Three observations.
First: is our politics the sort that manifests a fixed outlook which has no place for challenge or growth? Or is it a worldview which is always prepared to listen, learn and adapt within a Biblical framework? Is it a mindset that has the capacity to place oneself in the shoes of those with whom we might disagree – not in order to water down our own convictions, but to see through their eyes, and therefore be able to engage with kindness?
Second: en does not do ‘party politics.’ So we are pleased to carry a range of political views from evangelicals in this issue; this is as it should be. But when it comes to issues of the moment, en stands where you would expect any evangelical to stand on topics such as euthanasia, abortion, gender, sexuality, etc. And they are important in how we vote. You know this.
Third: it is also worth stepping back and thinking about broader Biblical themes – for example, justice – an under-debated area in this election at the time of writing. In a 2020 article published online at quarterly.gospelinlife.com, the late Tim Keller declares: ‘While the institutional church’s first responsibility is to evangelise and disciple through the word of God – that discipling and training must motivate and equip Christians to do justice, or it is not true to the word of God.’
In the UK currently, there are nearly 200 ‘very old’ rape cases awaiting trial in the UK including one – the Telegraph and BBC have both reported – with a six-year trial delay. More generally, the backlog of Crown Court cases in England and Wales is close to a record high, the BBC reports. It currently stands at more than 67,500 cases.
‘The system is broken,’ Steven Meredith, a criminal lawyer at WMB Law in Telford told the BBC in June. ‘I don’t believe there’s enough judges. I don’t believe there’s enough courtrooms. A lot of the magistrates’ courts were closed a number of years ago…’
Justice is not ‘rolling on like a river’ (Amos 5:24), but dribbling like an underpowered fountain. Do we care? So how might this and other broader Biblical themes, as well as familiar ‘hot-button’ issues, affect how we vote and how we pray?
