Dear St Giles’ and St Margaret’s church families,
You may have seen these two gentleman in the news in the last few days. Archbishop Stephen Cottrell criticised Reform UK’s new immigration policy, which includes mass deportation of 600,000 illegal immigrants over a six year term, saying:
We should actively resist the kind of isolationist, short-term, kneejerk – in this case, ‘send them home’. Mr Farage is saying the things he’s saying, but he is not offering any long-term solution to the big issues which are convulsing our world, which lead to this.
In response, Richard Tice said in a TV interview that:
I enjoy the church, I believe in God. But the role of the archbishop is not actually to interfere with international migration policies.
Now, whatever you think either of Reform UK’s policies or the Archbishop’s criticisms of them, the idea that Christian leaders should keep their nose out of politics is one which is often brought up, usually by governments or political parties who are being criticised by said leaders.
But what of Christian involvement in politics in general, on the ground? Are ordinary Christians called to be political? And if so, what kind of politics? All three traditionally dominant political parties have long had official Christian groupings – the Conservative Christian Fellowship; Christians on the Left (formerly the Christian Socialist Movement) and the Liberal Democrat Christian Forum.
Meanwhile, on the more radical side, there are direct action groups like Christian Climate Action (affiliated with Extinction Rebellion), while Reform UK themselves are directly appealing (and with some success, according to reports) to Christian voters.
All of this is simply to point out that you can’t predict the politics of someone solely on the basis of their Christian faith. But in that case, is there anything that local churches can say with one voice about the world of politics? Or is it better for us to “not interfere”?
It is a constant temptation for preachers to assume that it is our role to tell our congregations all about our own views on whatever politicians have been doing or saying this week, but I’m never convinced that’s entirely helpful. Eventually, you might end up with a church community full of people who think the same things as you, which might feel comfortable, but this is the literal definition of “preaching to the converted”
I wonder if it might be more helpful for churches to celebrate our diversity in political opinions (as in much else) and be a demonstration of what it means to love and respect one another across the political divide. To refuse to think about things in the increasingly toxic, polarised ways that we find especially online; to refuse to believe that someone is my enemy (or even “not a real Christian”) just because they have different views to me.
What if, instead, the Church was able to model a form of genuine listening to one another. Why do you support these policies / parties / movements? What is worrying you at a national / local / global level? Is there any common ground that we can find?
Jesus Christ certainly challenged, directly or indirectly, many of the social and political assumptions of his day. But he never left us with an unambiguous model of how we should engage with the political powers.
However, one very clear thing he did give us was a command: that we love one another, as he has loved us.
UPDATE: Just as I was publishing this, I came across this wonderful-sounding resource from the British Red Cross, ‘Bridging Divides’ – I’d encourage anyone to tap the button below and have a look: