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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
WHY VOTE?
JOHN THE BAPTIST declared, “Turn from your sins and turn to God, because the Kingdom of Heaven is near.”(Matt 3:2)
When asked by the crowd what response was required John told them that they needed to show their honesty and share their possessions. In other words, he was telling them to no longer live by the rules of this world, but to live by the ideals of God’s rule. They were to live by Kingdom principles and in so doing show this world what it is like, how wonderful it is, to live under the rule and reign of Jesus.
Jesus told his followers that the way we live on earth, the good deeds we do and the way we interact with our neighbours, will be seen by the people around us and it should cause them to praise our Father in Heaven.
It is easy to see from the story of the Good Samaritan what these good deeds might be. The Good Samaritan was commended for his care and compassion for the wounded Jewish man. Social Servanthood is the meeting of the practical needs of the people around us. It is volunteering in an afterschool programme; it is counselling a woman with an unplanned pregnancy; it is opening your home to somebody who needs respite care. But as John Stott considers, what if the robbery on the Jerusalem to Jericho road was not an isolated incident? What if muggings were a regular occurrence? The care demonstrated by the Good Samaritan would still be essential for the victims of the muggings, but we could conclude that it would be worthwhile attempting to introduce better laws and policies to discourage would-be assailants and prevent the attacks from happening.
Social Action looks beyond the immediate concern of relieving human need to removing the causes of human need. Perhaps the simplest way of influencing the causes of human need is by exercising the right to vote at the ballot box.
Election Day is the once-in-the-Parliamentary-lifetime opportunity for the whole of the electorate to pass judgement on who should be in government and who should not. It is our opportunity to commend or reject a political party for their choices whilst in government.
Bombarded with leaflets, canvassed at the doorstep and hour-by-hour coverage of the election campaign in the newspapers and 24 hour news programmes makes for information-overload, yet decreasing voter turnout indicates disinterest amongst the electorate. There is no doubt, choosing whom to vote for can be a hard decision. Consideration must be given to the policies of the candidate’s party as well as the experience, views and voting record of the individual. A common complaint is that there isn’t a party, or even a candidate, which matches our own views and philosophy perfectly, although, obviously that concern does not prevent us from choosing friends and a spouse who usually aren’t perfect either! Indeed, choosing not to vote on Election Day does not absolve us from the responsibility for the government that is elected. The absent-vote is the modern-day equivalent of Pontius Pilate’s hand washing in an attempt to avoid responsibility. But making a choice, or declining to choose, are still actions that have consequences.
But perhaps the complaint that there isn’t a party or candidate that we would like to elect strikes at a deeper root issue. Maybe we are unwilling to give up on our cynical views of politics and politicians because the alternative is to realise our personal responsibility to join political parties, and to begin to shape and influence their policies and agendas from the inside.
Often people seem reluctant to be involved in the institutions that actually have the biggest impact on their neighbours. Involvement in political parties is a great way to serve a local community and that is why CARE is launching an unprecedented campaign to encourage more people to do just that. CARE has asked the major political parties for application forms to send out to the tens of thousands of homes on our mailing list, in January. CARE supporters will receive the forms from the parties who were willing to provide them and those with a BT postcode will receive the forms of the Ulster Unionist Party, the SDLP and the Alliance Party, plus the contact details of the other parties elected to the Northern Ireland Assembly.
Joining a political party does not necessarily mean that you agree with every policy. Membership does, however, entitle you to vote on some party issues, to join committees formed for specific purposes, to participate in the formation of policy and to share in the selection of candidates for election. Ultimately, membership can lead to being selected to contest an election with the possibility of helping to make the key decisions at local, national or even European levels!
www.christiansinpolitics.org.uk is the website of Christians in the Conservative, Labour and Liberal Democrat parties who have joined together to encourage Christians to become involved in politics and to represent their beliefs inside the political parties.
The website offers the following advice, or principles for political involvement:
- Be an insider – the real influence comes from working inside political parties. Some people choose active involvement; others attend only very important meetings. It’s your choice but isn’t it time that your voice was heard?
- Be tactical – it may not be possible for you to change the world but solid achievements are possible if you set realistic goals.
- Be patient – William Wilberforce – the leading campaigner for the abolition of the evil slave trade – gave forty years of his life to this great cause. If something is worth fighting for, it’s worth persevering for, too.
- Be a person of integrity – politics is a noble calling but not currently held in high public regard. It needs more men and women of integrity to lift its standing: men and women who are committed to justice and liberty; who act in ways that are consistent with what they say; who treat their colleagues and their constituents with respect and honesty.
As Theodore Roosevelt said: “It is not the critic who counts…The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena…And who, at worst, if he fails at least fails whilst daring greatly.”
ALISON LAIRD is Assembly Officer with CARE Northern Ireland.
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