Religion and politics mixing

16 July 2011

At last we have discovered a politician who actually uses the word ‘eternity’ publicly - although she is now a retired politician.

Ann Widdecombe was interviewed in the popular and interesting series Five Minutes With: Matthew Stadlen.  It is gratifying to see how she quite naturally dropped in the word ‘eternity’ to her conversation, and more than once she pointed out that this life is preparation for eternity.

She emphasized the responsibility of being a politician and discussed the importance of power as the means of getting things done.  Politics and power is about “being in a position to do what you want to do.”  The benefit and responsibilty upon those who have power is that it is the one opportunity we have to do good.  “You only get one go this side of eternity.  This is not a dress rehearsal; this is it!”, she emphasized.

Interestingly, this does not sit easily with the Roman Catholic doctrine of purgatory which suggests that there is more to be done, and can be done, in eternity.  When Stadlen commented “You changed from the Church of England to Roman Catholicism”, Widdecombe responded: “I did that because I was getting rather disillusioned by the way the Church of England blew about with every fad and fashion and every change in the wind, and I rather admired the way that Rome said, No.  Something stands and falls by truth - not by popularity.”

We need more politicians who will describe and act upon the big picture, or rather the long-term picture.  Too much politics is short-term, looking towards the next election.  Interestingly, the pope of Rome does not stand for re-election, nor is he subjected to interviews by the world’s media.  Elders in the Church of Scotland and other Scottish Presbyterian churches do not stand for re-election either, although Dutch Presbyterian churches re-elect their elders regularly.  How do we strike the happy balance between the benefit of accountability through re-election and the almost inevitable short-termism of those facing re-election?  The House of Lords does not stand for re-election, allowing for a long-term view by those who have demonstrated their contribution to public life, but should there be a longer-term re-election process?  The main debate about the House of Lords is about the form and manner of electing its constituents in the first place.  There is room for reconsideration in both secular and ecclesiastical spheres, for as the often-quoted Roman Catholic Lord Acton observed: “All power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely.”  There is plenty of scope for reforming politics as well as reforming Christianity and the nation.

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