Christians Defend Faith’s Place in Britain’s Public Life in London Debate

|PIC1|Faithworks has hosted a debate Nov. 21st, 2005 regarding whether faith has a place in public life in modern-day Britain. At Waterloo’s Church.co.uk in Central London, Rev Steve Chalke went head-to-head with Polly Tonybee, the Guardian newspaper’s political and social commentator.

The debate had been brought together after a controversial article published in the Guardian by Tonybee. The article, entitled, ‘In the Name of God’, released in July 22nd, called for religion to be ousted from public life immediately following the London bomb attacks.

The debate opened with comments from both sides addressing various topics and issues relating to how faith has played a role in society, including faith schools, politics, welfare programmes, and even discussing the very roots of a person’s faith.

The two lead speakers were supported in the debate; Tonybee stood alongside Keith Porteous Wood, who is the Executive Director of the National Secular Society; and Rev Steve Chalke was backed by Dr Elaine Storkey, who is the Senior Research Fellow at Wycliffe Hall as well as the UK President of Tearfund.

|TOP|During the heated debate, both sides referred to a BBC poll, which revealed that 75% of respondents said that the UK should retain Christian values and morals. However, Tonybee simply stated that this simply revealed the number of ‘cultural Christians’ in the UK, rather than the true number of ‘committed Christians’.

Tonybee argued, “Britain is actually the most secular country in the world. Anyone who believes that they have the one and only truth will promote it wherever they go, of course they will. That is why the state must be the great guarantor of secularism. It’s time to keep God out of public life.”

However, in his response Chalke stated, “A strictly secular state sounds incredibly repressive to me. If all the churches were pushed out by a strictly secular state, I believe we would see a falling apart of the fabric of society.”

Heavily criticising faith organisations’ work in Britain, Tonybee said, “Some of the programmes faith-based groups run are actually quite sinister and dangerous. They are naked indoctrination centres and should not receive public money to promote their religion.”

|AD|Chalke countered: “Churches are working in towns, cities and villages across the country, bringing social cohesion and improvement to people’s lives. They do this because of their faith, not in spite of it. It is their faith that drives their good works.”

Joining the debate Porteous Wood proclaimed his view that “religion is one of the biggest sources of oppression in the world, particularly against women and gays. Faith groups are also the ones most likely to discriminate, in areas like employment and the use of public funds.”

Storkey replied, “A lot of the things we have heard about this evening, about religion being extremist or intolerant, are a denial of faith – of what it means to be a Christian. When you look at the many loving groups who are pouring themselves out for those in need because of their Christian faith, you can not say that faith is bad for public life.”

Following the debate, a greatly engrossed audience were given the opportunity to address the panel. Questions were raised on wide-ranging topics, including human rights, the equality of faith groups, and Christian charity works.

The Chairwoman of the debate, Maeve Sherlock, CEO of the British Refugee Council, concluded the evenings events, and described the topic was “one of the most important debates in our country at this time.”