The gospel is proclaimed publicly in Parliament at the Easter Westminster Hall debate

Last week in Westminster the gospel was clearly proclaimed; as we approached Easter, Nick Fletcher MP opening the Westminster Hall debate he had secured on Easter, Christian culture and heritage by speaking out John 3.16 and reminding his fellow MPs ‘we celebrate on Easter Sunday the resurrection of Christ, giving us not just a God, but a living God to believe in, to worship, to help us and to make us right with Him, with the promise of eternal life’.  

The Christian faith is woven into the very fabric of the Palace of Westminster; the tiled floor of the Central Lobby carries an inscription from Psalm 127 – ‘Except the Lord build the House, they labour in vain that build it.’ Despite this, while MPs and peers sometimes speak of their personal faith, our bishops in the Lords spiritual among them, it is uncommon to have a full debate devoted to the Christian faith, or to hear the gospel proclaimed so publicly in Parliament.  

Some of the debate received amusing coverage from the press, picking up on Nick Fletcher’s reflections on what make us British as he called to mind the scene from ‘Love Actually’ where Hugh Grant plays a PM fervently dancing to pop down the stairs of 10 Downing Street.  But this debate had much more of substance to it – from Christians on TikTok, to what Robin Millar MP called the ‘giants of history’ of Josiah Wedgwood, Lord Shaftesbury and William Wilberforce who worked to improve the lives of the poor, the oppressed and the enslaved.  Other MPs highlighted the work of Christians Against Poverty, the Trussell Trust, Christian Aid and the Joseph Rowntree Foundation as part of Christianity’s proud tradition of charity.