A RELIGIOUS leader has warned against quitting the EU after claiming the institution has "successfully replaced bombs with bureaucrats".
The Rev Dr Richard Frazer, convener of the Church and Society Council of the Church of Scotland, said the union was "not perfect" but that walking away would be a "denial" of Britain’s global humanitarian and moral values.
He added that it was "simply wrong and a denial of our history" to believe that the challenge of immigration and the refugee catastrophe was someone else’s problem and a Leave vote on June 23 would not address it.
He said: "The European project is far from perfect, but in as much as it has successfully replaced bombs with bureaucrats it has enabled European citizens to enjoy unprecedented peace, stability and opportunity since the Second World War.
"The issues we face are ones that, we have in part made for ourselves and, remaining within the EU, we have the influence to be part of the solution rather than simply standing in the wings and laying the blame with the “other."
"To walk away would be a denial of the very humanitarian and moral values for which we stand as an active participant in global civil society. In this global world, there is no ‘them’ and us, only ‘us’."
Read more: Economic argument will clinch victory for Remain, says Lord Darling
The minister at Greyfriars Kirk in Edinburgh, said one of the most common human characteristics is to blame other people for misfortune – drawing parallels with the story of Adam and Eve.
"In their case, they blamed the snake for tempting them to eat forbidden fruit," he added. "In the case of those advocating an exit from the EU, it is common to hear people blame faceless bureaucrats in Brussels or a mighty onslaught of foreigners waiting at our borders to overrun our way of life."
Read more: Michael Gove - Brexit offers the chance to take back control of our own borders
Last month the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland reaffirmed its support for the European Union - a position it has held for 20 years.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel