Very Rev Peter Atkinson - Dean's Diary (From Worcester News)

Very Rev Peter Atkinson - Dean's Diary

9:12am Wednesday 22nd October 2008

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SHOULD politicians ‘do God’? There’s no doubt about that in the United States, where the presidential candidates are expected to prove their religious credentials.

In this country, it’s not so clear.

Two prime mnisters running have made it plain that their personal Christian faith has been one of the mainsprings of their political conviction. Some other politicians are a good deal more jumpy about religion, and there have been quite a few ‘coming out’ recently about their atheism.

Three things are clear. First, no politician should pretend to a faith they haven’t got, just to win votes – whether that faith is theism or atheism. No one as cynical and time-serving as that should be in politics.

Secondly, a belief in Christianity does not dictate which party a person belongs to – at least in British politics.

I am thankful that the word ‘Christian’ is not used as a partypolitical label, as it is in some other European countries.

And thirdly, a religious belief (or lack of it) does not make someone a better or worse politician.

I don’t vote for a politician because they are a Christian, but I do expect politicians to have that passion for justice, for mercy, and for the common good which lie at the heart of all the world’s religions. And I expect them to follow their conscience, not the needs of the moment.

One of the readings heard in many churches last Sunday, from the Prophet Isaiah, was about Cyrus, who was described as ‘the Lord’s anointed’.

Cyrus was a Persian (Iranian) warlord who conquered the whole of the Middle East. He was also a wise and benevolent ruler.

He had no faith in the God of Israel, but the Prophet hailed him as the ‘Lord’s anointed’ all the same. It is a reminder that those who rule us may not share our beliefs, but they can still be the instruments of God’s peaceful purposes for the world