicism."
The Cardinal's argument that Catholics are five times more vulnerable are based on calculations which show there were 11.76 "abuses" per 100,0000 of the Catholic population, compared to 2.32 "abuses" per 100,000 of the Protestant population.
Anti-Catholic bigots blamed by Cardinal