Iris Robinson: it’s Government’s duty to uphold God’s law
Friday, 18 July 2008
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The DUP’s Iris Robinson last night stoked more political fury after saying she believes the duty of government is to “uphold God's law”.
The remarks by the wife of Northern Ireland’s First Minister Peter Robinson have led other parties to deny that religion and politics mix in local government.
The row erupted after comments by the DUP chair of the Assembly Health Committee during a debate on abortion, sparked by a column in the Belfast Telegraph by Eamonn McCann.
Mrs Robinson had a heated exchange with Mr McCann on the BBC’s Stephen Nolan Show after the columnist objected to women in Northern Ireland being singled out in abortion law.
The Strangford MP strongly disagreed and said: “The government has a responsibility to uphold God’s laws morally.”
The comment sparked a huge reaction from listeners.
This is the second time within a number of weeks that remarks made by the Strangford MP have led to controversy.
In June, Mrs Robinson described homosexuality as an “abomination” and suggested gay people could be “turned” hetrosexual with psychiatric help.
PUP leader Dawn Purvis said that while Mrs Robinson is entitled to her views, she respects the principle that religion should be excluded from day-to-day politics.
“If we look at the mix of religion and politics across the world and even in relation to Northern Ireland, politics and religion don’t mix very well,” she said.
“There are good Christian principals that are reflected in our policies but that’s not to say we want to take a step backwards and have government uphold ‘God’s law’.
“We are trying to create a modern society that upholds fundamental freedoms and human rights and interpretation of the Bible would probably go against that.
“But my view would be we have the complete separation of church and state in order to protect people and provide services for people.”
The Alliance Party branded Mrs Robinson’s comments as “yet another embarrassing gaffe”.
Stephen Farry, MLA for North Down, said: “At a time when Northern Ireland is trying to project a modern, progressive image to the rest of the world, it is bizarre for a senior politician from a party in government to say something like this. . .
“But the role of government is to represent the interests of society as a whole, and to protect the rights of every human being.
“As far as possible, there should be a separation between church and state.
“We must recognise that there are radically different interpretations of the Bible, never mind the current reality of a multi-cultural and multi-faith society.”.
Eamonn McCann said Mrs Robinson’s remarks should lead to the Assembly questioning her position in the Health Committee.
“A person who believes what Mrs Robinson said cannot represent all citizens,” he said.
“Also when somebody says they are guided in politics by God, they can’t be a democrat because to go against them is to go against God.
“So very, very serious and fundamental issues are raised by what Mrs Robinson said.”
Mr McCann added: “The Assembly and the Health Committee are going to have to face up to the implications of this and decide what to do.”
The Belfast Telegraph contacted the DUP but the party refused to comment.
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65 Comments
First off let me say that i really like your site www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk a lot
now.. back on topic hehe
I cant say that im 100% with what you wrote... care to explain deeper?
Posted by christian | 25.08.08, 05:54 GMT
How can professing hatred and promoting discrimination against law abiding citizens "uphold God's law"?
Yes I do agree, very strongly, with the right to free speech. However, Iris Robinson is an elected MP and it is her public duty to choose her words carefully and responsibly. Iris Robinson appears to have forgotten that it is also basic human right to live without the threat of being harmed in any way. This goal is very difficult to achieve if we have MP's who encourage bullying, hatred and harmful/discriminative views against sections of our society.
Posted by Caroline Butchers | 08.08.08, 02:23 GMT
Mrs Iris Robinson has no authority to uphold her belief in the supernatural with the business of govermnment.
Her mixing up of selective reading of religious dogma with politics marks a dangerous precedent as almost any human prejudice will find endorsement in the scriptures she devoutly follows.
Why does she not live her life according to every single line of The Old Testament? Including rape, the murder of infants, the mutilation of limbs, genocide, racism, misogyny, all in the name of the Lord?
Her claim that her friend Dr Paul Miller can "cure" homosexuality is offensive and fraudulent.
My father, Dr Rodney Wilkins was a psychiatrist and Senior Principal Medical Officer and he always maintained that pseudo-psychiatric "cures" for homosexuality were pointless, ineffective and ultimately dangerous to the individual involved.
Guy Wilkins
Posted by Guy Wilkins | 02.08.08, 16:33 GMT
I BELIEVE THAT IT IS THE GOVERNMENT DUTY TO UPHOLD GOD LAWS. I SUPPORT MRS IRIS ROBINSON MP FULLY. I THANK YOU FOR YOUR COURAGE, YOU HAVE DONE MORE GOOD FOR NORTHERN IRELAND THAN SOME CHURCH LEADERS. THE BIBLE IS GOD WORD IN ALL MORAL AND CHRISTIANS VALUES. WE DO NOT HAVE TO BE SUBJECTED TO GAYS RULES OR LAWS, WE HAVE TO MAKE UP OUR OWN MINES AND GOD LAWS IS CORRECT, FREEDOM OF SPEACH IS ALSO OUR RIGHT.
Posted by patricia ohare, newry | 26.07.08, 02:26 GMT
I OPPOSE ABORTION BEING LEGALISED IN NORTHERN IRELAND. MORE SUPPORT FOR PREGNANT MOTHERS AND IF NEEDED FINANCES MADE AVAILABLE. I SUPPORT MRS IRIS ROBINSON THAT THE GOVERNMENT PROTECTS THE UNBORN CHILD FROM MOMENT OF CONCEPTION. AND UPHOLDS THE WORD OF GOD. THEREFOR THE HOLY BIBLE GUIDELINES ARE CLEAR IN HIS WORD. ON MORALS, AND VALUES.
JOAN OHARE
Posted by JOAN OHARE | 25.07.08, 22:31 GMT
Iris is right on this one. And I'm a Catholic Nationalist-so work that one out so called Nationalist politicians.
Posted by Ellen | 25.07.08, 20:53 GMT
well done iris for your bravery . a lone voice in a society where it is ok to hold and express any views and lifestyles and impose them on others-yes even 5 yr old children, but let a christian voice be heard and you will be removed from parliament! the voices of church leaders are remarkably silent on most of these issues, so thank god for your courage and will pray that your views are heard.may god bless you
Posted by patricia m sammon | 25.07.08, 18:25 GMT
Dear Mrs Robinson,
I am very much saddened by much of what I have seen in the media with regards to your comments on homosexuals. I simply fail to understand how your recent comments can serve to spread what I consider to be the number one Christian teaching of tolerance. I would ask that you reassess your words in order that they take into consideration a more tolerate electorate than you perhaps care to be reminded of.
I have lived outside Northern Ireland for the past 20 years and your comments serve as enough reason for me and many alike to flee the Province!
Posted by a h | 22.07.08, 00:12 GMT
dear john
i believe every one has the right to there opinion but come on iris is small minded and i hate to be rude so do u!!! as u dont have a womb they many you shouldnt be so quick to comment. on something u will never fully understand!! there are women out there who have been beaten and raped and became pregant and they have choose to have a abortion. u dont know how that would feel. who u be so quick to look down ur nose it u wife,sister,daugher was in this situation!!!!!
god should not be use as a blackmailing tool to make people feel guilty. if u feel it is wrong that fair enough but to those who are pro choice and have had a abortion then stand by wat u beleive and dont let old men who have no understanding of the situation like john here to made to feel like a common criminal.
Posted by rachel | 20.07.08, 16:40 GMT
She needs psychiatric help herself and some additional study of the Bible, as she's selecting what should be enforced and what not to suit her (political) needs.
Indeed, if it were for that book - Pandora's Book in my opinion - she, as a woman, would be still cooking in her kitchen for her many many children, saying "yes, Sir" to her husband every now and again. According to the bible if a woman's husband happens to be a drunk and/or a violent, well, she'd have to put up with it because she's an 'inferior being' who has to obey, as the Bible says and Tradition supported for hundreds of years. And forget divorce, of course.
She should thank the liberals for her social position, but I doubt she will ever realise that.
Sorry for my imperfect English, I am Italian and people like this are rampant in my country. Please keep them at bay because they will do no good to modern society. They will drag you back to the Middle Ages.
Posted by Toptone | 20.07.08, 11:27 GMT
What an embarrassment to Northern Ireland Mrs Iris Robinson is
shame on her and shame on anyone who supports her holier than thou attitude.Depending on what God you believe in and what country you live in if that goverment upheld Gods law`s you could be flogged in the street have your hands chopped off or be hanged from public gallows.In this day and age in a so called democratic country religion and politics should not mix,no goverment should take religious responsibility for it`s citizens that is up to the individual.
I left Northern Ireland thirteen years ago to live in Australia as I feared for the future of my ten year old daughter.As the sister of a gay man I have seen first hand the hurt that uneducated and biased people can do to other human beings and I didn`t want my child to live in that environment.This was the right decision for my gay daughter and her sister as the biggots are still there but sadly had to pay the price by leaving close family and a place I loved.
Posted by Angela Kane | 19.07.08, 18:09 GMT
There's a great word in the German language called "Steilvorlage" of which there is no adequate equivalent in English. This is a soccer term originally and has the meaning "the steep pass or pass forward" that sets up the goal, the glory and the publicity for the recipient. So all of us liberals got our Steilvorlage from Iris Robinson two days ago. There are, however, thorny aspects to the abortion question that merit serious debate, if anything does. Here in Germany abortion was quasi-legalized in a restricted way with all kinds of procedural moral fig leaves and assurances that this was the furthest things would go. A few years down the line there is already talk about relaxing the laws about late abortions. In hindsight, the original legalization has revealed itself to be the result of the time-honoured disingenuous thin-edge-of-the-wedge tactic. As liberals we pride ourselves on our facility to discuss any topic without embarassment or tabu, but how man
Posted by Desmond Trellace | 19.07.08, 17:24 GMT
Sorry madam, creak open your chapel doors and look out at the world of 2008 - the country is no longer the gloomy, grey, fascist misery of a place under the heel of a "loving" god and "his" pyschopathic interpreters.
Your god-laws are fine for you god-people, but leave the rest of us alone - most of us have been to secondary school.
Posted by KJN | 19.07.08, 11:54 GMT
The nonsense just keeps on coming..'This nation was great when God's Word was its foundation and guide for life. If we continue to progress down the liberal path and give the people what they want, what will be next, the legalising of Paedophilia, open sex in the streets, more children murdered? '
Oh really John?. You have accurately described life in the streets and gin palaces of England at the height of the Empire....Go read some social history about life for the poor, especially children, before they had legal protection. Child labour, child prostitution and child abuse and murder were all legal before those nasty liberals had their way. (not to mention sex in the street - referred to as a 'leg trembler' in Victorian London). Ironically many of those liberals who were condemned for their 'do gooder' demands for change were Quakers! (you do consider them Christians John?)
PS. Have you ever read any Charles Dickens? Do give it a go, you are clearly missing something.
Posted by our wee country? | 19.07.08, 11:26 GMT
This nation was great when God's Word was its foundation and guide for life.
If we continue to progress down the liberal path and give the people what they want, what will be next, the legalising of Paedophilia, open sex in the streets, more children murdered?
It's time those who had no voice are heard, like the hundres of thousands of unborn children ripped from their mothers wombs in the name of 'choice'.
Good on your Iris. God will honour those who honour him.
Posted by John | 19.07.08, 09:09 GMT
Iris Seems to be at odds with Mr Poots, her party member and fellow Christian, when in the Telegraph article
DUP minister faces Gay Pride grant row
By David Gordon
Wednesday, 2 May 2007
Mr Poots said it was NIEC's responsibility to allocate its money.
"There are laws in this country and they have to be observed, whether we like them or not," he said.
"I don't think it would be wise for a minister to go in and not observe those laws."
Is this a rift in the DUP ?
Posted by anotherbenson | 19.07.08, 02:07 GMT
She and her ilk will take Northern Ireland back to the Dark Ages. Look at the damage done by the socalled religious right in the USA! I thought N. Ireland was making some progress,but with people like Ms.Robinson in power it is only another step back. Maybe people will wise up and vote for someone with a greater understanding of the human condition.
Posted by RMS | 19.07.08, 01:00 GMT
Iris my dear, I do believe you are losing the plot!
Posted by Ian Millar | 19.07.08, 00:32 GMT
listened to nolan prog here in kansas on the net..
absolutely appaled at the remarks by this woman--what right has she to tell people that gods law has to be upheld by MP,S
Is this country EVER gonna be free from religious zealots? I mean folk have a right to believe in what they want but surely when it comes to voting a democracy in to parliament to look after social /health/economics affairs religion is out the window as a guide because it bears no day to day influence in a n MP'S decision
On the downside i have to say that voting in N.Ireland bears a somewhat share of the blame for this as it has been a religious thing as long as I can remember..
Posted by billy hughes | 19.07.08, 00:22 GMT
She is entitled to her opinion, but then she has to respect that the rest of society is also entitled to their opinion.
If she wants to live the way people lived in Biblical times, she shouldn't be working - in those days women were home-makers and not politicians.
With people like her here, no wonder many view us in Northern Ireland as "backwards" and primitive!
Posted by seanf | 19.07.08, 00:16 GMT
65 Comments