Candidates for Labour deputy put their religion on the table

Candidates for the Labour Party Deputy leadership held hustings under the auspices of the Christian Socialist Movement this week. The meeting was held at the Faithworks church in Kennington, London (Faithworks, of course, is the leading player in the push for faith-based welfare) and was aimed at discovering the candidates approach to “values and faith”.

Alan Johnson, who is presently the Education Minister said that he was not a Christian and had no faith. That didn’t mean he didn’t think there wasn’t a place for religion in the state. “The Christian Socialist Movement and Christianity has played a huge part in our party,” he said. Religion was not simply the opiate of the masses, but was “the sigh of the oppressed”.

He said that Britain’s relationship with the United States was crucial and warned against anti-Bushism turning into anti-Americanism. He defended the decision to deny Roman Catholic adoption agencies the right to discriminate against gay couples. Neither the Anglican nor the Jewish agencies had requested an exemption. “I do not understand why the Roman Catholic Church would allow a single gay person to adopt, but not a couple,” he said.

Hilary Benn, Secretary of State for International Development, said that values mattered as much as policies – and that was something “faith” was good at reinforcing.

Harriet Harman, Justice Minister, praised churches for supporting her campaign to tackle the “modern-day slave trade of human trafficking”. She said. “The Labour Party owes more to Methodism than Marxism,” adding that “faith groups” should get funded “pragmatically”, and “faith schools” should be judged on the quality of their education. In Northern Ireland they had been an obstacle to peace. Last week at the Institute for Education, Ms Harman had been a little more forthright in saying that she had concerns about the value of faith schools.

Hazel Blears, Minister Without Portfolio at the Cabinet Office, and Labour Party chair, said that she was motivated by her religious beliefs. “It is important that politicians have a strong sense of right and wrong,” she said. “If you have an understanding of Jesus’s life and teaching, it does lead you to the conclusion that Labour’s values are very similar indeed.” She claimed that the Christian Socialists “gave Labour a moral and ethical basis for socialism, and distinguished it from Marxist-based continental socialism”. She declared her support for the Establishment of the Church of England to remain and wanted more city academies with a religious ethos.

Peter Hain, Secretary of State for Northern Ireland and for Wales, said little about his personal religious faith (if he has one) but gave an idea of his values in saying he wanted to be in the forefront of the fight against climate change and to stop the two-tier workforce, where immigrant workers are living in a twilight world where their rights cannot be defended by unions. He called on City workers to give their huge bonuses to charity. He wants a fully elected House of Lords.

Jon Cruddas MP, the only candidate who is not a Minister, said that he was of Irish descent and his brother was a monk. The Labour Party had been a place for different faith groups and those with no faith. He said that Mr Blair’s authoritarianism had “has emptied out that pluralism” which must be rebuilt.