‘No British religious right’
DESPITE claims to the contrary in the media, a new report from Theos argues there is no ‘Religious Right’ in Britain to compare with the movement in America.
The report, written by Andy Walton, Andrea Hatcher and Nick Spencer, suggests a number of reasons why it is misleading to talk about a US-style Religious Right in this country.
Although many evangelical and Roman Catholic Christians in Britain hold conservative views on social and moral issues this is not true of their views on economic issues. So while committed Christians are largely opposed to abortion and same-sex marriage they also believe that the Government should provide a good income for the unemployed and work to address income inequality.
Christians in Britain are also concerned about such issues as gambling, people trafficking and addiction, which do not have such a high profile in the US. They are much less inclined than American evangelicals to give uncritical support to Israel or support military intervention overseas. Over half of regular churchgoers in Britain agreed that the creation of the welfare state was one of their country’s proudest achievements.
The report notes that Roman Catholics in Britain are more inclined to vote Labour than other religious groups. Anglicans are more inclined to vote for the Conservatives but the relationship between Anglicanism and Conservatism is described as ‘not comparable to that between evangelicals and Republicans in the US’.
“There is no sign of tight-knit, symbiotic relationship between a right-of-centre political party and a unified Christian constituency emerging in Britain as it did in the last quarter of a century in the US.”
The report refers to a Channel 4 ‘Dispatches’ programme that alleged a Religious Right was emerging in Britain and quotes a number of articles expressing similar fears in ‘The Guardian’ but suggests that even if they wanted to play such a role, the influence of evangelical groups is limit- ed both by their budgets and in terms of access to power.
Not only are British Christians smaller in numbers than their American counterparts, they are also less inclined to say that religion is a very important influence on their political decisions.
The report suggests that the existence of established Churches in England and Scotland has also been a factor in preventing the emergence of a British Religious Right. This has helped prevent popular church leaders carrying their congregations with them in a political campaign as has happened in the US. Major evangelical leaders in Britain like the late John Stott have tried not to align themselves with political parties.
Although the report argues the idea of a Religious Right in Britain is a myth it accepts that some of the trends it has described could change ‘making it impossible (and ill-advised) to state that a Religious Right could never emerge’ but it concludes that no such development is likely in the future.