Why is faith a disadvantage in British politics, while in the US it’s the other way round?
by Harry Farley, Christian Today:
Liberal Democrat leader Tim Farron headed to Lewes today desperately praying his faith will not make headlines for the rest of this election campaign.
It is nearly a week since he was cowed into admitting, finally and reluctantly, that he did not think gay sex was a sin.
And with that pained and uncomfortable BBC interview, he will hope the issue has been put to bed and the tricky issue of his evangelical Christian faith doesn’t raise its ugly head again.
Out of all the interesting discussion points that arose from the debate, not once was it suggested that Tim Farron’s faith might be a good and positive thing.
Instead his widely known Christian commitment was decidedly unhelpful for him. Even Farron himself seemed slightly embarrassed by it.
‘I take the view as a political leader I am quite careful about how I talk about my faith,’ he said.
‘I don’t bang on about it.’
He added: ‘I don’t think people want political party leaders saying what is and isn’t a sin.’
The contrast with the US is stark.
Only last week the story emerged of how Donald Trump’s cabinet meets for a one-hour Bible study with a right-wing pastor every week. Republican Christians hailed the move in particular and were gleeful ‘their man’ was putting time with God front and centre of his schedule.
Whereas in the US faith is generally respected in politicians, in the UK it is barely tolerated.
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