Moral Values

Each week I receive an e-mail, from the Evangelical Alliance, that provides a thought-provoking message on a topical issue (much as I attempt to do on this blog!!). This evening, the message was on Values, and it cited a BBC poll that "... revealed that the majority of the population support the role of religion in public life. According to the survey, 63% agreed that “Our laws should respect and be influenced by UK religious values.” Similarly, 62% agreed that “Religion has an important role to play in public life.” Unsurprisingly, those who were already religious were especially in favour, but what must be really galling to the secularists is that 51% of those who said they had no religion still believed that religious values should influence our legal system."

Earlier, I had been at the monthly prayer-meeting of The Scottish Christian Party, and the combination of the two reminded me of a letter that I had sent to The (Glasgow) Herald earlier in the week in response to one that had been published. My letter did not grace the pages of the newspaper so, here it is for your own perusal!!

Dear Sir,
Iain D. Mann (Politicians must show their integrity, too; 24th Feb) is absolutely correct in his analysis of the current “working within the rules that we ourselves set up” of so many of our politicians. As he, and many others, point out, the sound of these politicians noising off about obscene bonuses being paid to bankers does smack of pots and kettles, and people living in glass houses.
The problem is that all of the “major” parties appear to be tarred with the same brush – not, one hastens to add, that every member is guilty of this legalised fraud, but that every party has its quota of those who are! This suggests that the time has finally come for the electorate to abandon the attitude of generational loyalty that has so many of those who bother to vote at all doing so on the basis of “It’s the way my father voted”.
Many, it would seem, are turning to the British National Party, but many others cannot bring themselves to support some of that Party’s (perceived?) policies. The Scottish Christian Party, and its counterparts, do offer a further alternative – and an assurance of the honesty and integrity that have become alien concepts in much of our nation’s politics, at every level. Perhaps, during the raft of elections that are coming up over the next year or two, a sufficient number will be so persuaded of the advantages of the traditional Christian values that actually shaped the nation over many centuries, to “put their cross by the Cross”, and elect those who will be trustworthy, and able to resist the temptations that political office seems to bring. Yours faithfully,
C.Brian Ross (Rev)

The Herald may have decided against publishing my letter, but that BBC poll suggests that there is, indeed, a desire (not yet a real hunger!) for a return to the "old-fashioned" values that have shaped so much of our society.

I also received an "AllExperts" question, part of the answer to which was a reminder that every follower of the Lord, Jesus Christ, is a witness - be it a good one, or a bad one! Our lives do speak much more loudly than our words - and for some, the only gospel that they will ever read is the life of a friend who professes to be a Christian.

If we are to see a return to those Christian values, is it not required of each one of us to "Walk the walk" as well as "Talk the talk"; and to support Christians in politics - and especially the Christian parties - that they might be "salt and light" in a world that, as our daily news bulletins increasingly show, is very short of both?