Church of England calls for ‘fresh moral vision’ in British politics
The Church of England has deep rural assets. I think its wake up call for us to think deeply about the need to re-engage with communities around the themes linked to the election is well timed. Supporting communities is a real challenge in some rural settings and it will be interesting to use this debate as a means of asking the CoE how it can step further up to the mark in terms of its contribution to this issue. The article tells us:
The Church of England has launched a strongly worded attack on Britain’s political culture, criticising politicians of all parties for offering only “sterile arguments” that are likely to make voters more apathetic and cynical in the runup to the general election.
In an unprecedented intervention, the church’s bishops have published a joint open letter warning that “our democracy is failing” and attacking the “growing appetite to exploit grievances” and “find scapegoats” in society. They call for “a fresh moral vision of the kind of country we want to be”.
It is the first time the bishops have intervened in this way before a general election, but one said the church had felt the need to counter the “sex appeal” of people such as Russell Brand, who have argued that people should disengage from Westminster politics.