Political
Government must uphold God’s law
By Rory Leishman

Hardcopy Issue Date: September 2008
Online Publication Date: Aug 28, 2008, 14:44

Iris Robinson, a British MP based in Northern Ireland, has provoked a storm of controversy, by reaffirming what used to be a commonplace truth -- that government has “the responsibility to uphold God's law.”

Robinson made the remark during a debate on abortion broadcast by BBC Radio Ulster. In explaining her opposition to the legalization of abortion in Northern Ireland, she stated: “Abortion is morally wrong. The government are there to represent the morals of the Scriptures.”

Robinson is no ordinary British MP. Her husband, Peter Robinson, is the First Minister of Northern Ireland, leader of the Democratic Unionist Party, and head of the coalition government for Northern Ireland. Martin McGuiness, the leader of Sinn Fein, is Deputy First Minister.

Like all party leaders in the assembly of Northern Ireland, Robinson and McGuiness are both personally and politically opposed to the legalization of abortion. Nonetheless, McGuiness has taken strong exception to Iris Robinson's contention that government should uphold God's law. He argues: "In the society that we live in now with many newcomers to our shores, and in many democracies throughout the world, we have a situation where many people within society believe in different things and believe in different gods. So what god are we talking about?"

Iris Robinson has made clear that she is talking about the God and Father of Our Lord Jesus Christ – the same God that, according to the 2001 census of Northern Ireland, 86 per cent of the population professes to worship.

Regardless, Iris Robinson maintains, and rightly so, that the laws of God apply not just to Christians, but to all peoples. Sir William Blackstone, the great 18th century, English jurist, took the same view. In his authoritative Commentaries on the Laws of England, he noted that the common law derives its moral authority from the natural law. Blackstone explained: "This law of nature, being co-eval with mankind and dictated by God himself, is of course superior in obligation to any other. It is binding over all the globe, in all countries, and at all times: no human laws are of any validity, if contrary to this; and such of them as are valid derive all their force, and all their authority, mediately or immediately, from this original."

How, though, can we know what the natural law requires? Many people, including some misguided theologians, suppose that reason alone is sufficient. Pope John Paul the Great warned against such folly. In his magisterial encyclical on morality, The Splendour of Truth, he emphasized "the dependence of human reason on Divine Wisdom and the need, given the present state of fallen nature, for Divine Revelation as an effective means for knowing moral truths."

Consider this teaching in relation to the debate over the legalization of so-called same-sex marriages. Most people who back this calamitous innovation in family law rely on reason or feelings alone for their understanding of the difference between what is right and wrong.

Iris Robinson does not. Drawing upon the plain words of Sacred Scripture (see Genesis 19:1-8; Leviticus 18:22; Romans 1:18-32; and 2 Peter 2:6-7; and Jude 7), she believes, and has publicly asserted, that sodomy is an "abomination." And she has also referred homosexuals to a psychiatrist who can help them change their sexual orientation. In response to this well-meant advice, a gay rights activist in Belfast has filed a complaint with the police, accusing her of violating the law on "hate speech."  Meanwhile, First Minister Peter Robinson is standing firmly by his wife. In a recent interview, he told a Belfast newspaper that if the courts find that she has broken the law by "quoting the Bible," then "our society is doomed."

While affirming his opposition "to discrimination of any kind" against homosexuals, Peter Robinson insisted that he is under no obligation to support their way of life. He said, "It seems you can attack Christians in any way you please and they are provided no protection by law, but if you dare say a word about some other groups, then everybody piles on to you as if you have no right to free speech."

Northern Ireland, alas, is not the only country beset by such gross injustice and hypocrisy.