DUP members purporting to be Christians should all tread carefully in our world of ‘grubby politics’

ONE of a number of interesting claims that have been made thus far in the RHI inquiry is the one by Timothy Cairns that politics is a “grubby world”.

Given the widespread greed and dishonesty that has been made apparent by this inquiry (albeit that it is not conclusively clear which individuals are guilty of those vices), one could be forgiven for agreeing with Mr Cairns.

The strange thing is that many of the DUP grouping (politicians and advisers) often go public about their Christian faith, in other words claiming to be “Christ followers”, who you would be entitled to expect would have no truck with grubby politics.

I am reminded of the article (News, June 14), where the Rev Dr Stafford Carson, convenor of the Presbyterian Church’s doctrine committee, stated that, unless someone claiming to be a Christian had a “credible profession of faith”, their involvement in the life of the Church would be restricted — ie the importance of not bringing the Christian faith into disrepute is paramount.

So, I would appeal to those in the DUP who claim to be Christians to remember that, “If anyone is in Christ, they are a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come” (2 Corinthians 5:17) and, therefore, either stop publicly claiming to be Christians, or else tread the (admittedly difficult) path of being an honest and unselfish politician.