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Alistair Campbell was once famously quoted saying, in reply to an American interviewer, “We don’t do God”. Yesterday, Michael Portillo used his Sunday Times column to advise David Cameron to essentially take the same advice. The article had been written in response to the news last week that David Cameron regularly attended Sunday worship in Kensington, West London. And furthermore, that Mr Cameron’s daughter was going to attend the Church of England School attached to the same church.
Response to the Portillo article was swift, particularly from social conservative commentators. Interestingly, the thread of responses to the Portillo article on Conservative Home provides enough evidence for why the Conservative Party should ‘go softly’ when contemplating the use of religion to put forward its admirable plans to improve British society. The wide range of views expressed, often quite strongly and with venom, illustrated that Britain would be far better off forging a path that separates church from state.
By arguing for the need to keep religion out of politics, I am not suggesting that Christians who volunteer and devote their time and energy for the improvement of our society should not be supported and congratulated. If, by following ‘God’s will’, these individuals become noble and good citizens, then who am I to criticise. For example, the research by the Centre for Social Justice provides ample evidence of the sterling work undertaken by faith groups up and down the country. My point is that to be a good person one does not necessarily have to be actively religious, be that Christian, Muslim, Hindu or any other faith. A political party of an essentially secular country should be careful when contemplating the promotion of observance to particular religious practice. As Thomas Jefferson (pictured above) once remarked,”History, I believe, furnishes no example of a priest-ridden people maintaining a free civil government”.
Where Michael Portillo had a point was when he asked the question, “If moderation and secularism have been overturned in parts of the Muslim world, why should not the same thing happen in Christian societies?” I am similarly concerned that Britain, and other ‘Christian’ countries, may respond to the indiscriminate attacks of extreme Islamists by making their societies less tolerant. To do so, would be wrong. Like Portillo, I am no ‘militant secularist’, however, I do not want British politicians of the future to talk about “crusades“, claim to have taken to prayer to aid decision-making, or to have indulged in overt religious activity. In Britain, a person’s faith has always been a private matter. Let’s hope it remains that way.
