Why Britain needs Christian politics
by Christopher Rhodes, UnHerd:
Even if the result of the Tory leadership race was never really in doubt, the campaign had some interesting moments. One came when Jeremy Hunt was grilled on his comments that, based on “matters of conscience”, he would prefer a narrowing of the window in which British women could have an abortion.
Hunt’s view seems grounded in his faith – he’s a devout member of the Church of England – but he was quick to clarify that he would not seek to change the existing law.
While he stuck to his principles, Hunt didn’t want to present himself as the “Christian” candidate for No 10. But what if he had? Could Britain, a country synonymous with secularisation and declining church attendance, embrace a politics grounded in religion? If Britain learns from the examples of its political and cultural kin, the US and Europe, the answer could be a strong “yes.”
Forty years ago this summer, American Evangelicals launched the Moral Majority, a religious organisation that put a face to the then-emerging Religious Right, the conservative Christian voting bloc that helped propel Ronald Reagan, George W. Bush and even Donald Trump to office.
The British would hardly tolerate the kind of faith-based politics you see in the United States, where believers have been seeking to use state and national law to implement their ideas on everything from abortion to LGBT rights to prayer in schools. Surveys show that even religious Christian voters in Britain place low emphasis on these types of social issues, focusing instead on economic policies.
But there is an underestimated number of Britons who, I suspect, would be receptive of the type of faith that Hunt suggested; one that respects the separation of Church and State and doesn’t seek to impose sectarian views on society, but a faith-based politics motivated by religious beliefs to seek policies that promote freedom, rights and individual and public welfare.
Related Posts
Tags
Share This
