Christianity in Public Life

Andrew Selous MP secured an interesting debate in Westminster Hall on Wendesday on Christianity in Public Life. Mr Selous is the chair of the Christians in Parliament All-Party Parliamentary Group.

From the title, I thought there would be some juicy debates about the role of Christian politicians and their conflict with secularism. I was slightly disappointed. A lot of it was quite fluffy, "O what a fantastic job faith-based organisations in the community do" etc and the like. But there were some interesting points raised. Here's just a higgildy piggildy round-up of the debate. Please note I'm not necessarily keen on all MPs quoted. I'm just providing a summary of the proceedings as such.

In his opening speech, Mr Selous said:

There are some who would like faith, including the Christian faith, to be an entirely private matter that is practised at home and that is left at the front door when one goes out to work, especially if one has anything to do with public life. I dispute that position and want to state a contrary view, but will do so very much in the spirit of considering the contribution that people of faith make to the life of our country.

Most, if not all speakers were keen to point out the UK is still not a secular society but Christian. There was also a bit of talk about Christian charities being discriminated against. Hinting at (though not mentioning) the furore over the Sexual Orientation Regulations, Communities and Local Government minister Iain Wright gave the Government line:

We are not saying that organisations in receipt of public funding cannot be open about their religious motivation, display religious symbols or tell beneficiaries about their faith. We understand that the principle of mission is central to religions, including Christianity and Islam. However, we are saying that the provision of services cannot be conditional on participation in religious activity, nor can services be provided in a way that does not conform to equality legislation and nor can public money pay for worship or activities specifically designed to do that.

An interesting intervention came from the recently elected John Mason, who won the Glasgow East by election for the SNP. He gave an eye opener into how influential Christianity was to his victory:

Faith became quite a major issue during my by-election last July, and it was encouraging to find that a number of people realised that it was still possible to be open about one’s Christian faith and, first, to be selected by a mainstream party, a category in which I include my party, and, secondly, to be elected by the public.

I decided on the spur of the moment to have a prayer at the opening of my constituency office in January. My pastor turned up unexpectedly, and I suddenly thought that I would ask him to pray. The reaction was interesting. One unbelieving friend walked out and argued that it was totally inappropriate, while the guy from the local newspaper thought that it was appropriate. So there we are.

And there was some good old "bashing" of secularism. Labour MP Sharon Hodgson said:

Like it or not, secularists often sing from the same hymn sheet as those whom they seek to silence. Their insistence on the privatisation of religion is as dogmatic as any other creed.

But the mood was dampened when parliament's king of secularism Evan Harris entered the ring.

...We should not give money to organisations that discriminate against gay people or people of religion when delivering public service. They should not discriminate against service users on religious grounds. They should not have the right to do that, and should not be allowed to proselytise on the state, as it were, using public funding, or while delivering a public service.

There were stories about the defiance of Christians and the increasing push by secularists to forward their agenda. Liberal Democrat Sarah Teather was:

"...reminded of what Madeleine Bunting said in her article in The Times about the disjunction between the adverts on the atheist bus and the often poor immigrants sitting on the top deck of the bus returning from a night shift with their prayer books open on their laps."

Wycombe MP Paul Goodman said:

At the Conservative party conference last year, the National Secular Society had a stall for the first time, and I think that represents how secularists are beginning to come into the public sphere to make their argument. The society states on its website that some delegates said, “Thank God you are here”, which is a peculiar way of expressing gratitude for its presence, but perhaps that is a sign of the times.

Despite the lack of talk on Christian politicians' using reason and theories of morality (i.e Natural Law) to stop and vote against some of the greatest evils of our time (e.g abortion and embryo research - which many involved in the debate probably support anyway), it was good to see the role of Christians in public life being debated among MPs. It shows religion has not completely gone out of the decision making minds of our law makers.