Premier Christian News recently reported on an Ipsos poll for the PA news agency in which over a quarter of UK respondents said that the next Archbishop of Canterbury should speak out less on political issues. The survey comes as the Church of England prepares to announce Justin Welby’s successor in the coming weeks, nearly a year after he announced he would step down.
In the interregnum, the Archbishop of York, Stephen Cottrell, has been acting interim leader and recently accused Reform UK leader, Nigel Farage, of offering an “isolationist, short-term kneejerk” response to the small boats immigration crisis.
According to the Ipsos poll, 28% of respondents said they would like the new Archbishop to speak less about political issues while 17% said they would like the appointee to speak out more.
What do we consider our Christian duty here? Our Lord stepped into human life in order to address those respects in which the culture, attitudes, and institutions of his day were undermining the freedom and life that God has given to his people – sometimes through prejudice, sometimes through ignorance and sometimes through the force of law.
There is no way that we as Christians can ignore the political issues facing today’s world or tacitly accept those political decisions that are demonstrably contrary to the ways that Jesus showed us. We should perhaps remember the wise words of Archbishop Desmond Tutu, who’s life was devoted to facing down South Africa’s apartheid system of racial segregation and white minority rule: “When people say that the Bible and politics don’t mix, I ask them which Bible they are reading!”
Read the full article here.