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Kenneth Gunn's on-air salvo – what was said
THIS is the transcript of Councillor Kenneth Gunn's phone-in conversation with Graham Stewart on BBC Radio Scotland's Morning Extra news show last Thursday.
Callers were commenting on a controversial exhibit at Glasgow's Gallery of Modern Art, which involved visitors being encouraged to scribble comments in the margins of a Bible. Christian groups had complained of obscene messages.
Graham Stewart: Let's go to Kenneth who's in Selkirk.
Kenneth Gunn: Good morning. No, I don't agree with much that has been said on the programme this morning ... you know, this is supposed to be a Christian country ... and, you know, to deface the Holy Bible is sacrilege, just the same as it is to deface the Holy Koran. I've travelled around quite a bit. I have been in Muslim countries ... these are very, very nice people. They take you round their mosques and explain all there is about Islam and they respect the Almighty; they respect the teachings of their church. In this country we seem to have lost that respect totally.
Graham Stewart: But why should this one book be so protected where many others aren't? Ok, I can accept you are religious and many other people are religious, but what about non-believers, why should they treat the book with such reverance?
Kenneth Gunn: Well, non-believers are damned to hell anyway, so why should we bother? We fought holy wars over the last 4,000 years to protect the Bible and, can I say, to protect the Holy Koran as well. If someone doesn't believe in an Almighty being and thinks that man produced everything on this earth, well they are very arrogant people and, as I say, if they are non-believers, they are damned to hell anyway.
Graham Stewart: But this is just a difference of opinion. OK, you believe that, but others will say you are wrong. You have to live alongside other people and have mutual respect.
Kenneth Gunn: No, I dont think so. Just look where this country has gone over the last 40 or 50 years. When we all went to church on a Sunday morning and we all prayed to the Lord Jesus Christ every Sunday morning, this was a much better country. Look where it is going now. We have got so-called gays who are really very sad people and we have non-believers and heathens, you know, running the country and running down Christianity. It seems that, you know, it's offensive to run down Islam, but it's not an offence to run down Christianity. This is supposed to be a Christian country.
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Thursday 24 May 2012
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