Twenty years ago, in August 1999, I made a speech at the Edinburgh International Festival called “Scotland’s Shame” arguing that anti-Catholicism was a barrier to genuine pluralism. At the time it seemed to cause a bit of a stir. But looking back, it seems more like a storm in a teacup.
There were many voices raised at the time, and in the months and years afterwards, which illustrated the potency of the topic in Scottish debate. Some held the view, similar to mine at the time, that there was an issue here that needed to be addressed. Others claimed it wasn’t much of a problem and that anti-Catholic feeling was fading away. “Experts” lined up on both sides of the argument – sociologists, politicians, journalists, historians, clergy, writers – and the Scottish media seemed to be full of it for a long while.
