Dont forget to pray for Ed

So Ed Miliband doesn’t believe in God and doesn’t appear to believe in marriage either having not yet bothered to marry his partner of five years. Should we be surprised? Should we be worried?

It should not come as a surprise that in a country where only a minority regularly attend church that from time to time political parties are led by atheists.

Indeed we should not forget former Labour leaders Neil Kinnock and Michael Foot. Of course that may not be particularly reassuring for Mr Miliband. Neither of them ever became Prime Minister!

On a serious note, though, whilst it would be great to have a Labour leader who was a committed Christian, who believed in marriage etc, our Christian responsibility remains the same.

The Bible doesn’t tell us to pray for those who are Christian and in authority. It tells us to pray for those who are in authority (1Tim 2.1-4). That means Cameron, Clegg and Miliband.

When did you last pray for those who are in authority? Have you prayed for Ed yet? Has the thought even crossed your mind?

Some might respond to this by saying, ‘I’ll pray for those in government but forget the Opposition.’ Opposition, however, is an important part of our governance process and, like it or not, during this Parliament the new Leader of the Opposition will have more responsibility than any other person to fill that role in recent times.

Whereas from the end of the Second World War until the formation of the Coalition we have always had two significant UK parties involved in the job of opposing the Government (with the possible exception of the brief Lib-Lab Pact in 1978), now, with Cameron and Clegg both in the government, we only have one.

Don’t forget to pray for Ed. He may not yet believe in God but God already believes in him and the new Labour leader (along with the Prime Minister and his Deputy) could use a little help right now.


Dan Boucher is Director of Parliamentary Affairs for Care.