Social reactionaries on the march?

A worthwhile article in today’s Scotsman by John Haldane, (deep breath) professor of philosophy and the director of the Centre for Ethics, Philosophy and Public Affairs in the department of moral philosophy at the University of St Andrews, elaborates further on the Catholic Church’s present displeasure with Scottish Labour:

A year or so later, with the recent by-election having been called, Bishop Devine returned to his theme: this time, and again in line with other statements by fellow bishops, criticising Labour over the embryo bill. In a letter to all Labour MPs for Scottish constituencies, he wrote of the government as "violating moral law" and "losing ethical credibility" and as having "broken its pact with Christian voters".

Regular readers will be aware that the thought of any religious institution imposing its will in the area of social issues on the UK’s population is an anathema to me; I believe we all born with a personal conscience and it should be it, not the state nor Bishop Devine nor Iris Robinson, which should be our guidance in areas such as abortion and gay rights.
In my opinion, that can be the only moral line followed by any party which declares itself to be both secular and non-sectarian.