Church of England calls for 'fresh moral vision' in British politics

C of E letter urging people to vote on 7 May laments ‘growing appetite to exploit grievances, find scapegoats and create barriers between people and nations’

The Guardian, Esther Addley, 17 February 2015

The archbishop of York, John Sentamu, and the archbishop of Canterbury, Justin
Welby, on the steps of York Minster. Photograph: Christopher Furlong/Getty Images

The Church of England has launched a strongly worded attack on Britain’s political culture, criticising all parties for offering only “sterile arguments” that are likely to make voters more apathetic and cynical in the runup to the general election.

In an unprecedented intervention, the church’s bishops have published a joint open letter warning that “our democracy is failing” and attacking the “growing appetite to exploit grievances” and “find scapegoats” in society. They called for “a fresh moral vision of the kind of country we want to be”.

It is the first time the bishops have intervened in this way ahead of a general election, but one said the church had felt the need to counter the “sex appeal” of people like Russell Brand, who have argued that people should disengage from Westminster politics.

The bishops insisted that the letter was not targeted at one party in particular, but the 52-page document can nonetheless be read as an indirect criticism of the government’s welfare reforms.

“There is a deep contradiction in the attitudes of a society which celebrates equality in principle yet treats some people, especially the poor and vulnerable, as unwanted, unvalued and unnoticed,” the bishops write.

Describing people who rely on social security “in terms that imply they are undeserving, dependent and ought to be self-sufficient” deters others from providing neighbourly support, the bishops say.

It is “game-playing”, they write, “to claim that anyone who cares about the impact of austerity on the most vulnerable members of society is … careless about the extent of national indebtedness”, adding that “it is to the discredit of our politicians” that the financial crisis has become a political football.

But the letter also calls for a return of the values of the “Big Society”, which the bishops say was dreamed up by “thoughtful Conservatives” who drew “from earlier Christian tradition”.

David Cameron, asked to respond at an event at which he announced Conservative proposals for further welfare reforms, said he was “keen for anyone” to intervene in politics. “But let’s look at what we’re doing to help people who are in work in our country.”

The government’s plans would create jobs, cut taxes and develop the economy, he said.

“I would say to the bishops, I hope they would welcome that because work does bring dignity, does bring self-reliance, it does enable people to provide for their families, it creates a stronger society as well as a stronger economy. And a welfare system that pays people to stay idle when they could work – that is not the sign of a strong economy or a strong or good society.”

The letter said that all parties “have failed to offer attractive visions of the kind of society and culture they wish to see, or distinctive goals they might pursue. Instead we are subjected to sterile arguments about who might manage the existing system best. There is no idealism in this prospectus.”

However, they also warned that turning away from politics was not the answer – as Brand has most vocally suggested. The Right Rev Graham James said: “We’re conscious that there are a number of voices around, probably the most famous of which is Russell Brand, telling people that they shouldn’t bother with voting and shouldn’t bother to exercise their hard-won democratic freedoms.

“I’m conscious, just going around some of our youth groups and speaking to youth leaders, that that has had a more profound effect than I had anticipated.

“And while one may think that the bishops of the Church of England don’t quite have the sex appeal of Russell Brand, we think that we should counter it.”

While the bishops stress that their letter is not intended as “a shopping list of policies we would like to see”, they do advocate a number of specific steps, including a re-examination of the need for Trident, a retention of the commitment to funding overseas aid and a reassessment of areas where regulations fuel “the common perception of ‘health and safety gone mad’”. They also call for the promotion of the living wage to counter “the burgeoning of in-work poverty”.

On immigration, they write: “The way we talk about migration, with ethnically identifiable communities being treated as ‘the problem’ has, deliberately or inadvertently, created an ugly undercurrent of racism in every debate about immigration.”

There is a warning, too, for those trying to resolve the constitutional questions thrown up in the wake of the Scottish referendum. It is a “mirage” to think there is an easy solution, write the bishops, and “the idea that the future shape of the union and the relationship between its constituents can be solved in weeks or months is a fine example of politics ignoring the importance of history in favour of the calculated advantages of the moment”.

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