Theresa May sidelines role of faith minister
by Harry Farley, Christian Today:
The government position of faith minister has been quietly minimised in an ongoing trend of minimising the prominence of religion in senior roles.
Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth is the new minister with responsibilities for “faith and integration” after Theresa May became Prime Minister in July.
But far from being a senior government position, Bourne is a junior minister in the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG). Alongside his responsibilities for religion, he also oversees community cohesion, race equality, troubled families, domestic refuges, travellers policy and is in charge of the Syrian Refugees Programme.
But as well as a minister in DCLG, Bourne’s time is split with the Wales Office where he is also Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Wales. A former leader of the Welsh Conservatives, his brief covers responsibilities for energy, environment, defence, local government, localism, education and law and order in Wales.
The thinly spread junior minister symbolises a trend away from placing the faith “brief” with a senior government figure.
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