Last week was a big week in the Scottish Parliament. Humza Yousaf delivered his first Programme for Government which sets out the proposed Bills and policies for the coming year for the SNP/Green coalition Government. We asked some of friends to tell us whet
her they think it will deliver for Scotland.
Twenty years ago this week that Alastair Campbell famously said “We don’t do God”. On 5th May 2003 Tony Blair was giving an interview to Vanity Fair when his head of communications interrupted the interview with what was probably a throw away quip but it has gone down in history as a mantra to live by for many politicians.
Twenty years on, do politicians still not do God or have times changed?
Over the last couple of days I think I have had more spontaneous conversations about faith and politics that I have ever had before. A light has been shone on the tolerant society that we claim to be, a light that has discovered that we are tolerant of everything except faith and religious views.
Jesus offers a master class in compassionate leadership, underlined by the fact that the bible continues to be one of the highest-grossing books in the world (Guinness World Records, 2021). It is not surprising then that my view is that the church’s continued survival rests partly on its [albeit often painstakingly slow] ability to innovate.
So, echoing down through the ages, from the death and resurrection of Christ to the five stages model proposed by Elisabeth Kubler-Ross in the 1960s, right up 9/11 attacks in the early 2000s and upon the recent death of our most beloved Queen Elizabeth II, the enduring message is thus:
“Grief is the price we pay for love”
The question that has been in my mind though is are we getting the politicians that we deserve? When we expect little do we get little, when society is divided do we get a divisive message from our parties. Which came first the chicken or the egg?