The Jubilee Centre and KLICE on Brexit

The Jubilee Centre and the Kirby Laing Institute for Christian Ethics have each recently posted items on Europe and Brexit, all written before this week’s announcement of a general election in June.

From the Jubilee Centre comes the latest Cambridge Paper, this one by Paul Mills and Michael Schluter:

Paul Mills and Michael Schluter, ‘Brexit in a Fractured Europe: A Relational Vision and Strategy for Reconciliation’, Cambridge Papers 26, 1 (March 2017).

Here is the summary:

‘The outcome of the UK’s referendum on EU membership has highlighted deep divisions within the populace, including among Christians, and increased the likelihood of further ruptures between the UK and EU27 as well as within and between the EU27 countries themselves. This paper first sets out the mandate for Christians to prioritise time and resources for peace-building within and between nations. It then presents an alternative ‘relational’ framework for peace-building within the UK and between the UK and the EU27. A Confederal model is then outlined as the basis for a new shared vision for reform within the EU. Within God’s Providence, we can pray that the Brexit vote will be seen in hindsight as a trigger for relationally-positive transformation, not just in Britain but across the Continent.’

From KLICE comes two comments, one from Richard Bauckham (‘Brexit: restoring self-governance’), and one from Nicholas Townsend (‘Thinking about Brexit after Article 50’).

European Union Referendum Resources

Friends and colleagues in several organisations are producing some helpful information and resources on the forthcoming EU Referendum which seeks to engage with the issues from a Christian perspective rather than perpetuating the battle of ‘fear’ narratives that seems to typify much of the debate elsewhere.

See here for a short post by the Joint Public Issues Team (representing The Baptist Union of Great Britain, The Methodist Church, The United Reformed Church, and The Church of Scotland). They have a page on their website devoted to the referendum here, with a short pdf booklet downloadable here, aiming ‘to encourage individuals and churches to think through Britain's membership of the European Union in the light of the gospel command to love your neighbour’.

Theos, the public theology think tank, have produced some helpful material...

Ben Ryan, A Soul for the Union (London: Theos, 2016) – a Theos booklet, with information here and downloadable as a pdf here.

Ben Ryan, ‘The EU Needs Its Soul Back’.

Ben Ryan, ‘Does Europe Need to be a Christian Continent?’

Nick Spencer and Ben Ryan, ‘Putting Principles Back into the EU’.

As has the Kirby Laing Institute for Christian Ethics, with a special page here, with (to date) the following individual pieces...

Jonathan Chaplin, ‘What is the EU for? Introducing KLICE’s Referendum Coverage’.

Jonathan Chaplin, ‘“It is not so among you” – The Transformative Power of Powerlessness’.

Michael Schluter, ‘Brexit Unless... Three Fundamental Conditions for Staying in the EU’, Ethics in Brief EU Referendum Series 1 (April 2016).

This article sets out five biblical principles for political and economic life and finds that the EU currently breaches them significantly. It proposes three conditions for remaining within the EU but, in the absence of other EU countries supporting such conditions, argues that British people should vote for Brexit. The article represents the views of the author and not of KLICE.

Ben Ryan, ‘Rejecting Project Fear for Project Hope: Creating the Moral Case for the Remain Campaign’, Ethics in Brief EU Referendum Series 2 (May 2016).

The European Union has spent years staggering through a crisis with political, economic, theoretical and practical elements. It has been, in many ways, a disappointment, failing to live up to the standards that were set for it in the 1950s. It stands in need of some redemption. Despite all this it remains the best hope for a genuinely international, voluntary and moral model of governance. This article makes that case for the EU as the body with the potential to be the moral force the 21st century world needs and, therefore, an organisation for the UK to help save, not leave.

Then there is the Jubilee Centre, with a collection of pieces, including four briefing papers, here.

In addition, Christians in Politics have a page here with several links to short articles.

Andrew Goddard has revised a Grove booklet on the European Union first written nearly 20 years ago. It’s available for purchase from here, with some additional resources available here, and a helpful summary gist here.

Finally, here are a couple of friends who have offered their own reflections:

Eddie Arthur, ‘Fifty Shades of Grey’.

Mark Meynell, ‘Brexit Schmexit: Some (VERY) Random Bremainer Thoughts’.