A Scottish Catholic bishop has criticised Prime Minister David Cameron (pictured) for surrounding 
himself with religiously illiterate, secularist advisers.
The Bishop of Motherwell, Joseph Devine, said the coalition’s attitude was a continuation of that of previous Labour Government, which forced people to act against their conscience or face punishment from the state.
The Bishop likened Britain to a country that has “passed into the grip of secularist militants”.
The Bishop wrote about Mr Cameron: “It would appear his priority up until now has been to have an exchange of ideas with more liberal and radical minorities, including sexual minorities.
“It would appear that those immediately surrounding and advising the prime minister, and perhaps Mr Cameron himself, are not religiously literate and simply have no reference to religious sensibilities”.
And, hitting out at the previous Labour Government and the Coalition, the Bishop said they were both effectively saying: “‘Go against your consciences or the state will punish you with all the sanctions of the law’”.
Bishop Devine also wrote: “The parliamentary process no longer appears to represent the mind of the electorate, nor reflects the moral concerns of a substantial majority of the population.”
He continued: “Clearly there is a major problem of political leadership in Britain.
“The political class seems incapable of navigating a moral course because it is no longer sure in what – if anything – it still believes”.
Commenting on the Bishop’s words, the Scottish Daily Mail said in an editorial, “Bishop Devine speaks for the silent majority who are increasingly alienated by the trendy posturing of Government and the moral anarchy it has promoted in order to secure the plaudits of a small clique of metropolitan liberals”.
His words came after remarks made last year by Cardinal Keith O’Brien, who was scornful of a suggestion by Labour MP Jim Murphy to suggest that Labour was the natural home of Scottish Catholics.
In response, Cardinal O’Brien said that the Labour Government had undertaken “a systematic and unrelenting attack on family values”.
Cardinal O’Brien added: ”When introducing legislation to permit experimentation on and destruction of human embryos the objections of the Church and other faiths were ignored.
”When introducing legislation to permit civil partnerships and same-sex adoption, the objections of the Church and other faiths were ignored. In refusing to tackle the soaring toll of abortions, the views of the Church and other faiths were ignored.
”Most recently, in advancing legislation which would completely and permanently undermine religious freedom, this Government has taken no note whatsoever of the concerns of people of faith,” he said.