Reply to: Do you mix politics and religion?

[NotAllThere]

....church and state should be separate

So you think the best way to keep religion out of politics is to adopt the American approach?

There are Christians who have an emphasis on social justice - feeding the poor etc. These are more likely to be left wing, but not always. There are Christians who have an emphasis on morality - family life etc. These are more likely to be conservatives, but not always. There are Christian roots in the Trade Union movement - their meetings are still called chapels. The Christianity from which that arose was the non-conformist, i.e. the non-anglicans, who often completely agree that chuch and state should be seperate - as in the US. Though originally, the separation was to protect the believers from the state - not the other way round.

While there are neo-con christians, and they're quite vocal, it seems fairly certain to me that they are by no means representative of most Christians. Consider those who support having gay clergy. Are they rabid right wingers?

[SueEllen]

sectarianism is the cause of many bloody wars, yugoslavia, northern ireland etc

church and state should be separate, i think we are mostly lucky, queenie doesn't do much despite being head of the anglicans, and let's face it they are just atheists in skirts

Queen isn't head of all Anglicans living in the UK.

[SueEllen]

Is that true? I don't recall a single mention of religion all through the campaign. Tony Blair was the last one who made a deal about his christianity, which I always thought was a big vote winning lie. But it looks like I was wrong and actually he was faking being a moderate christian and is in fact more of a nutter christian.

They keep quiet while in the political eye but all without fail go to Church. You've seen them on TV.

If you aren't religious then you would refuse to go through the motions but they all do.

Also it's well known that if you talk about/ known to be an extremely committed religious follower than the public won't like you i.e. Ruth Kelly.

Surely christianity is inherently left wing?

Nope there are lots of Church-going Tories. The one that quickly comes to mind is Anne Widdecombe even though she is no longer an MP as she stood down.

[Zippy]

Actually, Blair didn't - Alistair Campbell said "we don't do God". It was a big thing that Blair "converted" to Christianity after leaving office as PM for some reason (maybe because he is meant to be bringing peace to the middle east?), but the matter of his faith during his rule wasn't raised too much.

Blair was always a Christian but didn't make a big deal out of it. He converted to Catholicism after he left office.

[The Wikir Man]

Surely christianity is inherently left wing?

The Reverend Pitcher doesn't seem too left wing to me.

[Boudica]

sectarianism is the cause of many bloody wars, yugoslavia, northern ireland etc

church and state should be separate, i think we are mostly lucky, queenie doesn't do much despite being head of the anglicans, and let's face it they are just atheists in skirts

[TimberWolf]

With the exception of Nick Clegg - "I'm not a man of faith, but my wife is", as he reminded us in the second debate.

Nick Clegg's wife is a man

[The Wikir Man]

Is that true? I don't recall a single mention of religion all through the campaign. Tony Blair was the last one who made a deal about his christianity, which I always thought was a big vote winning lie. But it looks like I was wrong and actually he was faking being a moderate christian and is in fact more of a nutter christian.

Surely christianity is inherently left wing?

Actually, Blair didn't - Alistair Campbell said "we don't do God". It was a big thing that Blair "converted" to Christianity after leaving office as PM for some reason (maybe because he is meant to be bringing peace to the middle east?), but the matter of his faith during his rule wasn't raised too much.

[The Wikir Man]

Why?

All the PMs and party leaders pretend to be or are Christian.

With the exception of Nick Clegg - "I'm not a man of faith, but my wife is", as he reminded us in the second debate.

[d000hg]

You cannot separate religion and politics. Your statement itself is a political position on religion.

If you're religious then your political views will likely be affected by how you think... but that's no different from a non-religious person's political views being affected by their morals/ethics/agenda. For instance if you are opposed to abortion (whether for religious or personal moral reasons) you will likely not vote fora party who are progressive on allowing it more easily. But a very tight interation of religion/politics doesn't make sense to me - e.g the Christian party seems a dumb idea to me,

Is that true? I don't recall a single mention of religion all through the campaign. Tony Blair was the last one who made a deal about his christianity, which I always thought was a big vote winning lie. But it looks like I was wrong and actually he was faking being a moderate christian and is in fact more of a nutter christian.

It's not a big deal here but it does come up as a side issue. Brown's the son of a minister and mentions this quite often, I think Cameron is nominally a wishy-washy CofE Christian. I think Nick Clegg said he has 'no faith' in one of the TV debates in passing.
There are quite a few Muslim MPs these days, it's very much a non-issue compared to th US though.

Surely christianity is inherently left wing?

This has been debated for centuries by both sides. Christianity clearly talks about putting others first and giving up your wealth to help those in need, but Jesus doesn't denounce personal wealth as long as you don't make it your 'god'. Jesus was pretty keen to keep out of politics, seems he really wasn't interested to much.

[OwlHoot]

Yes, I mix politics and religion - I'm C of E.

[VectraMan]

Why?

All the PMs and party leaders pretend to be or are Christian.

Is that true? I don't recall a single mention of religion all through the campaign. Tony Blair was the last one who made a deal about his christianity, which I always thought was a big vote winning lie. But it looks like I was wrong and actually he was faking being a moderate christian and is in fact more of a nutter christian.

Surely christianity is inherently left wing?

[threaded]

Personally nothing I despise more than people who mix politics and religion.

You cannot separate religion and politics. Your statement itself is a political position on religion.

HTH

[d000hg]

Plenty of UK religious right, I wonder how many are on this site. Quiet a few I would guess.

I'm a Christian and I would like the Tories to get in. But I don't even know what Religious Right means! Voting for the party whose policies seem to agree with your moral compass is just common sense, no more than anyone (of any or no faith) does if they aren't purely voting for what will bring their own personal gain. So there must be more to it than that. However given that the UK has a small minority of people with genuine (rather than cultural) Christian faith I think politics is very little affected by religion in the UK.

[AtW]

Around the same time he got into politics he adopted religion

He was 27 in 1988: I'd say it is his own personal matter if he had chosen to get baptised at that age, so long as he does not force anyone else to do it (which he can't under US constitution) then I don't give a tulip - his decisions in which he does not involve religion (compared to Bush) are by far more important.

I'd probably agree that in USA a person won't be elected President unless they are religious in some sort of way, especially if they run for Republicans, but I don't think in this case he could conceivably expect to be in the race in 1988.