Gordon Brown insists that religion is at the centre of his Government
Prime Minister Gordon Brown repeated his claim this week that Britain is not a secular society and that religion must be at the centre of Government policy-making.
In a video released this week, Mr Brown said “I don’t subscribe to the view that religion should somehow be tolerated but not encouraged in public life, that you can somehow ask people to leave their faith at the door when they enter a town hall or a Commons chamber.”
He said: “If Christians engage with politics then all of us together can build a society where wealth helps more than the wealthy, good fortune serves more than the fortunate, riches enrich not just some of us but all.”
Mr Brown also gave an interview to Premier Christian Radio in which he made similar points. But his emollient words have not been received uncritically by all Christians. The fundamentalist group the Christian Institute suspects that Mr Brown’s appeals to the religious communities are a “cynical ploy”.
On its website, the Christian Institute says: “Under Mr Brown’s premiership the Government has also introduced the Children, Schools and Families Bill which seeks to make sex and relationship education compulsory from the age of five. Last year the Government tried to delete a free speech protection to a controversial ‘gay hate’ law using the Coroners and Justice Bill. However, the move was defeated in the House of Lords. In October the Prime Minister controversially called for gay couples to be allowed to have civil partnership ceremonies inside Parliament.”
The CI is furious with the Government for backing gay rights. It says: “Mr Brown has made a number of moves recently to encourage homosexual voters to back Labour. In July he told the organisers of a gay pride march taking place in London that they had ‘changed the world’. Earlier in the year he invited the organisers of a controversial month-long drive to teach schoolchildren about homosexuality to a reception at 10 Downing Street. At the reception he attacked as “unacceptable” a measure reserving marriage for one man and one woman passed by public vote in California.”
Terry Sanderson, president of the NSS, said: “This is the mark of a politician looking for votes. Mr Brown is desperate to head off criticism that he and his Government are disregarding the ‘rights’ and ‘needs’ of Christians. At the same time he is also looking to keep the gay vote on board. Look out in the near future for a high profile visit to a mosque where he will, no doubt, praise Islam to the skies.”