Hope not Hate

Most Churches shy away from instructing people on how to vote but the Church of England in the Barking Episcopal Area has recently been working with the racial justice team of Churches Together in Britain and Ireland and the Methodist Church to produce guidance for our congregations on exploring a Christian response to far-right political parties including the BNP. At tonight's Redbridge & Epping Forest TOGETHER rally, I shared some of the key messages from that guidance:

"Most churches are agreed that the racist policies and fascist philosophy of the British National Party are incompatible with Christian faith. In addition to being a racist party, the BNP belong to a fascist political tradition which has sought to do away with democracy and personal / collective freedom, both of which must be at the heart of any political system compatible with Christianity.
Many denominations and Christian leaders have expressed their concern about and their opposition to far-right political parties:

• The Church of England “believes that voting for and/or supporting a political party that offers racist policies is incompatible with Christian discipleship.”
• “The Methodist Church expects members of the Methodist Church to practice and promote racial justice and inclusion, and reject any political parties that attempt to stir up racial hatred and fear of asylum seekers.”
• The United Reformed Church affirms “that membership of or support for organizations such as the BNP is incompatible with Christian discipleship.”
• The Baptist Union of Great Britain “encourages full voting participation in local, national and European elections, but urges people not to vote for candidates who promote, give assent to, or are associated with racist policies.”
• The Catholic Bishops Conference of England and Wales has said that “All political parties have a responsibility to be clear and unequivocal in their refusal to collude with racism.”
• The African and Caribbean Evangelical Alliance states that “The BNP may present its election message as ‘Christian’, but as it is based on the divisive and racist agenda inherent to that party, it is clearly out of step with the message of freedom and belonging that is central to the Christian faith.”

One trend that is causing great alarm among churches is the tactic of presenting a racist agenda as “Christian.” This has been done explicitly by an organization called “The Christian Council of Great Britain” led by BNP member Robert West. We are deeply concerned that such people are appropriating Christian language and symbols for policies that are the very opposite of Christian values.

The response of Churches to the BNP is based on the Christian belief that all people are created as one race, the human race. The Christian view is that all people are made in the image of God and this leads us to a vision of a just community where people of all backgrounds live together in equality. The BNP, and organisations such as The Christian Council of Great Britain, clearly reject that vision and so, as Christian churches, we oppose the racist policies and fascist philosophy of the BNP stating clearly that they are incompatible with Christian faith and calling on all Church members to use their vote for democracy and against the BNP. "

The key message from the rally was the importance of turnout in the election. There is a real risk of the BNP gains Assembly seats but doing so will be harder the higher the turnout in the election. It is vital that as many people as possible exercise their democratic right and vote against the BNP.

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Curtis Mayfield - We Gotta Have Peace.