THE Free Presbyterian Church has entered the independence debate to declare the Union forever sacrosanct.
The church, which has 41 congregations in Scotland, said that Roman Catholicism would be greatly strengthened on separation and that independence would mean worryingly closer ties with Europe.
It said: "The Synod is of the view that the Treaty of Union is inviolable and cannot be lawfully overturned in all time coming and is a fundamental guarantee of the civil and religious liberties of the people of Scotland which cannot be tampered with except at great peril to our spiritual and temporal welfare." Spokesman, the Rev Allan MacColl, minister in Ness on Lewis, wrote a paper on the subject. He says it is clear that if Scotland became independent, its new constitution would be secular. He said: "While Britain is undoubtedly a most ungodly society, our constitution is still firmly Christian and Protestant, and we believe that simple fact may be a means of hindering greater evils from coming upon us than already have."
An SNP spokesman said: "While we strongly disagree with such sentiments, we respect the right of people and institutions across Scottish society to make their views known."
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