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| Why no politician needs to be a martyr to their faith in a secular, sceptical age | Why no politician needs to be a martyr to their faith in a secular, sceptical age |
| (about 1 month later) | |
| There are plenty of reasons for Tim Farron to stand down as Liberal Democrat leader. He pledged to double the party’s number of MPs in the general election and fell significantly short. His “second Brexit referendum” strategy did not resonate as strongly with voters as he promised. And then there were the old stagers in the party who always doubted him – “judgment is not [Tim’s] strong suit”, Paddy Ashdown once prophetically remarked. | There are plenty of reasons for Tim Farron to stand down as Liberal Democrat leader. He pledged to double the party’s number of MPs in the general election and fell significantly short. His “second Brexit referendum” strategy did not resonate as strongly with voters as he promised. And then there were the old stagers in the party who always doubted him – “judgment is not [Tim’s] strong suit”, Paddy Ashdown once prophetically remarked. |
| Instead Farron, a devout Christian on the evangelical wing of the Church of England, has chosen to blame his demise on anti-religious prejudice. Or, more specifically, hostility to his version of religion. “To be a political leader and to live as a committed Christian, to hold faithfully to the Bible’s teaching, has felt impossible,” he said as he handed in his notice. | Instead Farron, a devout Christian on the evangelical wing of the Church of England, has chosen to blame his demise on anti-religious prejudice. Or, more specifically, hostility to his version of religion. “To be a political leader and to live as a committed Christian, to hold faithfully to the Bible’s teaching, has felt impossible,” he said as he handed in his notice. |
| Repeated questioning during the campaign about his attitude to equal marriage, to gay sex and to abortion – met, at least initially, with stumbling, stonewalling answers – has clearly left Farron feeling victimised. “His tormentors should be ashamed of themselves,” said John Sentamu, archbishop of York, when he heard the news. | Repeated questioning during the campaign about his attitude to equal marriage, to gay sex and to abortion – met, at least initially, with stumbling, stonewalling answers – has clearly left Farron feeling victimised. “His tormentors should be ashamed of themselves,” said John Sentamu, archbishop of York, when he heard the news. |
| Plenty of others in the churches have rushed to turn Farron into a martyr for the cause of sidelined faith in our secular, sceptical age. “If he can’t be in politics,” tweeted the archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, “media and politicians have questions”. And Theos, the thinktank supported by church leaders, described his resignation as “highlighting what a growing number of people in Britain now recognise: that it is becoming increasingly difficult for Christians to hold public office”. | Plenty of others in the churches have rushed to turn Farron into a martyr for the cause of sidelined faith in our secular, sceptical age. “If he can’t be in politics,” tweeted the archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, “media and politicians have questions”. And Theos, the thinktank supported by church leaders, described his resignation as “highlighting what a growing number of people in Britain now recognise: that it is becoming increasingly difficult for Christians to hold public office”. |
| That religion is being marginalised – from politics, from the BBC, in the courts where it takes second place to other “rights”, and even in polite conversation – is undoubtedly an unshakeable tenet of faith in some Christian circles. In the case of our democratic process, however, the facts tell another story. Parliament has a higher proportion than society at large of active, out-there-and-unashamed Christians in the Commons, while in the Lords there are 26 seats reserved for Anglican bishops, and more for other faith leaders. | That religion is being marginalised – from politics, from the BBC, in the courts where it takes second place to other “rights”, and even in polite conversation – is undoubtedly an unshakeable tenet of faith in some Christian circles. In the case of our democratic process, however, the facts tell another story. Parliament has a higher proportion than society at large of active, out-there-and-unashamed Christians in the Commons, while in the Lords there are 26 seats reserved for Anglican bishops, and more for other faith leaders. |
| And what about that other party leader who fell short in the general election? One of the few distinguishing features we know about Theresa May is that this vicar’s daughter is a regular churchgoer – one definition of “committed”. She talked openly during the campaign of the consolation her Anglicanism gave her when she could not have children. Yet this woman of faith manages to square the circle that Farron found crucifying. | And what about that other party leader who fell short in the general election? One of the few distinguishing features we know about Theresa May is that this vicar’s daughter is a regular churchgoer – one definition of “committed”. She talked openly during the campaign of the consolation her Anglicanism gave her when she could not have children. Yet this woman of faith manages to square the circle that Farron found crucifying. |
| The disparity between the two gives a clue to his real problem, which is twofold: first, the political party in which he operates; and, second, his take on Christianity. | The disparity between the two gives a clue to his real problem, which is twofold: first, the political party in which he operates; and, second, his take on Christianity. |
| The Liberal Democrats, despite their very public embrace of toleration and live-and-let-live values, have a track record as a party of making life uncomfortable for those with a faith that is unmatched in either of the other two main parties. In the 1990s, they drove out David Alton. Once one of their brightest young MPs, poster boy for their trademark community-based campaigning, he was also, as a Catholic, a passionate campaigner first in the Commons, then in the Lords, for reducing the time limit on abortions. His religious conscience, though, became too much for the Liberal Democrats to accommodate. | The Liberal Democrats, despite their very public embrace of toleration and live-and-let-live values, have a track record as a party of making life uncomfortable for those with a faith that is unmatched in either of the other two main parties. In the 1990s, they drove out David Alton. Once one of their brightest young MPs, poster boy for their trademark community-based campaigning, he was also, as a Catholic, a passionate campaigner first in the Commons, then in the Lords, for reducing the time limit on abortions. His religious conscience, though, became too much for the Liberal Democrats to accommodate. |
| More recently, there was Sarah Teather, a popular and admired minister when Nick Clegg went into coalition with the Tories in 2010. She ran into difficulties, though, when her party championed the legalisation of gay marriage. After much reflection and prayer, this Catholic convert voted against, and was widely criticised for exercising her conscience against the prevailing party mood. She left politics at the 2015 election. | More recently, there was Sarah Teather, a popular and admired minister when Nick Clegg went into coalition with the Tories in 2010. She ran into difficulties, though, when her party championed the legalisation of gay marriage. After much reflection and prayer, this Catholic convert voted against, and was widely criticised for exercising her conscience against the prevailing party mood. She left politics at the 2015 election. |
| “I sometimes describe myself as a liberal Catholic and a Catholic Liberal,” she said in an interview at the time, “and both can be hard places to inhabit. There are an awful lot of people in my party with a strong religious faith, but there is also an aggressively secular strand among our activists.” | “I sometimes describe myself as a liberal Catholic and a Catholic Liberal,” she said in an interview at the time, “and both can be hard places to inhabit. There are an awful lot of people in my party with a strong religious faith, but there is also an aggressively secular strand among our activists.” |
| In the same vote, other Catholics from different sides of the Commons, including Iain Duncan Smith and Jon Cruddas, had reached the opposite conclusion to Teather over the equal marriage proposals. It illustrates that politicians’ faith allegiances do not easily square with either a single political philosophy, or even a united stance on particular pieces of legislation. | In the same vote, other Catholics from different sides of the Commons, including Iain Duncan Smith and Jon Cruddas, had reached the opposite conclusion to Teather over the equal marriage proposals. It illustrates that politicians’ faith allegiances do not easily square with either a single political philosophy, or even a united stance on particular pieces of legislation. |
| And what goes for politicians goes for all people of faith. On homosexuality and on abortion – which he said is “wrong” in a 2007 interview with a religious paper – Farron stands with the minority when it comes to mainstream Christians. In a poll at the time of Pope Benedict’s visit to Britain in 2010, almost two-thirds of Catholics questioned rejected the condemnation found in official Church teaching of same-sex relationships. And Farron’s own C of E holds that, in certain cases, abortion can be “morally preferable” to the alternatives. | And what goes for politicians goes for all people of faith. On homosexuality and on abortion – which he said is “wrong” in a 2007 interview with a religious paper – Farron stands with the minority when it comes to mainstream Christians. In a poll at the time of Pope Benedict’s visit to Britain in 2010, almost two-thirds of Catholics questioned rejected the condemnation found in official Church teaching of same-sex relationships. And Farron’s own C of E holds that, in certain cases, abortion can be “morally preferable” to the alternatives. |
| Such wording reveals that faith can never be for most believers a matter of certainty, but rather the exercise of individual conscience, adapted to circumstances. The flip side of that flexibility lies in the challenge of applying private moral conclusions to public policy that affects the many who are not believers. | Such wording reveals that faith can never be for most believers a matter of certainty, but rather the exercise of individual conscience, adapted to circumstances. The flip side of that flexibility lies in the challenge of applying private moral conclusions to public policy that affects the many who are not believers. |
| Politics, by contrast, especially in the feverish atmosphere of a general election, is all about black and white answers. And it was here that Farron’s by-the-Good-Book evangelical Christianity caused him to come a cropper. Like others before him – the former Labour cabinet minister Ruth Kelly, a member of the extreme traditionalist Opus Dei movement springs to mind – he tried, when giving political interviews, to make a fine, theological distinction between what he regarded as an individual as sinful, and what, as a legislator, he deemed wrong. There was never any suggestion that Farron regarded gay sex as criminal, but he chose to dodge the question of whether it was, in God’s eyes, a sin, and then, under pressure, backtracked. It was the worst of all worlds. | Politics, by contrast, especially in the feverish atmosphere of a general election, is all about black and white answers. And it was here that Farron’s by-the-Good-Book evangelical Christianity caused him to come a cropper. Like others before him – the former Labour cabinet minister Ruth Kelly, a member of the extreme traditionalist Opus Dei movement springs to mind – he tried, when giving political interviews, to make a fine, theological distinction between what he regarded as an individual as sinful, and what, as a legislator, he deemed wrong. There was never any suggestion that Farron regarded gay sex as criminal, but he chose to dodge the question of whether it was, in God’s eyes, a sin, and then, under pressure, backtracked. It was the worst of all worlds. |
| And falling back on the Bible’s authority in his resignation text to excuse the muddle he got in is misleading. For that claim to authority is not absolute, as he seems to imply. The Old Testament says anything you want it to. Murder your enemies, rape their wives, slay their children, avoid wearing red – all in God’s name. | And falling back on the Bible’s authority in his resignation text to excuse the muddle he got in is misleading. For that claim to authority is not absolute, as he seems to imply. The Old Testament says anything you want it to. Murder your enemies, rape their wives, slay their children, avoid wearing red – all in God’s name. |
| For Christians, the key texts are surely the four gospels where Jesus Christ speaks. And in them he says not a single word on gay sex. Indeed, sexual morality demonstrably isn’t what he was about. It was something with which the institutional church, later churches, chose to saddle him. | For Christians, the key texts are surely the four gospels where Jesus Christ speaks. And in them he says not a single word on gay sex. Indeed, sexual morality demonstrably isn’t what he was about. It was something with which the institutional church, later churches, chose to saddle him. |
| If Farron really wanted, as he claims now, to “remain faithful to Christ”, perhaps he might have done better to stick to the Gospels and use as his political template the Beatitudes – where Jesus focuses his audience’s attention on the fate of the poor, the meek, and those who hunger and thirst. | If Farron really wanted, as he claims now, to “remain faithful to Christ”, perhaps he might have done better to stick to the Gospels and use as his political template the Beatitudes – where Jesus focuses his audience’s attention on the fate of the poor, the meek, and those who hunger and thirst. |
| Indeed, the “common good” – a phrase with biblical roots – was heard being bandied about loosely by both Conservative and Labour leaders in the election campaign. And it was and remains the basis of election guidance issued by Church leaders in the major denominations to believers, rather than the casting of votes on any single cause, such as opposing gay marriage or abortion. | Indeed, the “common good” – a phrase with biblical roots – was heard being bandied about loosely by both Conservative and Labour leaders in the election campaign. And it was and remains the basis of election guidance issued by Church leaders in the major denominations to believers, rather than the casting of votes on any single cause, such as opposing gay marriage or abortion. |
| The late Cardinal Basil Hume, leader of the Catholic church in England and Wales until his death in 1999, used to say that to be pro-life was not about opposing abortion, but about embracing a wider approach that included being in favour of health, education, employment and other life-enhancing opportunities for every individual. | The late Cardinal Basil Hume, leader of the Catholic church in England and Wales until his death in 1999, used to say that to be pro-life was not about opposing abortion, but about embracing a wider approach that included being in favour of health, education, employment and other life-enhancing opportunities for every individual. |
| It seems that the cardinal – who spent most of his life in a Benedictine abbey – was better at navigating the overlap between politics and faith than the man who led the Liberal Democrats. | It seems that the cardinal – who spent most of his life in a Benedictine abbey – was better at navigating the overlap between politics and faith than the man who led the Liberal Democrats. |
| Less inspirational, but nonetheless instructive, is the example of Tony Blair. He famously didn’t “do God” in office, according to his spokesman, Alastair Campbell, and was received as a Catholic only after leaving office. But his faith undeniably shaped his actions as prime minister, for better and for worse. It is not something anyone “committed” can leave at the door of Westminster or Whitehall, like a pair of outdoor shoes. | Less inspirational, but nonetheless instructive, is the example of Tony Blair. He famously didn’t “do God” in office, according to his spokesman, Alastair Campbell, and was received as a Catholic only after leaving office. But his faith undeniably shaped his actions as prime minister, for better and for worse. It is not something anyone “committed” can leave at the door of Westminster or Whitehall, like a pair of outdoor shoes. |
| How to reconcile a religious conscience with the compromises of political life, however, requires agility of mind and spirit, and perhaps that above all is where the evangelical mindset of Farron was found wanting. The unbridgeable divide that he claims is currently exiling those with religious convictions from frontline politics is his own problem, not a general malaise. By suggesting otherwise, he has done a disservice to millions of people of faith who daily and successfully engage with the political process. | How to reconcile a religious conscience with the compromises of political life, however, requires agility of mind and spirit, and perhaps that above all is where the evangelical mindset of Farron was found wanting. The unbridgeable divide that he claims is currently exiling those with religious convictions from frontline politics is his own problem, not a general malaise. By suggesting otherwise, he has done a disservice to millions of people of faith who daily and successfully engage with the political process. |
| Peter Stanford is a former editor of the Catholic Herald and author of Martin Luther: Catholic Dissident (Hodder) | Peter Stanford is a former editor of the Catholic Herald and author of Martin Luther: Catholic Dissident (Hodder) |
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