Andrew Carter considers the ethical direction of politics in the UK
Almost three years after the UK voted in a referendum to leave the European Union, the nation seems further away from actual departure than ever. Plenty will depend on who becomes the next Prime Minister. Ten Conservative MPs have put themselves forward to replace Theresa May. One wonders why so many want the job. If ever there was a poisoned chalice – guaranteed to age you and make you highly unpopular – this is it!
Theresa May’s resignation came after her three failed attempts to pass legislation through Parliament enabling the signing of a treaty between the UK and the EU. And along the way it’s not been a pretty spectacle to say the least. After the second vote, I recall one newspaper headline label The Commons, ‘a House of Fools’. For her part, May has been called weak and inept, of being wedded to the foolish delusion that her compromise approach would succeed given enough time and explanation.
Polarised opinion
In one sense we shouldn’t be surprised at the way in which the issue of Brexit has resulted in parliamentary deadlock. Both public and parliamentary opinion is hugely polarised on this issue and today there seems to be less willingness to listen carefully to opposing views than ever. For Brexiteers, leaving the EU heralds freedom for the nation. For Remainers, leaving heralds doom. With such opposite narratives, if we thought a nice neat solution to Brexit could be found, we were probably naïve. Democracy is never straightforward. Doubtless we can echo (a paraphrase of) the words of Winston Churchill, that democracy is a terrible form of government but better than all the rest!
Although conflict in Parliament is to be expected, comment does need to be made about the moral authority of Parliament itself. This is not a comment about the dedication of MPs, something which is often hard to deny; nor the fact that compared to many nations, Britain’s legislature does pass many good laws. Rather, it’s a theological comment about the overall ethical direction of Britain’s Parliament, a direction which makes the kind of chaos we see in the House of Commons today pretty inevitable.
Common grace
Let me suggest that what we see in these days in Parliament is the direct result of a loss of common grace in our nation. Common grace is not something that we hear much about today but it’s too important to be forgotten. Common grace is a term used to define the blessings given by God to all men and women regardless of whether they are Christian believers or not. You find common grace upon all people, but particularly where they function according to the general precepts laid out by Scripture which provide for human flourishing and stability. So for example, people seeking to live honestly rather than dishonestly derive blessing; children born into faithful wedlock rather than out of it gain stability; looking after our God-given bodies via a healthy diet and exercise brings benefits compared to a life lived on junk food in front of a TV screen. Too often we forget that God blesses us in creation, as well as in redemption.
The concept of common grace also applies collectively to countries. Historically as Europe and her daughter nations sought to build biblical foundations for freedom, law and government, they were able to tap into structures embedded into the creation that promoted human flourishing and in turn received the blessing of God. Such blessing brought a stability and prosperity rarely found in other parts of the world. European cultures weren’t perfect by any means – they had major blind spots – but nevertheless to be born into a nation with a Judeo-Christian heritage was of great benefit.
Sadly, few in our nation today would acknowledge a debt to common grace. But from a Christian worldview perspective it’s hugely significant. The point is that for a nation to prosper it needs to sit under the blessing of God and it does that by working in conjunction with how the creation is designed rather than against it, coupled with a submission to the truth of God found in Scripture. I’m not saying that everyone in a nation needs to be a believer; more that a God-fearing attitude be found amongst its people which in turn shapes its laws and institutions. Clearly the church has a key role to play in establishing the backdrop to such a nation.
Addicted to sin
It seems to me that common grace can be withdrawn from a nation, or we might say that societies have the ability to reject the precepts that undergird common grace. It’s hard to say which one is correct as both seem to occur in tandem. The Apostle Paul tells us in Romans 1 that a society that gives God up will find itself being given up by God. And this seems to be what we see happening currently in Western nations. We’ve given God up and turned our back on the principles that bring blessing and stability, and in His righteous judgement, God is removing His restraining hand, allowing men and women to embrace the sin that they crave. And that sin in turn brings chaos, disorder and irrationality.
History teaches us that it’s often not until societies vomit on their sin that they call out to God for help and salvation. We may have to go very low before we see revival once more in our land. Sin is highly addictive stuff for fallen creatures and for the time being we seem intent on injecting it straight into our nation’s bloodstream, at least for the foreseeable future.
All of this process is being played out in the United Kingdom’s Parliament. Today we see chaos and folly. But in one sense we have to forget Brexit for a moment and examine the record of our Parliament; it’s a record that has resolutely rejected God’s blueprint for humanity. Take just three examples.
Take the unborn. This is a Parliament that ‘legalises’ the murder of babies on an industrial scale. In our duplicity we call it ‘the termination of a pregnancy’, but in the real world it’s genocide. Today our law-makers care more about the destruction of a bird’s egg in a nest than we do about babies in the womb. God commands that we value life; what do we do? We destroy it.
Take marriage. Marriage as defined and established by God – as between one man and one woman – is an institution established and blessed by Him; it provides the foundation for the stability of nations. What did we do in 2013? Parliament voted to ‘redefine’ marriage and impute to it a new contemporary definition. Why did it do that? Well, in its folly it decided that marriage was of human origin and open to redefinition by us, all the time forgetting that marriage is actually pre-political and forever defined by its architect. A legislature can no more change the definition of marriage than it can pass a law to make the earth flat. The 2013 Act was nothing more than an act of defiance towards the author of this creation. We said, ‘we will be the author’.
Take freedom of conscience. In centuries past, a recognition that all men and women are made in God’s image and so to be respected, coupled with a sense that God is the final judge of all not us, laid a foundation for freedom of expression. How are we doing? Not very well. To give one example: at the present time OFSTED (The Office for Standards in Education) – with its authority derived from Parliament – is seeking to impose its liberal version of morality in all schools, whether state or private, and sanction or silence those who refuse to buy into it. Ironically it’s all being justified in the name of British values. The mind boggles at such a profound misunderstanding of history. But it’s not only history that’s a casualty, freedom of thought is too.
Back to Parliament and Brexit. When we examine the record of Parliament, should we be surprised that we see chaos? In a God-defined and God-accountable world, can an institution that legalises sin and oppresses those who object do anything other than descend into confusion and chaos? When we humans have a serious infection that affects one part of our body, inevitably it will have implications for the health of the rest of us. And so it is with Parliament; the embrace of sin – with all it’s associated irrationality and justifications – even in one area of government, cannot help but result in irrationality across all parliamentary activities. We can’t compartmentalise the world into the good and the bad; everything merges into a unity. Wisdom – in every part of life – comes from fearing the LORD; despising His ways always leads to chaos and eventually destruction, in every arena of life.
The troubles in Britain’s Parliament are simply emblematic of what’s happening in the nation at large. You don’t have to be a prophet to see the direction that the wind’s blowing. Here’s the point: in a nation and a Parliament that scorns common grace and turns away from fearing the LORD, order and stability will not be the normal state of affairs. Reject God, spurn His blessings, despise His precepts, mock Scripture and you’re signing up for the road to chaos. In a word, judgement.
And finally. Historically, Christianity gave birth to freedom and in turn freedom gave us prosperity and stability. But freedom not boundarised by a Judeo-Christian morality soon descends into licence, characterised by hedonism and the worship of the self. What we are now seeing is this new ‘freedom’ turning around and destroying the mother who conceived her.
