For Dr Rowan Williams, the former Archbishop of Canterbury, ‘faith in politics’ begins with faith in God, their* faith in us and the faith we have in each other.

For Dr Rowan Williams, the former Archbishop of Canterbury, ‘faith in politics’ begins with faith in God, their* faith in us and the faith we have in each other. He was speaking at the ‘Faith in Politics’ event organised by Greenbelt, Christian Aid and The Children’s Society on Saturday 28th February held in City Temple, London. The day was billed as an opportunity to “stimulate thought, conversation and action” and it certainly did that.

The event began with an entertaining panel discussing the week’s news and concluded with a part comical, part serious reflection from sitcom writer James Carey. In between came Dr Williams’ speech and discussions about whether Jesus would vote, the politics of money, why faith leads some to party politics, what does it mean to have faith in politics and the links between faith, politics and campaigning. In addition there were workshops on campaigning skills and craftivism.

Inevitably, the day was not perfect. I was disappointed that the panel discussing the papers all felt it would be reasonable to increase MPs salaries if it stopped them getting second jobs. None of them stopped to think that £67,000 a year is way beyond most the wildest dreams of most people and that perhaps MPs should have a better grasp of that fact. (I will return to that subject in a later post). There were also some on twitter who argued that bar Colin Bloom of the Conservative Christian Fellowship, the speakers were all on the left (although I’m not sure that was entirely accurate) Others felt the event would have benefited from voices from Scotland, Wales and Ireland, which is a fair point. Personally, I would have liked to hear from more people experiencing the impacts of austerity (particularly disabled people). However, I recognise that when one of the partners is Christian Aid and the other The Children’s Society, there will be a particular focus on those organisations’ campaign issues. And it was no mean achievement to have so many women speaking, including a panel where black women outnumbered white men.

These niggles aside, I found the day, as a whole, very enriching. The highlight for me was Dr Williams who spoke of Christian politics being about taking humanity seriously, valuing each life so that “everyone flourishes, for everyone else’s flourishing, anyone’s loss is everyone’s loss – that’s the Body of Christ”. He talked of how most politics is built on the basis of mild subdued panic and mistrust, and that a Christian’s panic should be worrying that on the day of Judgement they will have been found to have spent their lives not helping anyone. Panicked politics leads to scapegoating, but Christian politics leads to questions, why do we scapegoat? Why do we blame? How do we turn it around?

Dr Williams suggested that we need to invest in thoughtful, realistic, creative trust, “otherwise known as hope”, and suggested we need to develop “theological anthropology” based on the trust in God and the belief we can transform human experience for the better. He suggested that Christian politics is not about defending “Judeo-Christian values” that don’t exist in the Bible but by carrying a positive vision that takes every human being seriously. God, Dr Williams reminded us, “recklessly” trusts human beings, despite being betrayed and rejected in a most humiliating fashion. Which means we have to do the same. We cannot ignore or write off anyone, because “one person’s failure is everyones’s suffering, one person’s blessing, everyone’s well being”.

He was a tough act to follow but the other sessions I attended were also immensely valuable. The question of whether Jesus would vote provided lively debate. Most panellists (and the majority of the audience) felt Jesus would vote, with Colin Bloom of the Conservative Christian Fellowship and Christians in Politics being the only one to be unsure. There was less consensus on whether Jesus would be engaged in the politics or above the fray leaving us to be the ones to engage. All agreed that if Jesus did vote he would choose the party who best cared for people who were poor, sick or in need. And that politicians need to create a positive vision we can believe in.

In the afternoon I attended a fascinating panel with Claire Mathys and Colin Bloom from Christians in Politics and Sara Hyde from Christians on the Left who all explained why they had chosen to be members of the Liberal Democrat, Conservative and Labour Party respectively. Each gave a clear account of why they felt their party was best able to deliver what they believed in, and it was good to hear these political differences discussed in a mature and reasonable way. Christians in Politics are to be commended for their “Show Up” campaign which encourages Christians not only to vote but to be involved in party politics too.

My final session was another panel with members of Christian Aid, The Children’s Society and Greenbelt debating what faith in politics means to them. This was an inspiring end to the day as we heard stories of the positive side of campaigning and how small changes in a piece of legislation can have a big impact.

Here at Ekklesia we have always had ‘faith in politics’ as we believe it as essential for Christians to be engaged in the political process. The forthcoming General Election is an important ‘event in politics’ which will ask all of us to make a choice that will determine the direction the United Kingdom takes over the next four or five years. We will shortly be launching our election material ‘Vote for What You Believe In’, which we hope will provide helpful reflection and information to assist people with these choices. But we recognise also that 7 May 2015 is just one moment, and that Christian Politics is not just for elections, it is for every day. I’d like to thank the organisers of ‘Faith in Politics’ for reminding us of the fact.

*After many different discussions I’ve had about gender recently, and having always felt God was beyond gender, I’ve decided to refer to use they/their/them as pronouns to describe God.

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© Virginia Moffatt is chief operating officer of Ekklesia. Before working for Ekklesia, she spent 30 years working in services for people with learning disabilities, most recently for Oxfordshire County Council.

*More on the issues in the 2015 General Election from Ekklesia: http://www.ekklesia.co.uk/generalelection2015