As I watched the Question Time programme tonight I was very struck by the amount of times the British National Party leader made reference to the importance of maintaining a Christian culture.
I agree that a Christian culture can be a great impetus for a society. However, I also believe that it is impossible to have a Christian culture without understanding and tolerance.
Many, including my own Church, have acted in the past in the interest of partisan views while claiming to be Christian. This is shameful and should be acknowledged as such... "The truth shall set you free..."
Fascism, Rascism, and other types of bias have no claim to the heritage of the message of Jesus. This is only my opinion (and I am not a political expert) but it seems to me that to argue that such ideas are comfortable with a Christian faith is fundamentally erroneous.
I was reminded of the following words:
"When they came for the Jews, I did nothing, for I am not a Jew. When they came for the Socialists, I did nothing, for I am not a Socialist. When they came for the labour leaders, the homosexuals, the gypsies, I did nothing, for I am none of these, and when they came for me, I was alone, there was no one to stand up for me". -- Martin Niemoller, a Lutheran pastor from Nazi Germany
Certainly, this might be considered a selfish approach since it suggests that I will only speak for you if you will speak for me. It reminds me of a quotation i rememberly imperfectly from a translation of the Czech Nobel Prize winner Jaroslav Seifert who, in the context of protesting against communism wrote (and I am quoting this inexactly) "When there is so much grass, why should one blade speak?"
The question about censoring this sort of opinion is one I am not interested in. I am interested in challenging it in its relation to Christianity.
What do you think? (If you haven't seen this programme it is available on youtube, just look for Nick Griffin Question Time Interview)
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