Religion & Politics

1 Oct 2018 • Articles

Should we mix religion with politics?

Jesus was highly political, just not party political. He held to account the authorities of his time and was crucified for it. In our own time, the five marks of mission have been developed by the Anglican Consultative Council. These marks were adopted by the General Synod of the Church of England in 1996.

The fourth mark of mission is: To seek to transform unjust structures of society, to challenge violence of every kind and to pursue peace and reconciliation.

In her book Gathering at God’s Table. The five marks of Mission in the Feast of Faith, Katharine Jefferts Schori, a previous presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church in the USA, writes ‘We have a part in our neighbour’s well-being. The death or mistreatment of any diminishes each of us’ (page 138).

The Archbishop of Canterbury addressed the Trades Union Congress (TUC) on its 150 annual meeting on Wednesday this last week (12/09/2018). In his speech Justin Welby criticised the corporations who shirked paying tax, saying “Not paying taxes speaks of the absence of our commitment to our shared humanity to solidarity and justice” His speech came a week after the publication of “Prosperity and Justice: A plan for the new economy” which is the final report of the IPPR Commission on Economic Justice. (The IPPR is the Institute for Public Policy Research a cross party group of which Justin Welby is a member). At the report’s launch Ms O’Grady, general secretary of the TUC and also a member of the IPPR, said that the gains of new technologies were not being shared out fairly. For instance, Jeff Bezos, the CEO of Amazon is now the world’s richest man, yet “low-paid warehouse workers have been peeing in bottles because they are afraid to take a toilet break”.

These two people are attempting to highlight unjust structures in our society, and so mixing religion with politics. As a final thought, in her book Katharine Jefferts Schori asks the questions ‘Where is compassion moving in your life? What injustice is challenging you to act?’

Yours in Christ,

Reverend John Jukes.