Should I Vote for John McGeechan – Independent?

I visited John McGeechan tonight and enjoyed a tea and blether. He has decided to stand because he is sick of what the traditional parties have served up over the years and wants to be a sort local councillor writ large serving the Airdrie and Shotts constituency. We discussed the same three issues that I discussed with the other candidates. Here we go for the last time….

Sanctity of Life – We discussed the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill and John indicated that he had significant misgivings concerning the creation of human – animal embryo’s and the creation of saviour siblings. He indicated that he believed that human life is precious but also considered that it is not accurate to say that an embryo becomes a human entity immediately upon conception. In relation to abortion he was of the view that the gestational limit needed to be brought down from the current 24 weeks

We also had quite a discussion in relation to assisted suicide and John was aware of the complexity of the issue. He was of the view that there are limited circumstances where assisted suicide might be permissible.

Sanctity of Marriage – John was supportive of the civil partnership legislation and the right of same sex partners to form state recognized partnerships. However, he felt that there was no need for this to be equated with marriage. He was in support of sex education in schools to ‘promote homosexuality as a normal and valid choice’; and he was aware of the complexity of the issues surrounding same sex adoption and fostering. John was cautiously in favour of this.

Religious Liberty – John recognized the difficulties that the Equalities Act 2006 and 2010 posed for faith based groups and considered it ridiculous that faith based organizations could be compelled to appoint people who do not share their faith based beliefs, ethos or values.

We discussed the Westminster Declaration 2010 pledge to, “respect, uphold and protect the right of Christians to hold and express Christian beliefs and act according to Christian conscience.” John was of the view that this was a basic requirement of a democratic and free society and indicated that we would be happy to make that pledge. He also indicated that making the pledge did not constitute an agreement that Christian belief and conscience could be imposed on the larger society.

I would like to express my sincere thanks to John McGeechan for taking the time to chat through these issues with me. It is greatly appreciated.

So there you have it! Five candidates, five perspectives on three crucial issues! The decision is ours! Do please tell people about these five interviews. Get them to come to the blog and read over them and pray over them before voting. God has granted us the privilege of living in a democracy and being able to choose who we want to represent us, so lets make the most of it. That’s all folks!