Religion and politics
by Henry Hill, Conservative Home:
‘Evidence and reason’ are vitally important, but on the big questions we all rely on faith.
This morning’s Financial Times sports an article about the apparently growing influence of Christian MPs in the Conservative Party, citing the likes of Danny Kruger and Miriam Cates as evidence of its role in the party’s “rightward shift in recent years”.
Whether or not there has actually been such a rightward shift seems to depend on the extent to which one judges the Government by its actions or its vibes. Whilst the party certainly strikes a different tone these days to that it did under David Cameron, in terms of actual policy it’s a hard claim to argue, with both taxes and legal immigration at historic highs.
But perhaps the most interesting claim in the piece was from Steve Baker, who whilst religious “values the UK’s tradition of secular politics”, according to the FT. It quotes him thus: “While my faith is strong, I am absolutely clear all public policy should be justified by evidence and reason.”
This is a very common trope, the idea that politicians should confine their faith to a private sphere but be secular in their policymaking. Indeed, it seems increasingly to be a rule of admission in progressive politics. Consider Tim Farron, who resigned as leader of the Liberal Democrats after finding it difficult to reconcile politics with “remaining faithful to Christ”.
Or more recently, Kate Forbes’ near-successful bid to lead the Scottish National Party, despite her openness about how her political views informed her politics. As I wrote at the time:
Related Posts
Tags
Share This
