LAST Friday, the Conservative MP for Dorset, Danny Kruger, gave a speech in the House of Commons reminding members that their debating chamber had been a chapel. For centuries, from King Alfred the Great to Queen Victoria, it had been obvious to everyone that the Christian faith was the nation’s faith. But recent legislation on abortion and assisted dying had betrayed this, he said, and he repented, deeply, of his complicity as a member of the House. Mr Kruger spoke into empty air. Almost no one was present, although many will have seen it on YouTube and social media, as I did.
The previous day, the Labour MP Rachel Maskell, following her suspension and the removal of the whip, explained her rebellion against welfare reform as coming from conscience and deeply held Christian principle. She said that it was simply wrong to target the vulnerable, as she believed the reforms would do. Ms Maskell, like Mr Kruger, had opposed the assisted-dying Bill. She also opposed the introduction of VAT on school fees, on the grounds that it would discriminate against the disabled. So, from both sides of the House, and over a couple of days, MPs were reminded of how deeply Christianity is woven into our history, culture, and laws.
Mr Kruger argued that the notion that the nation was “secular” was false, as was the idea that legislators were free to work in some kind of pure secular space, ignoring the Christian principles on which our common freedoms were founded. Daily prayers in the House of Commons and the existence of the Established Church gave the lie to such fantasies, he said. It was a brave speech, and disturbing that the House was empty. And worrying, too, that Ms Maskell, Labour to the core, was disciplined on an issue of principle which arose from a Christian conscience.
There are two reasons that the current Government is so publicly drifting from our Christian roots. The first is that it has collectively bought into the view that we are, in fact, a secular nation. Yet it is not prepared to put this to the test: if this is what it believes, if legislation is really happening in secular space, the Government should be seeking to remove bishops from the House of Lords and disestablish the Church of England. This would, of course, have implications for the monarchy, and I can’t see it happening.
The second reason that the Government is so negligent of the Christian voice is an assumption that this will appease Muslim voters concentrated in Labour areas. This may be a misjudgement, since many Muslims believe that their interests are better protected by an Established Church that takes their concerns seriously than an atheist government that acts as if prosperity and material well-being were the only things that mattered. Not that it is making too good a job at that.
