The Prime Minister and Traditional Biblical Values
23 December 2011
The Prime Minister’s address at Christ Church, Oxford on Friday 16 is to be welcomed, providing it is to be not a monologue but an invitation to open up a genuine conversation. It is certainly encouraging that Mr Cameron recognizes the right of the Christian Church to be a contributor in political debate.
Clearly Mr Cameron is correct when he suggests that there is much to be done to heal society. But he should also know that this is nothing new. Poverty, frustration at a system that overlooks the needy and the inevitable dilemmas that arise when seeking to mend what he would term a ‘broken society’ have long been features of the world in which we live. We can look back on the past fondly but often we do so through rose-tinted spectacles.
We might begin by asking what sort of society Mr Cameron envisages was the ideal. He claims it to be one based on traditional ‘Biblical’ values. Is it one where children and women have few if any rights? One where slavery and servitude prevailed? Let us not forget that the status quo at one time was often supported by many within the Church; they did so from a Biblical viewpoint. At the very same time contrasting statements called for a radical overhaul of society; again they were from a Biblical viewpoint.
So which ‘traditional’ viewpoint is Mr Cameron calling us to adopt in our own time? Does he desire one where politicians are allowed to get away without criticism because they are ‘ordained’ by God or one where every act is open to the judgment of the Church? It is not as simple as the sound bite suggests. Life, as any Prime Minister ought to know, is complex.
Mr Cameron appears to suggest that by failing to be traditional the Church is somehow responsible for so many ills in society. The factors that have led to the present condition are many and varied. Inequality is the single most consistent feature of frustration in our nation and world. It is simply unacceptable that so many live in poverty while the mega rich avoid paying their full share of the tax burden. If the Prime Minister is serious about debating this matter then it may be worth asking whether more is to be done to curb the excessive salaries of senior executives when so many of our elderly are struggling to pay for heating in their homes this Christmas.
