Monday, October 29, 2007

Personalities and Politics

Recently I got a barrage of criticism for simply questioning some of the criticisms of the Prime Minister and it has got me thinking.
If one thing unites people in their distaste for politicians habits, it's the fact that they tend to sometimes get a bit unpleasant with their criticism that it becomes personal. Some are aware of this and pledge to put an end to "Punch and Judy" politics before falling into the same trap themselves, not because they are hypocrites, but because it is an easy trap to fall into.
Put simply, the primary aim for politicians in a democracy is not to make the World a better place, it is to get elected so as to make the World a better place. Whether they aim for the latter can be debateable, although many start off with the right aim in mind. However the first element, getting elected, means that the aim is to win power in a competitive arena and that in turn means that one tends to see ones opponents as the enemy. People being individuals, some take it more personally and fight dirty compared to others and from what I have seen first hand in the past few years, you get to see some pretty muddy parts of the stream.
But that does not invalidate the aims of politicians, nor the Democratic process, rather it means that one has to be fully aware of that competitive element and to try and deal with that, or else one might just as well try and stop logs being chucked downstream without dealing with the people chucking the logs.

Paul Burgin
(Jt CPF Co'Ordinator)

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Friday, October 26, 2007

Are the Tables turning against Bush

One of the contradictory things concerning Christianity and politics in the US is that, whilst there is a definite seperation between church and state, some churches, church ministers, and Christian groups, align themsleves more to partisan elements in the american political system compared to the UK, where there are definite tie-in's between church and state with regards to the Anglican Church.
That political bias within certain movements has benefited a no of US Presidents, not least President Bush who has alluded much to his Christian faith. He has also had support from a no of evangelical and fundamentalist Christians (although not all of them), over Foreign affairs issues such as Iraq and Afghanistan.
But that popularity may be slipping, as recent reports suggest that the Right are becoming disenchanted with President Bush , not least among some Christians in his home state of Texas, where there is some disenchantment with his role in the Iraq War

There are some lessons for us all here. It's very easy for example, for a non-political Christian group to support a particular candidate or Party simply because he or she is "sound" on various issues, be it abortion, gay marriage, war, money etc.. whether he or she or they are from the left or right. This is dangerous as it doesn't properly take into account the large raft of issues that secular groups and candidates fight for, so for the 60% of policies you may agree with there are likely to be some policies in the 40% which you will find offensive to your consience and/or faith.
It's difficult, but Christian groups that are not created to be partisan (as I think groups specificually for Christians within political parties are different) and Churches, have to be very careful and must do all they can not to get into an arena of bias towards a particular candidate and/or party. Such moves can damage the chance for some to hear the message of the gospel, and can give a false image of perfection towards the candidate/party they are backing. In short, such groups are wise to appreciate that it is important to be involved in politics, but they should know that such moves are risky and involve a crash course in ballet dancing

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CPF Report

We have now published our report into Church communities and it can be found here.

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Wednesday, October 17, 2007

Ming's Departure

It has to be said that whilst many people of varying political persuasions are saddened to see Sir Menizes Campbell leave the way he has. It is somewhat of an indictment of our society that the pressure for him to quit has been down to age. Some of our best politicians down the ages were at their prime when they were no spring chicken (Sir Winston Churchill was sixty-five when he became Prime Minister in May 1940). Indeed, even in the Bible you get some of it's major figures being past their youth when they followed their calling. Abraham and Moses for example!
In a World where many people are living longer and where therefore we have more OAP's, this was not only a pretty shabby way to treat someone, but also it was an insult to many pensioners in the UK

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Monday, October 15, 2007

Priest convicted of involvment in Argentina's Dirty War, Thirty Years Ago

As a non Roman Catholic I have wondered how awful it must be for a priest to remain silent on some of the things said to him in the confessional box. However, in these circumstances, given the regime involved and given the strict rules of confession within the Roman Catholic Church, I don't know how this priest can sleep at night!

Paul Burgin
(Jt CPF Co'Ordinator)

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Monday, October 01, 2007

CPF SOCIAL EVENT

This Saturday (October 6th) is the first Christian Political Forum social event. This will be held at The Clarence Pub, near the top of Whitehall, London, SW1P 2HP, from 5pm - 9pm. You are warmly invited to join us for a drink and a chat and meet the faces behind the CPF. This is a good opportunity to find out more about the CPF, the plans we have for the future, and ways you could become more involved, or just have an informal chat over a drink!

We have not reserved a table in the pub, but if you need to find us you can contact Aidan on 07947 155 017.

We hope to see you there.

Paul and Aidan
CPF co-ordinators