What can Christians say about Britain and Europe?
The question of Britain's relationship with the EU is rapidly becoming the nigh pressing question of our fourth dimension—and perhaps the most pressing question for our national life for several generations, certainly since the end of the Second World War. Nevertheless Christian leaders seem to fall into ane of two traps—either maxim something partisan which alienates one side or the others, or maxim nothing at all and leaving a vacuum.
It is therefore with some trepidation that I make these observations, though I am in the interesting (and perhaps unusual?) state of affairs of actualization to take social media friends on both sides of the argument, so that whenever I practice post comment online, in that location is interaction betwixt the different viewpoints, and quite often it is helpful and enlightening.
I begin by citing an assessment of the 2 'sides' of the argument every bit set out helpfully by Andrew Goddard in his Grove booklet on the referendum—which yet bears reading.
It Hurts To Get Away: A Christian Case To Remain
We should stay because the Eu's vision, shaped by Christianity, has led information technology to much proficient for its members and more widely. The proper response to difficulties in relationships is non to walk out simply to piece of work at them and influence others for the proficient past existence present. The UK has modelled this through the European union afterwards initially standing apart and we should persevere in that commitment. Eu membership recognises the value of international co-operation and the need for many political questions to be addressed at a trans-national level. The UK and other nations benefit from our involvement in institutions working for justice. These bodies tin can never be as representative every bit local and national political structures only the EU ensures all nations are represented in its deliberations and respects their unlike histories and perspectives. Its commitment to subsidiarity gives a powerful ground for sustaining such distinctiveness.
To leave would diminish our input in conversations and decisions which will inevitably affect our lives and would isolate us from structures which bring us into regular political contact with our nearest neighbours. Information technology would requite credence to erroneous views, peculiarly that national sovereignty is inviolable, and risk fuelling nationalistic or xenophobic attitudes. Voting to remain does not mean accepting the Euro or all other recent developments. Rather, information technology means being committed to working with our neighbours to seek our shared common good.
It's Incommunicable To Stay: A Christian Case To Leave
We should leave considering the European union, despite Christian elements in its vision, and past successes for example in relation to peace, is now failing and damaging members and others. Information technology is increasingly captive to contemporary, specially economic, idols as seen in the Euro, and is developing characteristics of an imperial project which practice not adequately respect national integrity. Given its history, the UK is well able to discern and to alert the EU to these trends only attempts at reform have largely failed. Subsidiarity, for case, is honoured in give-and-take but non action as Eu competences extend beyond so much of our lives. Especially since the European union'southward expansion, the possibility of representative political authority structures has diminished. At that place is fifty-fifty less—and far from sufficient—mutual identity uniting us and we should non seek to engineer or impose such an identity.
The principle of free motion of Eu citizens denies the importance of our locatedness and does not do justice to distinct national identities. It is no longer enabling solidarity simply increasing tensions and, equally with other policies, leads to an unjustifiable preferential selection for the European union rather than other, poorer, parts of the globe. Brexit, though information technology will have costs, opens the possibility of creatively rethinking and reconfiguring this negative dynamic to enable the cosmos of a better state of affairs not just for the Uk but for the Eu and wider world.
It is worth noting that, whilst some of these ii perspectives might seem to draw on standard economical or political arguments, in fact they are rooted in Christian theological perspectives which are explored throughout the booklet.
In that location are 2 chief things to accept away from this pair of positions. The outset is that the case for total membership of the EU is circuitous and finely counterbalanced, and involves considering a wide range of issues. Anyone who suggests that answer is obvious and articulate is fooling themselves. The second point to annotation is that there isn't actually a 'magical' Christian answer to the question, and if only we paid attending to these particular Bible verses, we would see the Christian answer more clearly than others. The Eu is not the 'greatest human dream realised' and I remember it is peculiarly unhelpful when Christian leaders seem to idealise/idolise the EU in this way. Just neither is the EU the finish-times beastly conspiracy for world government from which we must 'come out' (Rev 18.4).
Britain'due south membership of the Eu involves a whole series of major issues, some in tension with one another, and on each of these issues Christian theological reflection has a range of things to say. This isnota failure of Christian theological thinking; I don't recollect information technology is ever the goal of organized religion to argue for 1, single form of government, and Christians have had to live in all sorts of political contexts and had to larn to alive faithfully inside them. Jim Retentivity, who teaches on European Mission at Redcliffe Higher, sums up the main bug nether v headings of identity, migration, freedom, republic, and economy. (Y'all can listen to his summary of these on the Redcliffe podcast 12c starting at 28 minutes in.) Christian faith and theologydoestake something of import and distinctive to say in each area—but these distinctive don't automatically add upward to produce an answer to the kind of 'in/out' question that the referendum posed.
In the moment we are at present caught, in that location is a temptation to think that 'something must be done' and and then nosotros seize on whatsoever 'something' comes along, and I can't aid thinking that having a citizen'due south forum falls into that category. The Christian faith is distinctively committed to believe in truth and memory, not least since the central act of Christian worship is to remember the one who was and is the true and faithful witness to God. I thinking about Britain and Europe, it seems to me that at that place are several important things we need to recall which are all also easily lost in the frenzied arguments of the nowadays moment.
The first is to go along to remember the origins of the impulse for integrated economic cooperation in the destruction and anarchy of the Second World War. I thought information technology extraordinary to witness concluding week, 80 years on, the German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier apologising to Poland for the Nazi atrocities. When nosotros visited Wroclaw in southern Poland final year, we learned that not but were iii meg Polish Jews murdered in the gas chambers, only so were 2 million non-Jewish Poles, leaders in politics, business and education, in an attempt to decapitate the nation and plough them into a docile slave state. Wroclaw itself had been the East German city of Breslau, and survived intact until Apr 1945, when Hitler named it Fortress Breslau and in response the Soviets destroyed half the urban center by bombing in one calendar week. When information technology was occupied, 95% of the High german population was expelled, and information technology was repopulated by Poles from Lodz expelled in turn by the Soviets. Most of united states of america in the Britain are detached from these realities; when we were there for a long weekend, on the next tabular array to us was a man bringing his mother to visit the city for the get-go time since she had been expelled in 1945. This forms an important part of the historical background and continuing impetus for European economic cooperation.
The second is to remember the real autonomous deficit that has existed in the United kingdom of great britain and northern ireland in relation to our membership of the EU equally it has now developed. A critical moment in this was the signing of the Maastricht Treaty, which renamed the EEC as the European Community, reflecting the major step towards integration beyond merely economic considerations. Three of the European nations (French republic, Denmark and Ireland) held referenda prior to their own ratification of the treaty, but the UK did not, despite arguments (for example, by constitutional historian Vernon Bogdanor) that the delegation of decisions constitutionally made in the U.k. required agreement by referendum.
The antipodal of this is the 3rd of import thing to remember—the cord of abject lies put well-nigh by the UK press nigh Europe, including many promulgated by Boris Johnson when working as a journalist both in Brussels and in the United kingdom. The extent of these is so remarkable that the European Committee in the United kingdom has created a special web page, listing all the myths and offering corrections to them; it is worth scrolling down the page to run across this extraordinary list (I estimated about 700 examples). What is peculiarly serious hither is that not only did Boris Johnson contribute to these lies, he has continued to practise so every bit recently as July this year, when he falsely claimed that European union regulations were forcing United kingdom of great britain and northern ireland producers to package kippers in a particular style—when the regulation came from the Uk Food Standards agency. A Christian business concern for truth ways that nosotros cannot simply discount this or see it as a poor ways to a good cease (even if that is what nosotros believe the 'end' to be).
This has an important practical implication, in that it becomes much harder to assert that the 2022 referendum demonstrated the 'will of the people' when there have been so many lies nigh the relation between the UK and the Europe Customs over so long a period, quite apart from the big lie almost £350 one thousand thousand a week on the side of the bus. Even those involved in the campaign cheerfully admit that the vote was won on the basis of a serial of lies! But Christians have a distinctive concern almost truth and lies, since i of the major characterisation in the New Attestation of God is that he is true and the source of all truth, and his primeval catholic opponent the Devil is the 'father of lies' (John 8.44). A failure to provide full and accurate information was plenty to void the result of a recent plebiscite in Switzerland, but the failure to tell the truth has had a seriously corrosive effect on all political life, and particularly effectually the question of the European Community, over contempo years. That should worry usa.
The fourth major issue concerns the referendum itself. It was called by David Cameron primarily to resolve an internal issue in the Bourgeois political party, and as an 'in-out' plebiscite it was grossly ill-conceived, since in that location are several ways to be 'in' (in or out of the Schengen open borders area? in or out of the Euro?) as well as a range of ways of being 'out' (in or out of the EFTA, the customs marriage, having a 'Canada Plus' relationship, or WTO rules for merchandise?). It was a picayune flake similar asking whether nosotros should paint the room green or 'another colour', and when the vote was, by a very close margin, 'another colour', thinking that the question was settled and we could exit and buy the paint. This is reflected in the coining of the term 'Brexit', a word coined by Peter Wilding, who at present regrets the term, and he had all simply forgotten its origins himself until it was seized on with gusto past the main Leave campaign. The repeated utilise of the give-and-take achieved two things: start, information technology simplified the debate into a binary choice between two clear alternatives; and secondly, information technology then polarised both the fence and the nation into these two camps
Ane major flaw with the referendum was the lack of a higher than 50:fifty margin for decision. Even your local golf club has a better system for revising its constitution; setting a 2/iii or 3/iv majority threshold for constitutional modify is routine, since that takes into account the possible bias of those members who don't vote, the long-term consequences of change, and the changeability and vacillation of those who do vote. Information technology was pretty articulate from the offset that the very close margin didn't actually correspond the views of the population equally a whole:
What has been largely ignored are the 12.9 million who did not vote. Had the democratic process been that of Australia where voting is compulsory, the polls indicate the result would take been to Remain from day naught, and would still be Remain (run across no2brexit.com and businessinsider.com). Of course, there is a criticism of the non-voter but, for various very good reasons, some were reported as simply non able to vote.
And of those expressing a view, 'Remain' has been the consequent though marginal majority view ever since. None of that settles the decision almost what nosotros should exercise, but information technology completely undercuts the claim that the plebiscite 'demonstrated the settled will of the people', or that nosotros should 'just accept the outcome of the referendum' and human action on it. Robert Peston argues that referenda of all kinds sit with difficulty within the UK'south constitutional configuration of democracy:
What was e'er outrageous, a constitutional horror, was that Cameron should have and then recklessly grafted on to the UK'due south parliamentary traditions the idea that on the biggest and most complicated decisions – whether nosotros stay or leave the European union, what'south the fairest arrangement for electing MPs, whether Scotland should be an independent nation – direct democracy trumps centuries of parliamentary democracy.
So saying 'that is just how democracy works' is itself a problematic merits. Christians, of all people, should be able to step back from the exact (and sometimes literal) fisticuffs on the effect to reflect on these important concerns. Added to that, the Electoral Committee plant that Leave campaigners broke electoral police force, and the High Courtroom judged that, had the plebiscite been legally binding (it was non in the way that it was set upwardly past Parliament, despite personal commitments by party leaders) then information technology would have to exist rerun.
My own view on the bigger question of our membership of the EU is notwithstanding finely counterbalanced. There are enormous economic benefits to membership, but the danger is that these benefits exclude those on the outside. The EU itself can appear to make claims of offering cultural and economic salvation—but so can nationalist language. The Bible does appear consistently to envision differentiated nations in the globe—but it never makes the identity of the nation land absolute. And the EU commitment to accented free movement of people tin can have economic benefits and provide opportunities for individuals. But its result is highly destructive on both the receiving and the sending communities. If you don't feel the impact of migration on your community, listen to this painful account of Spalding, an area that does, when Romanaian is the most-heard language on the high street, and local culture and practices have been destroyed past the authorisation of the migrant customs. In the wrangling nigh the outcome of the vote, the question raised at the fourth dimension of the sense of anger and marginalisation felt my many in communities that voted to leave appears to have been forgotten. At the other end of the 'free' movement, countries in the East who recently joined the EU have experienced cultural and economic destruction. Romania already had serious economic, social and political problems, only
Mass emigration has merely compounded the issues. One notorious instance is the healthcare system: tens of thousands of Romanian health workers now practise abroad, including iii,775 for the NHS, leaving Romanians in severely understaffed and underfunded clinics.
The migrants are normally the young and active, whose energy and idealism is therefore lost to Romanian society, economic system and politics. Correct now, it is desperately needed. Any emerging political force that is serious about improving the situation must find ways to stop this exodus. The 400,000 Romanians in the United kingdom are a keen loss for Romania, above all.
On the overall issue of membership of the Eu, there isn't a clear manner forward that would gain a clear consensus. Recent YouGov polling suggests that remaining equally we are is the most favoured response, but as well the near divisive. Moving to membership of the Customs Union appears to be the all-time consensus option; a 'no bargain' deviation is the least favoured.
But possibly the biggest concern of all is the way that the 'Brexit' question has both been created past and has accelerated the sense of out political organization as a cleaved mess. It is like a tyre lever, which has been needed because the tyre was apartment and needed irresolute, but when used clumsily has non replaced the tyre only has cleaved the whole cycle. Last nighttime's Channel 5 plan by Jeremy Paxman 'Why are our Politicians and so Crap' didn't mince its words about the problem we are now in: in a recent survey, 70% said that they thought our politicians are non honest (with just 9% saying they were); 71% recollect our politicians are not trustworthy (against nine%); and 63% don't recollect that our politicians are doing a good job.
Everything is political, merely politics isn't everything. I think that a Christian perspective needs to move beyond the arguments virtually a detail outcome here, and instead focus on the serious consequences of our broken political organisation. But it needs to do that with a wider perspective in view. To return to the comments of Jim Retentiveness in his talk about the issue:
Nosotros are constantly being told that the European union plebiscite is the defining political outcome of our generation, and potentially a turning point in our history as a nation. That might or might not exist true, but any our political perspective, but as Christians we believe that Jesus Christ, non politics, is the hope of the nations. The primeval Christian confession, 'Jesus is Lord', wasn't so much a argument of faith, but a defiant rejection of Caesar. For Christians, Jesus Christ, not secular political power, is our ultimate dominance. He is Lord, and his sovereignty should be the decision-making prototype for reflecting on life, the universe and everything, fifty-fifty the plebiscite.
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