Christians and the General Election

Shortly before the US Presidential Election last year, Channel 4 showed a documentary called “God on Our Side”. According to some commentators, the 2004 Election was won for George W Bush by evangelical Christians who came out in large numbers to vote for his programme. “God on Our Side” showed that this was nothing new: Christians in America have been mobilising around elected politics for at least the last fifty years.

Revd Jerry Falwell, the founder of the Christian Coalition, said “Our first priority is to make sure people are saved. Our second is to get them baptised. And our third priority is to register them to vote.” Whether you agree or not with the agenda of the “moral majority”, Falwell’s comment provokes for us a question: how seriously do we as Christians take our duties as citizens? Do we place voting third in our Christian priorities behind only salvation and baptism?

For many people, who were bought up believing that religion and politics simply do not mix, this is an unacceptable question. For the many more, who see the politicians mired in scandal, refusing to answer questions, or voting with their party rather than with their conscience, the compromises implied by an involvement in politics, or even in voting, leave them feeling uncomfortable.

Politics is a messy, human business. And although most politicians have more integrity than the media would ever admit, there is no one political party or manifesto that could ever encompass God’s vision for our world. But through politics we have the opportunity – and the responsibility – to begin to discern God’s work in the world, and to help to bring about change and transformation within people’s lives and relationships.

The purpose of the Christian Coalition is to get politicians elected who will carry out what they see as Christian policies, generally focused around “family values” and beginning of life issues. Lobbying by certain Christian groups in Britain is increasingly taking the same approach, giving the impression that Christians are only interested in a limited number of issues, mainly concerned with sexual behaviour. But Christians are concerned also with international trade rules, with detention without trial, with war and peace, with poverty, debt, the welfare of children, homelessness, and gambling.

On many issues Christians will take very different views. The visibility of the Christian Coalition disguises the fact that in America, as in Britain, Christians vote for a range of different parties. In the UK the group Christians in Politics is made up of the Christian organisations within the three main political parties – the Conservative Christian Fellowship, the Christian Socialist Movement and the Liberal Democrat Christian Forum. Clearly these three groups will not agree on policies. But they agree that it is important that Christians should take politics seriously. They offer support to Christians thinking of becoming involved in politics and they encourage Christian reflection on political issues.

The year 2005 is likely to see a General Election in the UK. For the past five elections, churches across the country have organised hustings meetings with local candidates. These “Question Time” events allow voters to meet local candidates, to question them and to hear discussion and debate, unmediated by newspapers or television. Candidates have commented how much they value these meetings: they offer one of the few opportunities for discussion on neutral territory without a prior agenda. Churches can offer these meetings as a “gift” to the local constituency, making them a community-wide event.

The Methodist Church, together with other member denominations of Churches Together in Britain and Ireland, is producing resources to help churches organise hustings meetings. A website – www.churcheselection.org.uk – will contain practical advice on planning a meeting, resources on issues you might like to consider with your candidate, and hopefully, nearer the time, contacts for meetings in each constituency.

No political party can claim to have God on its side. But if politics is crucial in determining the kind of world we will live in, then can we, as churches, help people at least to participate in shaping the future? 

Rachel Lampard
Secretary for Parliamentary and Political Affairs
The Methodist Church