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Editorial
Alwyn Thomson
Comment:
Politics: serving God and doing good!
Ethel White
From
the Director: Cultivating the common ground
David W Porter
ECONI
Statement: Confidence in God
October 2002
Postbag: Letters to the Editor
Why
vote?
Alison Laird
Communities
of hope
Lord Alderdice
Transformation 2003: Killing for God?
View
from the south
Patrick Mitchel
Church
& state
Esmond
Birnie MLA
Taking
the plunge
John Kyle
Faith
in politics
Interview: Rt Hon Paul Murphy MP
Your
kingdom come
Heather Morrow
ECONI
Statement: Forum for Peace & Reconciliation
January 2003
Bible
study series: Faith in the future
David
W Porter
Through
a glass, darkly
Changing Women, Changing Worlds Conference
Review:
A night in November by Marie Jones
Noel
McCune
Book
Reviews
Alwyn Thomson
For
God and His Glory Alone:
Study 3: Reconciliation
For
God and His Glory Alone:
Study 4: Peace
FROM THE DIRECTOR:
CULTIVATING THE COMMON GROUND.
MAYBE THE WEATHER
should have been more inclement. In contrast to the hail and cold of five
years ago the week of the 10th April 2003 has been something of a
cracker. Blue skies and sunshine illuminate the beauty of
living on this island. Meanwhile the continuing political
impasse underscores the truth of one seasoned activist’s
exasperation, ‘Northern Ireland: A problem for every
solution!’
Printing deadlines mean I must write this on the day after the deal was meant to be done. Confirmation of the devil in the detail of the new blueprint will have to wait. Today, the issue is not so much the minutiae which our political class have demonstrated a voracious capacity for absorbing, but the fact that despite the hours of talks there is still a profound absence of trust.
If anything requires such indulgence from a watching world, it is less the content of the politics than the manner in which it is conducted that is now presenting the problem. The machinations of post-Agreement politics have succeeded not so much in extracting the gains of sectoral interests as in exhausting any reservoir of hope and goodwill that existed among ordinary people. Any moment now, the political moles will come stumbling into the sunlight to discover that many of us at best don’t want to deal and at worst no longer care.
Leadership is not just about delivering your constituency or securing another concession before doing what was right to do in the first place. It is about capturing the imagination and hope of all who by destiny or choice have to share public and geographical space on this island. Our politicians have singularly failed to reach beyond their own and provide leadership that challenges the aspirations and commitments of the other to join them in common endeavour for the good of all.
In biblical teaching, those who find themselves in government have a duty to act for the good of all people in their jurisdiction. Until those involved in our process can begin to state unambiguously their understanding of and commitment to the good of the other then trust will never grow. For some that statement requires action and not just words, the actual removal of the threat of violence and not just aspiring to it.
In the meantime, the last thing we need is the further marginalizing of the people from the process. The offer by the two Governments needs to be made public so that we can all judge its merits.
And electoral mandates need to be renewed - five years, in any democracy, is reaching its use-by date. Then each of us faces the real challenge: Are we also prepared to take responsibility for our future and to take hard decisions? If we choose to mandate those who may be of us are we doing so because of their capacity to create the space for the other?
Your vote counts. Not just in holding the ground but if we are to have any hope of creating the common ground for a new generation.
David W Porter(Director)
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