London, February 07: A senior church bishop has accused the Labour-led British government of enforcing a policy to sideline the role of religion in public life, warning the move erodes morality from the society.
“Our present political class are probably the last people to be making decisions about a constitution and the last to be pronouncing on the place of God in politics and government,” Bishop of Durham, Dr Tom Wright, told.
Wright, the fourth-most-senior in the church hierarchy, said the British public had been left to “lurch in a sea of amoralism”.
He noted that religion has been put aside by the Labour governments since coming to power in 1997, reaching the point where “something is dangerously wrong with our system”.
As examples in point, the evangelical bishop cited the British role in invading Iraq under Tony Blair government and the controversial equality legislation.
“We are supposed to have a democracy where we have a system of checks and balances developed over a long period which have got very deep roots,” he said.
“And if you say we’re going to cut down those trees and pave this bit over with concrete then all sorts of things may happen to the ecosystem.
“The law of unintended consequences is really rather powerful here.”
Earlier this week, the Labour government has dropped the Equality bill after criticism from Pope Benedict XVI and bishops.
The bill would have sought to outlaw any form of discrimination against any minority groups such as homosexuals.
But religious groups have criticized the motion, fearing it would restrict people’s ability to express their religious beliefs.
According to the CIA fact book, Christians constitute 71.6 percent of Britain’s population, Muslim 2.7, Hindu 1, other 1.6 and unspecified or none 23.1 percent.
Immorality
The British bishop warned that sidelining religion results in the erosion of morality from the society.
“We have lived as a Western society by a particular set of stories which are substantially Enlightenment stories, about science solving all our ills,” he said.
Enlightenment is a term used to describe a time in Western philosophy and cultural life in the 18th century when reason was advocated as the primary source and legitimacy for authority.
“The Enlightenment kicked God upstairs like the elderly relative in the attic,” said Dr. Wright.
This has allowed government officials to do whatever they want, regardless it goes in line with religious teachings or not, he said.
“Theology abhors a vacuum,” the bishop said.
“If you get rid of God you inflate yourself to be divine instead.”
His criticism will be echoed by Prince Charles of Wales during a speech to the Church of England’s General Synod next week.
He will call for religion to be put back into government, criticizing the Labour Party for creating a “Health Robinson mess” of British systems of government.
The absent role of religion under the Labour government was also criticized by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams.
In a foreword to a book to be published next week, God and Government, Williams warns of a “deep crisis of faith in politics.”
Seeking to reinstate the role of religion in public life and politics, British bishops are working to issue a voting guide for voters in the general elections.
“The role of church and religious leaders is one of warning their congregations to wake up and take responsibility to choose their political leaders,” said Dr John Sentamu, the Archbishop of Yornck.
-Agencies