A Further KLICE Briefing on the General Election 2015

The Kirby Laing Institute for Christian Ethics has posted another piece in a special series of eight extended Ethics in Brief essays on the main British political parties:

Nicholas Townsend

Blue Labour + Red Tory = Christian Democracy?

Christian Democracy is a largely continental European movement of which little is known in the UK. Yet it has many deep and valuable insights from which British politics could benefit. This article presents an overview of the history of the Christian Democratic movement, explains the content and coherence of its economic, social and political principles, addresses some of the sceptical questions it evokes and locates it in relation to the Red Tory and Blue Labour movements in the UK.

More from KLICE on the General Election 2015

The Kirby Laing Institute for Christian Ethics has posted a further two pieces in a special series of eight extended Ethics in Brief essays on the main British political parties:

Joshua Hordern

Christianity and Conservatism: Trust, Civil Society, Enterprise and Internationalism

As a form of political reasoning and practice, conservatism has much to commend it. Its characteristic focus on the what, why and how questions of conservation provides a helpful guide for thinking about politics. Attentive to these questions and inspired by Christian political thought, this vision of conservatism emphasises trust, both divine and creaturely; the interrelation of civil society with government; responsible enterprise; and sober internationalism.

Doug Gay

The Scottish National Party in Theological Perspective

Many commentators are predicting that the SNP could play a key role in the outcome of the 2015 General Election. They have surged in the polls following a tumultuous 2014 in which they led Scotland to a historic referendum on independence, which was rejected by a significant but not large margin. Few commentators outside Scotland know much of the history and background to the party. Many Christians also remain uneasy about explicit avowals of nationalism. This article explores the background to the rise of the SNP and suggests a theological route to evaluating nationalism and nationalist parties.

Theos Report on Voting and Values

Ben Clements and Nick Spencer, Voting and Values in Britain: Does Religion Count? (London: Theos, 2014).

The latest Theos report, Voting and Values in Britain, draws on ‘a decade’s worth of detailed survey work, from the British Election Study and British Social Attitudes surveys, as well as from other sources’, seeking to examine ‘the true relationship between religious and political commitments in Britain’.

More information is available here, and the full report is available for download here.

Jonathan Chaplin on How Christians Should Vote in 2010

Jonathan Chaplin, ‘How Should Christians Vote in 2010?’, Ethics in Brief 15, 2 (2010).

This is a helpful, short piece from Jonathan Chaplin, making it clear from the start that the question is not ‘who should Christians vote for in 2010?’, but ‘how can Christians prepare to vote as Christians in 2010?’

He notes in the Introduction that the article proceeds from four assumptions:

(1) that ‘all Christians should strive to allow their political thinking and acting to express their Christian discipleship just as in any other part of their lives’, seeking the welfare of the city.

(2) that ‘such striving is best done, not in solitary acts of private judgment accountable to no-one, but in open, respectful, rigorous and prayerful deliberation in the community of believers’.

(3) that ‘in engaging in that task of corporate discernment we do not have to start from scratch’, but are able to ‘draw on the rich legacy of Christian political wisdom’.

(4) that ‘when Christians reach considered judgments on the task of government, they need to make their contributions within the normal channels of public democratic debate and action’, working for the common good of the whole nation, not just our own interests.