European Political News

The vocal lobbying of Catholic leaders in Scotland over the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill has undoubtedly raised the hackles of many commentators concerning the place of organised religion in public life – specifically the political arena. As a result, the demanding task of creating a durable public discourse for discussing ethics and understanding science has been reduced to voter management and angry counter-assertion.

Looking back through an old diary I was surprised to discover that my life sometimes runs more in sync with the cadences of the Church’s liturgical calendar than those around me might imagine. In particular, and without any great consciousness about it, I have ended up finishing off and contributing to two books on Easter-related themes in the months of March and April. Right now I’m tidying up an overdue manuscript for Darton Longman and Todd called Threatened with Resurrection, examining the true cost and vocation of peacemaking in the Christian tradition. A couple of years ago I co-edited Consuming Passion, which looked at the way in which the doctrine of the Cross can be abused to excuse or even institutionalise retributive theology and ideas of messianic violence. Neither of these books is exactly controversy free, but they are unlikely to get me drummed out of any ecclesiastical club (because I studiously avoid the gold-studded membership cards) and also because, well, not many people know or care what I think! You need to be someone like the former Anglican Bishop of Durham, Dr David Jenkins, to make those kinds of waves - and with the cultural climate around religion growing both more hostile and more disinterested all at the same time, even that’s getting a bit difficult. Every so often someone repeats the old canard that Dr Jenkins, now retired but never retiring, “doesn’t believe in the resurrection” (he most certainly does, though not in the simplistic way it is usually affirmed or dismissed) or that he “said it was a conjuring trick with bones” (his point was precisely the opposite - namely that the kind of life God offers is not reducible to magic but is about a thoroughgoing transformation in and beyond the material world as we think we know it.) The whole ‘Durham saga’ was over 20 years ago but won’t quite stay buried. Ironic. This year, Easter controversy is thin on the ground so far. There isn’t even a tacky Channel 4 documentary ‘proving’ that the bones of Jesus have been found underneath a pub in Walthamstow. What we have instead is some relatively polite jousting about historical details in the BBC’s dramatisation of The Passion, an altogether less blood-lusting rendition than Mel Gibson’s film noir. It began on 16 March and ends on Easter Sunday. (more…)

Earlier this week I interviewed Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg in his parliamentary office. Such great revelations as emerged are mostly reserved, Im afraid, for Third Way magazine " which is not some kind of house journal for Blairism, but a Christian social ethics and current affairs monthly founded in the 1970s. What they had in mind in using the title “Third Way” was a re-framing of standard political discourse in terms of principles emerging from the biblical traditions of social thought. The Influence of Personal Convictions on Politics Anyway, the influence of religion and other personally grounded [notice I didnt say private] convictions in the political arena was obviously one of the issues I wanted to discuss with the new head of Britains third party " especially as there was a minor fuss when he proclaimed, shortly after his election as leader, that he was an atheist. Well, thats what most people think occurred. As a matter of fact, there was no such announcement. What happened was that Clegg responded to one of those quick fire interviews, was asked whether he believed in God, and was given only two possibilities, yes or no. So he chose the one that approximates closest to his view. On that basis many headlines and columns were written. This little episode certainly tells you rather more about media pigeonholing than it does about the subtleties of Mr Clegg, as you will find out when you read Mays Third Way. But it also highlights a rather important question that hardly figures at all on the commentariats agenda. As I put it in one of my sideways interrogations, How do you think not believing in God impacts on the way you conceive politics and the way you make political decisions? Though Nick Clegg is undoubtedly a thoughtful man, Im probably not breaking any embargoes by revealing that this question took him a bit by surprise. I suspect the same would be true of almost any figure in public life. We have got very used to enquiring about how religion should or should not enter into the political process through the pores of politicians who do God in other aspects of their lives (at least). However, it rarely occurs to anybody that non-belief might be anything more substantial than a rejection of, or aversion to, religious faith " whatever that means for the person doing the non-believing. (more…)

A quick note to say that Simon Barrow’s “Thinking Aloud” column has been delayed due to him being doorstepped by a visitor this morning. It should appear later this evening. Tags: simon barrow, thinking aloud