What does a Christian mind bring to the debate about the future of our nation? The first thing is the belief that it matters to God, and must therefore matter to us. G. K. Chesterton famously said that the problem with British elections was not that only a small part of the electorate voted, but that only a small part of the elector voted: so little was the lack of conviction about politics and public faith. The Bishops want us to cast our vote, not in a routine, token way, but by giving the whole of ourselves to this privileged task of decision-taking in a free democracy.
Formation in citizenship will motivate us to think and talk about ‘a worthwhile society and what it means to serve the common good, and how politics helps serve that end’. The Bishops are not dreaming of the unattainable ideal of Athenian democracy under Pericles. They do however dare to hope that we can shed our cynicism and start believing in politics, politicians and political processes again. ‘This letter is about building a vision of a better kind of world, a better society and better politics. Underlying those ideas is the concept of virtue ”“ what it means to be a good person, a good politician, a good neighbour or a good community.’ That’s a good example of how the letter is motivated by a spiritual concern for citizenship, inspired by the theological ideas of justice and compassion in pursuit of the common good.
Read it all.
(Dean Michael Sadgrove) Ash Wednesday, the Bishops and the Election
What does a Christian mind bring to the debate about the future of our nation? The first thing is the belief that it matters to God, and must therefore matter to us. G. K. Chesterton famously said that the problem with British elections was not that only a small part of the electorate voted, but that only a small part of the elector voted: so little was the lack of conviction about politics and public faith. The Bishops want us to cast our vote, not in a routine, token way, but by giving the whole of ourselves to this privileged task of decision-taking in a free democracy.
Formation in citizenship will motivate us to think and talk about ‘a worthwhile society and what it means to serve the common good, and how politics helps serve that end’. The Bishops are not dreaming of the unattainable ideal of Athenian democracy under Pericles. They do however dare to hope that we can shed our cynicism and start believing in politics, politicians and political processes again. ‘This letter is about building a vision of a better kind of world, a better society and better politics. Underlying those ideas is the concept of virtue ”“ what it means to be a good person, a good politician, a good neighbour or a good community.’ That’s a good example of how the letter is motivated by a spiritual concern for citizenship, inspired by the theological ideas of justice and compassion in pursuit of the common good.
Read it all.