Monday, August 28, 2006

Polish Footballer Disciplined By Scots for Making Sign of Cross
Court decision made no distinctions between obscene gestures and
religious blessings
By Peter J. Smith

GLASGOW, Scotland, August 28, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Scottish authorities
have cautioned a Catholic goalkeeper for making the sign of the cross at a football
match, saying the blessing with his other gestures constituted a “breach of the
peace”.

According to the Crown Office, the goalkeeper of Celtic, Artur Boruc, gave three
gestures, which incensed the home crowd of the opposing Rangers during a
heated Old Firm match at Ibrox stadium in Glasgow. Artur Boruc, gave a “V”
for victory and an obscene gesture toward the crowd; however the crowd also
complained about Boruc’s crossing himself at the start of the second half of the
February 12 match.

After an investigation, the Fiscal Procurator declined to take the case to court,
but gave Boruc a caution, giving the Polish goalkeeper a criminal record.

A Crown Office spokesman insisted to the Sunday Herald that “It is not the fact
he is crossing himself … It was his behavior as a whole that we took into account.”

The spokesman said the Crown Office wanted to emphasize that the caution was
meant to warn Boruc that “gesticulating at and incensing the crowd at a football
match amounted to the offence of breach of the peace and was unacceptable.”

The Sunday Herald reports Boruc has made the sign of the cross before every
game and the start of the second half since he began his professional career.

The decision has upset both leaders and politicians because it appears that the
Fiscal Procurator made no distinctions between obscene gestures and religious
blessings.

Church spokesman Peter Kearney found the decision "alarming" and said, "It is
extremely regrettable that Scotland seems to have made itself one of the few
countries in the world where this simply religious gesture is considered an
offence."

According to the Sunday Herald, the Catholic Church is seeking the Crown Office
to clarify “whether or not it deems the sign of the cross to be an offensive action
which is the equivalent of gratuitous hand gestures”.

“This is not simply a Catholic issue but a human rights issue,” said a spokesman
for the Church. “Freedom of religion is part of the UN Declaration on Human
Rights and the European Convention on Human Rights.”

Alex Salmond MP, leader of the Scottish Nationalist Party, reviled the caution as
“ludicrous” and wrote a public letter to the Lord Advocate demanding a clarification.

"This now requires urgent clarity otherwise we will be left with the unacceptable
and unsatisfactory impression that in Scotland expressions of faith become a
matter for the criminal justice system.

Salmond added, “I want a full explanation and immediate clarity from the Crown
Office on this matter and the assurance that something as personal as a blessing
does not get treated in the same way as gestures and taunts."

http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2006/aug/06082806.html

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