I read a comment on Facebook the other day that annoyed me. (I know - Facebook is not the place for
reasoned comment in the first place!)
The writer was lamenting that there should ever be a link
between faith and politics and believed that where there was, disaster
followed.
I believe the opposite is true. Especially as regards the
UK.
.
Take a look at our last four Prime Ministers. Three have a
faith. One does not. Three managed our nation with reference to our past, our heritage
and our beliefs. One did not. Three tried to hold us together as a nation. One
destroyed our nation.
Two of the four Prime Ministers are children of the manse.
One is the son of a Presbyterian Minister. One is the daughter of an Anglican
Vicar. The third has a clear Christian belief which includes reading the Bible
every night.
The other has no such belief system. In two short terms of
office, he destroyed our concept of Christian marriage and sent the nation into
an isolationist and economic spiral that will take decades to recover from.
In attempting to deal with an unruly right wing in his
party, he played politics with our future. He took an inappropriate referendum to
an ill-informed people and with little fact and considerable rhetoric, the vote
was for isolationism. More seriously, it opened us up to extreme right wing views
and made them appear acceptable - something we are seeing in a number of
nations.
The Prime Minsters that had a Christian faith kept us within
the bounds of decency and applied their faith (knowingly or not) to the
decisions they took. The Prime Minster without a faith played politics with the
nation. And we all lost.
