Over the last few years there is no question that the Labour government have overseen a striking de-Christianisation of our country. Told by his spin doctor that he could not “do God”, Blair then Brown have seen fit to pass a series of laws that either directly contradict Christian principles, or have components that have helped to further exclude Christians from the public square. I am convinced that we cannot afford another five years of Brown. We Christians risk finding ourselves genuinely persecuted and discriminated against in the name of “tolerance.” Although the recent abusive Foreign Office memo about the Pope’s visit does not represent official Labour pollicy, it does reflect the culture that they have been allowing to form, which is increasingly aggressive and dismissive towards Christians.
The Christian Institute has published a briefing document that tracks Labour’s record in office and the positions of major other parties on these issues. They try and list the facts without making an opinion clear, so the opinions in this post are mine alone, while the facts are indisputable. So for example Labour has:
- Whipped their MPs to support the Human Fertilization and Embryology Act.
- Introduced various equality legislation without considering the needs of churches and individual Christians for exemptions from certain provisions. For example, we are not far from a church being forced to employ pastoral workers who do not believe the church’s doctrine, and registrars are already legally compelled to conduct homosexual civil unions, even if their religious beliefs preclude them from doing so, or be fired.
- Passed a law to permit people to change the gender on their birth certificate without any right for a potential marriage partner to know whether someone was born as a man or woman.
- Massively deregulated the gambling industry
- Downgraded cannabis despite evidence it can trigger psychosis
- Repealed the blasphemy laws
- Allowed 24/hour drink licenses
- Continues to ban Christians from owning some type of TV and radio stations
- Vowed in their manifesto to repeal a “free speech” amendment that conservative peeers forced onto the “hate crimes” legislation. Repealing this amendment could mean that a preaher who said that he believed the Bible says sex should be within marriage only would be imprisoned. This pledge could mark the end of centuries of Christian liberty in Britain if Brown was to return to power. So quite simply a vote for Brown is a vote for persecution of Christians. Our freedom of religion is at stake.
The Liberal Democrats appear likely to enact further laws in favor of excessive political correctness, and against some of our moral values such as the respect for all human life. One of the fundamental problems is that a “rights based” approach is increasingly arguing that to even express a religious belief deemed unacceptable to the mainstream is enough to warrant punishment. This is a dangerous path that we in the UK led the world in rejecting centuries ago. One is reminded of the novel 1984!
Please understand, I am certainly not advocating that people should be free to be hateful in their speech or aggressive towards those who disagree with them. But the truth is, in a multicultural society, with many people of all faiths and none, we have to find ways for people to be allowed to believe in the age-old values of their faith while respecting others.
The conservatives on the other hand are less bureaucratic and restrictive by nature. I am under no illusions that all of Labour’s measures will be repealed if Cameron wins. It just seems that they are less likely to further swing the pendulum away from individual liberty to believe things that are different to the mainstream. Also, David Cameron personally voted in favor of lowering the age abortion is allowed, but has always maintained the noble English convention that such matters should be left to MPs free vote and conscience. It was only Brown who bullied his cabinet and party to go against their conscience if necessary and support the bill on reproductive ethics.
Because of all this, and the way the election is so closely fought I am not so sure that we can afford the luxury of carefully assessing the positions of our local candidates on all such things, this election seems to be being fought almost exclusively on a national platform. However, if you have an incumbent MP who is re-standing, you can look on the Christian Institute site to see how your MP has been representing you.
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