Communities Secretary warns again that religion is going to be favoured by this Government
Our comedy Communities Secretary, Wilfred – er, that is to say, Eric Pickles has been at it again, telling Christians that they are going to have a big stake in Britain, whether Britain wants them to or not.
He was speaking at a meeting of “faith leaders” last week hosted by the Archbishop of Canterbury. All the lads were there — the Chief Rabbi, the Archbishop of Westminster — rubbing their hands at the prospect of new powers to force their religions into our lives.
It’s all about The Big Society. Mr Pickles said it was a “practical way to put people in control of the decisions that affect them and to encourage everyone to take an active part in civic life”.
He claimed that the previous Government had not “sufficiently recognised” the efforts of the “faith communities” up and down the country. He said: "Some see religion as a problem that needs to be solved. The new Government sees it as part of the solution. I want to send an important signal that we value the role of religion and faith in public life. The days of the state trying to suppress Christianity and other faiths are over."
The “faith leaders” raised some concern about policies aimed at reducing the public deficit, which they warned could affect the vulnerable and damage community initiatives in ways that would be “hard to repair”. Naturally they welcomed the Government’s commitment to working with them.
As one contributor to the discussion put it: “Churches and faith communities have a great deal to offer to this society and to the common good. In addition to a vast network of volunteering, they offer the wisdom of tradition and scripture, a lived understanding of community and the rewards of friendship across boundaries. All these are needed in times of uncertainty, but perhaps are not always valued as they should be. People of faith want to share these gifts with the wider community, and hope the government is also interested in helping us to share what we have to offer for the common good and the widest possible benefit.”
A spokesperson for the Archbishop said the faith leaders had shared their “optimism about the sense of a ‘new moment’ arising from the government’s willingness to see Church and faith communities as providing a model to be appreciated, rather than as a group to be shaped by government”. She said: “The approach is one of co-operation rather than co-option.”
Conspicuous by their absence were the Islamic “faith groups” who will – according to this commentator treat the Big Society as a “bunfight”. Radical Islamist groups already conceal their true purposes behind claims that they are “community organisations” and “welfare groups”. This agenda will put them right at the centre of their communities, giving them influence that they could never have previously dreamed of.
An NSS spokesman said: “Before they’ve finished, the churches will be as sorry as the rest of us about the ‘Big Society’ con. Far from liberating us, it will send us backwards to a time when everyone had to fend for themselves – whether or not they were able. Our welfare state and health service — the greatest moral achievement of the 20th century — will soon only be a fond memory, and religion will once more permeate our lives in the ways that have proved so deleterious in the past.”
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