CHRISTIAN MPs in the Labour Party have given qualified support
of the Prime Minister after he called for people to be "more
confident about our status as a Christian country" (Comment, 17
April).
On Tuesday, the Shadow Employment Minister, Stephen Timms, said:
"The Prime Minister's comments are clearly correct. It is
remarkable that some people take exception to them."
He added, however: "I am also interested in why he made them.
The Prime Minister recognises the electoral importance - much
greater than a simplistic reading of church attendance figures
would suggest - of people with a strong faith commitment. A large
group of these voters invariably voted Conservative. They no longer
trust the Tory Party, and David Cameron is trying to repair the
damage."
On Good Friday, the Labour MP David Lammy told Radio 4's Any
Questions?: "I'm going to give him the benefit of the doubt,
actually, and assume he did it for noble reasons. I am a Christian.
I read his article in the Church Times, and have to say I
agreed with every single word of it. . . My faith has always meant
a lot to me, and I think we should be able to talk about it in our
public life."
He cautioned, however, that Mr Cameron's comments would lead to
renewed scrutiny of his actions: "Some of what I see: asking
landlords to check on immigrants, describing those who are most
impoverished as scroungers, some of the changes in the way that we
deal with benefits, bedroom tax, the list goes on, doesn't feel to
me to be particularly Christian, and that is why the leaders of our
Christian community have been so categorically condemning much that
we have seen."
On Easter Day, the Labour leader, Ed Miliband, said that
Christians' "sacrifice of time, expertise, and energy" was "so
often not recognised. . . As local services are withdrawn, some
communities are reliant on the support of churches and their
programmes."
Mr Cameron's comments prompted a backlash from some quarters. On
Monday, The Daily Telegraph published a letter
signed by more than 55 scientists, writers, comedians, and
philosophers, arguing: "We are a largely non-religious society.
Constantly to claim otherwise fosters alienation and division in
our society."
The letter, signed by the philosopher A. C. Grayling, the
journalist Polly Toynbee, and the author Philip Pullman, read:
"Apart from in the narrow constitutional sense that we continue to
have an established Church, Britain is not a 'Christian
country'.
"Repeated surveys, polls and studies show that most of us as
individuals are not Christian in our beliefs or our religious
identities. . . Although it is right to recognise the contribution
made by many Christians to social action, it is wrong to try to
exceptionalise their contribution when it is equalled by British
people of different beliefs. This needlessly fuels enervating
sectarian debates that are by and large absent from the lives of
most British people, who do not want religions or religious
identities to be actively prioritised by their elected
government."
On Thursday, the Archbishop of Canterbury suggested that the
Prime Minister had not said "anything very controversial".
The reaction to the comments had been "quite baffling
and at the same time quite encouraging. Christian faith is
much more vulnerable to comfortable indifference than to
hatred and opposition."
Writing on his blog, the Archbishop said: "It is a
historical fact (perhaps unwelcome to some, but true) that our main
systems of ethics, the way we do law and justice, the values of
society, how we decide what is fair, the protection of the poor,
and most of the way we look at society. . . The language
of what we are, what we care for and how we act is earthed in
Christianity, and would remain so for many years even if the number
of believers dropped out of sight (which they won't, in my
opinion)."
On Wednesday, the Attorney General, Dominic Grieve, a Christian,
told The Daily Telegraph that atheists who denied
that the country was Christian were "deluding themselves. . . Our
state, its ethics, and our society are underpinned by Christian
values."
Leaders of other faiths have expressed support for Mr Cameron.
On Monday, Farooq Murad, the Secretary General of the Muslim
Council of Britain, said: "No one can deny that Britain remains
largely a Christian country with deep historical and structural
links with the established Church. . .We also believe that as a
nation we will be stronger by recognising and celebrating the
increasing reality of its multi- and no-faith traditions living in
harmony."
The President of the Board of Deputies of British Jews, Vivian
Wineman, said: "It is neither controversial nor problematic to
speak about the benefits of the UK being a Christian country whilst
acknowledging its multifaith aspect. Our main benchmark for success
is that society remains open, inclusive, and respectful of
difference.
"Whilst we must always challenge ourselves to do this better,
the Church of England, as the established Church, has been a
champion of good interfaith relations, better understanding of
different religions, and understanding of faith in general.
Meanwhile, those who want to make the UK a 'cold house' to faith,
to ban religious practices, and even to shut religious voices out
of the public debate, demonstrate a dogmatic intolerance that is
deeply concerning."
God course. Civil servants are being
invited to attend seminars on faith, the Department of Communities
and Local Government confirmed this week. The training includes a
study of good practice in engagement between government departments
and faith communities.
Leader
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