Comment
Lynda Gould

From the Director
David Porter

Christian Citizenship and Northern Ireland
Drew Gibson

Church and State in Conflict - Ambrose
Alwyn Thomson

Christian Citizenship in the Republic of Ireland
Patrick Mitchel

Church and State in Conflict - Hubmaier
Alwyn Thomson

Beautiful Ministry
Graham Cheesman

The Cost of Citizenship
William Storrar (Scotland)

Early Days in the National Assembly for Wales
Aled Edwards

Church and State in Conflict - Kasemann
Alwyn Thomson

A Light to Enlighten the Nations
J A Sider (USA)

Church and State in Conflict - Summary
Alwyn Thomson

< Past Issues Archive

FROM THE DIRECTOR
The relationship between church and state has been central to Christian witness in Europe since the early believers moved beyond Jerusalem. Over the last two thousand years it has re-emerged in different guises. Those radical reformers who called for a fundamental rethink were subject to persecution from both Protestant and Catholic authorities reluctant to divest of political power. Over the last few weeks our politicians have been reviewing the implementation of the Belfast Agreement. At heart it attempted to determine the relationship between the state and citizens in a context where we disagree among ourselves on the nature of the state. Steve Stockman speaking on 'Thought for the Day' caught my attention the morning the review began. I could think of no better way to express my concerns for us as Christians as we negotiate our relationship with the changing state in which we live. The process demands of us a willingness to nurture, change and share power.

Long Slow Surrender

So the review of the peace process begins today. It would be easy to see it as some political game of chess but alas it is much more than that. It is the future of my eighteen -month-old daughter that is going to be discussed, or who knows not discussed, this week.

The last few weeks, indeed months, have not been too positive or optimistic. The honeymoon period after last year's Agreement and referendum is over and the marriage of our different political aspirations is proving hard work. There are days when divorce seems inevitable and the consequences for the children of that breakdown are too frightening to even contemplate.

And yet, I need to stop myself right there. In August 1994 I returned to Belfast after three years in Dublin. One of the first weeks I was here, I had friends over from Scotland and they counted sixteen soldiers in the car park of my city centre flat. They were doing a gig at the folk festival, with a saracen tank on the street outside and two armed soldiers on the door of the Old Museum, where they sang one of their songs 'Fighting to make peace'. Three weeks later we had a cease fire and if we put in context this week's review over the course of the last thirty years then we find ourselves having taken a massive step forward.

Last night on Rhythm and Soul I played a song by Kate Campbell. It is about the racist terror of her home city and she sings, "It's a long and slow surrender when you're retreating from the past". None of those meeting today would want to use the word surrender but in effect we are all giving up a little something to retreat from the tragedy of our history.

It seems to me that the gospel of Jesus Christ is a long slow surrender, a retreat from the old life and the possibility of a whole new deal in relationship to God and neighbours and enemies. God has no expectations that the turn around will be complete in minutes or days or even years. It's a life work, a long and slow surrender from who we were into who we can become in the vitality of His Son's cross. So too the peace process. Let us not expect our hundreds of years of bitterness to be reconciled in a few months, or our proud and bigoted hearts to be melted with a signature. It'll be a long and slow surrender. If we add patience and prayer, to the repentance we all need to make over decades to come, then I have a hope that we are heading on a long and slow road to a better future.

David Porter - ECONI's Director

Steve Stockman is Presbyterian Chaplain at Queen's University. He presents the weekly music programme 'Rhythm and Soul' on BBC Radio 1 each Sunday evening, and is a regular contributor to 'Thought for the day'.