Rector’s Reflections
Monday 17th June 2024
How Should a Christian Vote?
The other day, I was chatting with a church goer from another area of the county who told me that the Church was failing to provide clear guidance on the issues of the day. In his opinion, this was what was needed. This conversation has stayed in mind, and I have thought to myself: what about a new series of reflections, tackling the question of how Christians should be voting in the forthcoming General Election? So here goes!
Let me begin with three introductory points. To start with, I am not going to be party political. I am sure that good and faithful Christians are found in every party. It is not my role to instruct or suggest that people cast their votes in favour of any particular party. However, I think it is my role to suggest some of the questions people may wish to think about, and to explain why people may come to hold different views on particular wishes.
Secondly, the Diocese of Oxford is a charity, and so too is each and every one of its constituent Parochial Church Councils. As a general rule, English Law does not permit charities to be engaged in political activity. It may be acceptable for a charity to seek to educate the electorate about the political process in general terms and to help voters understand the issues facing the country, but this is about as far it goes. In short, charities are required to stay out of politics. Anything I write or say in my official capacity as Rector of the Churn Benefice has to comply with the general rules relating to charities. These are good rules which are there for a purpose. Hence the following reflections are general and educational in nature, and avoid any reference to party politics or party manifestoes.
Thirdly, there used to be a joke that the Church of England is the Conservative Party at prayer. I’m not sure when I first heard this joke, and whether the joke is still current. I can remember hearing an updated version, which joked that the Church of England had become the Liberal Democrats at prayer. I cannot comment as to whether there is any truth in either joke. My feeling is that Church of England congregations actually contain men and women holding a wide variety of political opinions, and that the same is true among the clergy. I don’t feel able to make any generalisation about the “politics of the Church of England” other than that I think it reflects fairly accurately the politics of the nation as a whole. I wonder if you would agree with this? Perhaps you take a different view.
Having made these short but necessary preliminary comments, I will start to offer some particular thoughts in tomorrow’s reflections.