| political writing by and for young people |

AnticipationsOnline taster | Spring 2011© YOUNG FABIANS 2011

WHY WE MUST DO GODTony Blair argues that the time has come to recognise the

central role of faith in the modern world

YOUNG FABIANS

INTERVIEW ED BALLSAnticipations Editor James Green speaks to the shadow chancellor about the budget, the deficit and how to win again.

OPINION YOUNG FABIAN IDEASYoung Fabian members share their ideas on a wide range of policy issues from AV to the future of the Middle East.

FEATURE THE CHRISTIAN CITIZENThe Archbishop of Canterbury argues that Christianity has much to teach us about how to be a good citizen.

The best fiver you’ll ever spendBy joining the Young Fabians you become a member of the only think tank in the country

run by and for young people. For over fifty years we have been at the forefront of the Left,

agitating for change through our pamphlets, magazines and events. You can become

part of that rich tradition by joining the Young Fabians today. What’s more it only costs

a fiver. That’s it. For that price you’ll receive the full edition of Anticipations delivered to

your door. It gets even better. You’ll also receive the Fabian Society’s quarterly magazine,

Fabian Review, and the latest editions of their policy books and pamphlets. So what are

you waiting for?

YOUNG FABIANS

Join the Young Fabians todayVisit youngfabians.org.uk

| 3 |

| from the editor |

Recognising religionFaith is central to the way that society functions. It’s vital that our

politics and policy reflects that

— JAMES GREEN —

Despite the important role that it has played throughout the party’s history, Labour has long had an uncomfortable relationship with faith. Alistair Campbell captured this well when he famously said of New Labour, “we don’t do God.” Of course the Blair governments promoted faith in a variety of ways. But that comment stuck in the public mind because it represented a fundamental truth not only about the Labour Party but also about the country more widely. We are deeply divided in our attitudes towards religion. Some view it as vital, others as dangerous, many as simply irrelevant. But has the time come to reject Campbell’s cynicism and openly ‘do God’?

In this edition’s essay former Prime Minister Tony Blair makes a powerful case for us to do just that. He argues that in the face of long held predictions about the demise of religion, the number of people who view faith as a central part of their identity is in fact growing. Much has been made of the continuing importance of faith in the United States but less discussed is its growth in the world’s emerging superpower, China. Blair offers some staggering statistics. There are more Muslims in China than in Europe, more practicing Protestants than in England and more practicing Catholics than in Italy. Faith is a central part of life in the Arab world too and whereas Europe’s birth rate is stagnant, the Arab population is set

to double in the coming decades. The message from these statistics is clear. Far from being in decline, faith has rarely been more influential.

Of course the influence of religion is not only confined to the world beyond our borders. Many of the most challenging issues that we face in this country have a religious dimension. Tackling terrorism requires not only security measures but also powerful theological arguments. By vacating this space in the name of secularism, policy makers risk leaving a vacuum that can be exploited by those with malign intentions. But more than that, these debates go to the very heart of how we see ourselves. Do we adopt an aggressive form of secularism like France and risk undermining our own commitment to tolerance while alienating the very people we need to engage? Or do we find a way of balancing the values we hold dear with those practices, such as the wearing of the hijab and nighab, that can feel uncomfortable and foreign. The perceived tension between feminism and Islam is the topic of a fascinating piece in this edition by Muslim Women’s Network Chair Baroness Afshar.

But faith shouldn’t simply be confined to so called ‘religious issues’. It has much to say about the economic and social challenges of the day. Both Labour and the coalition have been working hard to address a widely held view that

the bonds within and between communities have grown increasingly weak. As the Archbishop of Canterbury powerfully outlines, these issues have been a key focus of Christianity from its very inception. In our efforts to strengthen civil society it is vitally important that we learn from many of our most powerful and long-lasting civic institutions – those of faith.

Religion also has an important contribution to make when it comes to learning lessons from the recent financial crisis. As Rabbi Jeremy Gordon argues, Judaism offers important insights into how to better scrutinise our banks, set our taxes and ultimately structure our economy. As we look to build a fairer economic model out of the ashes of the financial crisis we could do worse than reflect on the views of our faith leaders.

Of course there are challenges when it comes to faith and it would be wrong to imply that religion cannot bring with it conflict and suffering. However, it is such a central part of the way society functions both at home and abroad that it simply can’t be ignored. In many ways religion continues to define our lives and it is vital that our politics and our policy reflects that. In that sense, at least, we must all ‘do God.’

James Green is Anticipations Editor and a Fabian Society Executive member

mattthomasillustration.com

| 4 |

| starters |

The early months of 2011 were busy for the Young Fabians – you can read about some of our activity elsewhere in this edition. But we kicked off the year with the lunchtime seminar of the Fabian Society New Year Conference, looking at today’s ‘squeezed youth’.

‘Squeezed youth’ is about finding a voice for young people. The experience of today’s teens and twenty-somethings is somewhat different to many of their parents’ generation. We’re told we need a ‘second wave of social mobility’ to match the 1960s. Yet figures show a year-on-year rise in 16-24 year-olds not in education, employment or training and four organisations that support young people are closing each week. As public service cuts are about to bed in, Ed Miliband has warned that the “British promise... that the next generation would always do better than the last is under threat like never before.”

Rather than setting up one generation against another, highlighting these issues should demonstrate the need for intergenerational solidarity – tuition fees demos shouldn’t just be led by young people, pensions protests are not the exclusive preserve of those near retirement. Issues felt most by young people are issues for the majority on the centre-left who care about life chances and fairness and see politics as a solution.

George Osborne’s budget in March had little to offer young people. Whilst investment in shared ownership housing is dubious, increased work experience opportunities and apprenticeships are positive. But the national insurance concession that allowed under-25s to access contributory

Employment Support Allowance without meeting contribution conditions is on the way out. And fresh unemployment forecasts and admissions that the state pension age will continue to rise hit the squeezed youth in both the short-term and the long-term.

What are the solutions then? Whilst Labour’s policy review is undertaken there are organisational changes that can be made. The wider movement needs to adapt swiftly. The Young Fabians are a natural home for those on the centre-left, but so too should be the Labour Party. To address the needs of young people, Labour must start by addressing itself, becoming genuinely transparent and accessible.

Peter Hain’s party reform consultation offers an opportunity and I’d encourage as many Young Fabians as possible to take part. Borrowing the language of 2010’s Young Fabian Policy Development Group, Hain aspires to “transforming our party.” For me that necessitates going back to first principles. It requires a refocusing on people – not just those that are prepared to give every second of their spare time but those that want to offer just a fraction. Members or non-members it shouldn’t matter to an accessible, unifying political party. And Labour needs to look for good practice inside and outside of the movement, beyond the obvious.

Trade unions must also seek to offer answers for the squeezed youth. At the Unions21 annual conference this spring a research presentation showed a “passive acceptance” amongst young people of workplace and economic issues. The

reaction of the groups of 16-24 year-olds to trade unions was generally either negative or one of puzzlement. Yet the unions have plenty to offer society’s squeezed, both in and out of work. Those interviewed for the research suggested peer pressure could help make joining a union the norm. That strikes me as something we could all do. So why not ask an acquaintance who has the ideas to join the Young Fabians or request of a friend who wants to push for something different that they join the Labour Party? Instead of being squeezed, let’s exert some pressure outwards.

We will know after May 5th how frequently the issues felt most acutely by young people under Cameron’s government have come up on the doorstep. I look forward to hearing from those Young Fabians campaigning hard in Scottish, Welsh and local government elections. Afterwards we’re all set to do more thinking: look out for this year’s member policy groups and the Young Fabian Middle East Programme, extremely timely given recent events in the region.

But if amidst the discussion and debate you don’t see something of interest, don’t forget you can organise Young Fabian events yourself. Members in Manchester, Liverpool and Nottingham have arranged activity already this year and the executive committee is keen to support members wherever you are and whatever you want to do. Get in touch and get involved.

To find out how you can get more involved in running the Young Fabians email Adrian Prandle at aprandle@youngfabians.org.uk

Note from the ChairTo help our ‘squeezed youth’ the Labour movement must change

— ADRIAN PRANDLE —

| 5 |

| starters |

Ed Miliband is now six months into his leadership of the Labour Party. The whispering has subsided and the party has rallied round the new leader who has led the party to a healthy seven point lead in the polls. But Labour’s fundamental challenge now is to move from a good opposition to a credible government in waiting. This is how.

1. Policy: it’s not a sprint, it’s a marathon. Ed has displayed admiral patience in seeing the long-term goal of winning the next election as more important than short-term headlines. He has won the confidence of the party and the public to give him the time and space to undertake a proper policy review before setting out his stall for the British people.

This is an important win for Ed and the party. During the dying days of the Labour government we ran out of ideas – we knew it, and the public knew it. He has won Labour an opportunity to earn credibility. The review must be broad and deep, covering policy, politics and the party itself. It should respond to the challenges faced by the government today. Our policies must also define the agenda for the government of tomorrow. The longer the review takes, the more radical the results need to be. But we should hold our nerve and take as long as we need. Credibility won’t come without radicalism.

2. Attack: knowing when to play and who to play. In the era of rolling news it is tempting to respond to every government announcement and attack their every move. But we must know better. The public is sick and tired of politicians sniping at each other and political point scoring. It alienates them and bores people. Rather than attacking every point we should be selective, both about when we attack and who does it.

First, there are issues on which we do not need to attack. After the embarrassment of his inability to fly citizens home from Libya, Cameron has responded well on the world stage in the wake of the instability in northern Africa. There are only very cheap points to be gained from dividing lines on world disasters. A government-in-waiting would do no such thing. Ed’s recent speech in the Commons showed grace and leadership. We must continue to put the political stability of the region ahead of party politics or else we’ll be punished for it (and rightly so).

Second, we have a strong Labour team and we should use it to its full potential. Witness Chris Bryant, Lord Prescott and Tom Watson’s persistent

and well aimed attacks on Andy Coulson’s involvement in the News of the World hacking scandal. Not the sort of issue a future Prime Minister should be dirtying his hands with but certainly one to set some of our most effective attack dogs after. We should continue to look wider than the front bench, even wider than our own MPs, to the Labour movement and progressive community to mobilise talent and argument against the worst of the coalition’s policies.

3. Narrative: the right issues, the right story. There’s a lot going on in politics and it would be easy to get distracted and blown off course. Instead, we need a cast iron focus on what really matters to real people. We are talking about many of these issues and have created a couple of essential contact points. People identify with Ed’s articulation of the ‘squeezed middle.’ It shows he understands their lives and aspirations, if not yet how to help them.

Our economic argument to focus on growth rather than cuts has won broad popular support and has the Tories stealing our language and ideas to keep up. Our relentless focus on the cost of living has begun to identify Labour as the party fighting for those who are struggling, despite their best efforts, to see a better future for their kids than they do for themselves. We need to keep up the pressure. Our next challenge is to link these points of contact together into a narrative; a story about why Britain needs a Labour government and what Labour would do with power if it won it. This will take time, but the sooner the story comes together the better we’ll tell it.

4. Ed: red to credible. It is true that no one looks like a prime minister until they are a prime minister. But still, the public do not yet see Ed as a credible alternative PM to Mr Cameron. In addition, they think he’s to the left of the party, which is putting some of them off supporting Labour. Here again Ed’s patience and the strategy outlined above will pay off. He also needs to demonstrate that he isn’t the leftie union man some on the right would paint him as. A defining policy would put that to bed. Law and order? Boosting enterprise? Union reform? I’m not yet sure. Let’s hope Ed will spot the opportunity when it comes along.

Josie Cluer is a Young Fabian member and former special advisor to a Labour cabinet minister

Political PulseHow to move from a good opposition to a credible future government

—JOSIE CLUER —

| 6 |

| cover story |

For years it was assumed, certainly in this country, that as society developed, religion would wither away. Modernity and secularism were believed to go hand in hand. The decline in UK church attendances that gained momentum in the 1950s and 1960s gave credence to the idea that religion was a thing of the past. But it wasn’t. The Iranian revolution in 1979 showed that clearly enough and, over thirty years later at the start of a new decade, policy makers have to take religion seriously.

The number of people proclaiming their faith worldwide as a significant part of their identity is growing. In the USA there was a steady increase until the 1980s: in 1776 – 17% of Americans belonged to a Church, 1850 – 34%, 1890 – 45%, 1980 – 62% and the numbers then levelled off. In 2001 77% of Americans self-classified themselves as Christians. This is one of the significant differences between the UK and the USA.

This growth is also clearly visible in Islamic countries. Whereas Europe’s birth rate is stagnant, the Arab population is set to double in the coming decades and the population will rise in many Asian Muslim-majority countries. Christianity is also continuing to grow globally but in odd ways and in surprising places.

Religion’s largest and most startling rate

of growth is in China. Indeed, the religiosity of China is worth reflecting on. There are more Muslims in China than in Europe, more practicing Protestants than in England and more practicing Catholics than in Italy. In addition, according to the latest surveys, around 100 million Chinese identify themselves as Buddhist. And, of course, Confucianism – a philosophy rather than a religion – is deeply revered and experiencing a revival.

There is a huge Evangelical and Pentecostal movement in Latin America, notably Brazil and Mexico, and in Africa. In Brazil, for instance –

nominally the largest Catholic nation in the world with over 126 million Catholics registered – barely one tenth of those Catholics are regular churchgoers. Protestants and Pentecostals, on the other hand, register over 20 million churchgoers every Sunday – a figure which is rapidly growing. Even in Europe, the numbers confessing to a belief in God remain high. And, of course there are hundreds of millions of Hindus and still solid numbers of Sikhs and Jews.

Those of faith do great work because of it. Faith schools are attractive to people of all faiths who want explicit teaching of moral values. The World Health Organisation (WHO) have estimated that around 40% of health care in Africa is delivered by faith-based organisations. Their under-reported work in all aspects of dealing with the HIV/AIDS pandemic, care of orphans, fighting against stigma, palliative care and preventative education, is widely recognised on all continents. Muslim, Hindu and Jewish relief groups are active the world over in combating poverty and disease.

In any developed nation you will find selfless care being provided to the disabled, the dying, the destitute and the disadvantaged by people acting under the impulse of their faith. Common to all great religions is compassion, love of neighbours and human equality before God.

WHY WE MUST DO GODFar from falling into decline religion has rarely been more influential

— TONY BLAIR —

| 7 |

Unfortunately, compassion is not the only motivating force in religion. It can also promote exclusive identities, extremism and even terrorism. This is where faith becomes the badge of an identity in opposition to those who do not share it, a kind of spiritual jingoism that regards those who do not agree – even those within their own faith who practice a different interpretation of it – as aliens, unbelievers, infidels and thus enemies.

To a degree this has always been so. At the time of Christ, some Jews had not forgiven the Samaritans for having built a rival temple. Christians routinely used to persecute other faiths and even those of different persuasions within the Christian faith. What has changed is the pressure of globalisation which is pushing the world’s peoples ever closer together as technology advances and shrinks the world. Growing up fifty years ago, children might rarely meet someone of a different cultural or faith background. Catholics were an oddity. Today, when I stand in my ten-year-old son’s playground or look at his friends at his birthday party, I find a myriad of different languages, faiths and colours.

Personally I rejoice in this. But such a world requires that mutual respect replace mutual suspicion and for strangers to become friends. There are no walled gardens of the soul. Such a world can upend traditions and challenges old thinking, forcing us to choose consciously to embrace it. Or not.

And there is the rub: for some this force juxtaposing different cultures and religions in the space of a country, a town or a few city streets sometimes appears as a threat. It menaces deeply conservative societies. And, for those for whom religion matters, globalisation can sometimes be accompanied by the advent of an aggressive secularism, or hedonism, that makes many uneasy.

So we must make sense of how the world of faith interacts with the compulsive process of globalisation. Yet it is extraordinary how little political time or energy we have traditionally devoted to doing so. Most of the conflicts in today’s world have a religious dimension. Extremism based on a perversion of Islam shows no sign of abating; indeed it will not abate until it is taken on religiously, scripturally and spiritually, as well as by security measures.

This extremism is, slowly but surely, producing its own reaction, as we see from Islamophobic parties’ electoral gains in Europe and statements by European leaders that multiculturalism has failed.

Of course, throughout history, religion has often played a part in political conflicts. The secular state in India and Europe was seen as a bulwark against violent communal and inter-

religious conflict. But that doesn’t mean that religion should be discounted and should be ushered off the stage of human affairs. On the contrary, it requires a new attentiveness and a special focus. I see this very plainly spending so much time in Jerusalem where – east and west – there is an emphatic increase in religiosity.

I started my Faith Foundation precisely on the basis of this analysis of our contemporary predicament, to create greater understanding between the faiths. My reasoning is simple. Those advocating extremism in the name of religion are active, well resourced and – whatever the reactionary nature of their thinking – brilliant at using modern communication and technology. In this sense they are far from anti-modern. We estimate that literally billions of dollars every year are devoted to promoting this distorted view

of religion, not least to the young.So my Foundation has a schools programme

linking students in classrooms by video-conference around the world. We have been carefully training teachers in, to date, fifteen countries on different continents. They work on a foundational course, building respect and understanding and confronting the major problems of the 21st century through the prism of the students’ different cultures and faiths. Young people are able to discuss their faiths through interactive technology and can also build on their friendships in the safe, secured, social space of the programme’s website.

Our university programme on faith and globalisation – now underway in nine countries – is designed to take religion out of the dun cloisters in order to analyse its role in the world today through an interdisciplinary course. Our third programme is action-oriented. People want to do something together once they have learnt about each other. Young people work with those of another faith to fundraise and raise awareness of the Millennium Development Goals – the United Nations-led program to combat world poverty. Our particular focus is on eradicating malaria deaths. Our global campaign has World Malaria Day, 25th April, as a core event, mobilising thousands in and outside faith communities to fund bed-nets for malaria-endemic countries.

We are just one organisation and not a large one. There are others starting. But governments should start to take this alternative vision far more seriously. The Alliance of Civilisations, begun by Spain and Turkey, is one example. The King of Saudi Arabia has also shown great leadership in this sphere, sponsoring inter-religious dialogue. Yet bringing high-level people together is not enough. It has to be taken down into the grassroots of nations, especially into the media of their young people.

Finally, religious leaders must accept a new responsibility: to stand up firmly and resolutely for respecting those of faiths different from their own. This is not only about leaders. Ordinary Christians formed a protective ring around Muslims praying in Tahrir Square in Cairo. Ordinary Muslims formed a protective ring around a church that had been attacked in Baghdad.

Aggressive secularists and extremists feed off each other. Together they do constitute a real challenge to people of faith. The religious voice in the public square must be an interfaith voice, arguing clearly for the values of compassion, fairness and justice, respect, learning and understanding. If liberal democracies find that voice an annoyance, they must rethink their concepts whether they are labelled laicité or secularity.

We must demonstrate the loving nature of true faith; otherwise religion will be defined by a battle in which extremists seize control of faith communities and secularists claim that such attitudes are intrinsic to religion. This would be a tragedy. For, above all, it is in this era of globalisation that faith can represent reason and progress. Religion isn’t dying; nor should it. The world needs faith.

Rt Hon Tony Blair is a former UK Prime Minister and Labour Party leader. He is the founder and patron of the Tony Blair Faith Foundation

Of course religion has often played a part in political conflicts. But that

doesn’t mean that it should be ushered

off the stage of human affairs.

On the contrary, it requires a new

attentiveness and a special focus.

| cover story |

| 8 |

| features |

In reflecting on church and state it is important not simply to talk about two kinds of institution but about one particular area of political and religious thought where the concerns of church and state overlap, and overlap creatively: how the church contributes to the identity we call the identity of a citizen. I begin with the

simple question: how do we define a citizen? To do this it may help to go back in history a little and think about the context in which the language of citizenship first appeared in the ancient world, in Greece and Rome.

What you could say, in a nutshell, is that the definition of a citizen is somebody who is not a slave. A citizen is someone whose choices and destiny are not owned by someone else. A citizen, therefore, is someone who has a voice in the community, who is protected as an individual by the law and who can, to some significant degree, decide the circumstances of their personal life. A slave is someone who enjoys none of those privileges. So to be a citizen is to have both a public and a private dignity; the public dignity of being a decision-maker, someone whose voice is guaranteed a hearing, and the private or personal dignity of contributing what you have to a common project, vision or shared purpose in the community. To be a citizen is to be responsible for maintaining your personal and social environment.

If we look at Christian scripture and early Christian literature we find that the image and the idea of being a citizen play a very important role indeed in the self-identity of early Christians. To be a member of the early Christian church was to be a certain kind of citizen. The ‘ekklesia’ – the Greek work which we translate as ‘church’ – was, in the usage of the ancient world, the name you gave to the assembly of citizens. So if you joined the church you were joining a body whose main metaphor for what it was about was drawn from civic and political life.

You were a citizen, not of the Roman Empire perhaps (you might or might not be), but you were a citizen of somewhere, of something. You belonged to what St Paul in one of his letters calls a ‘politeia’, a political unit, and your citizenship was given from God in that political unit, the new community of the new creation. Early Christianity thus from the start said that, whatever may be the case in the political arrangements around you, there is another ‘polis’, another city, another political unit, in which, whatever your status in this world, you have non-negotiable rights and dignities. There is a human community in which you have a voice, a gift to share and the dignity of being a decision maker.

However, this potentially quite exhilarating picture of Christianity as a kind of citizenship can go wrong in a number of ways. One of the most obvious is to say that this is simply a rival identity to all other societies; that there are human societies with their limits, boundaries and rules and, alongside them, competing for space and jostling for privilege, is

the Christian community – the real political unit, the real state with real authority. It’s one of the things that went rather badly wrong in the Western Middle Ages where the Christian church all too often saw itself as a rival state with a rival government and a rival system of law. Equally mistaken, of course, is the idea that this new citizenship is simply something that goes on inside your head. Your actual political circumstances may be miserable and oppressive but you know secretly and privately that you’re a child of God. To avoid these two mistakes we have to tread a very complex and delicate path. We have to find a way of saying that the new citizenship is about beings of flesh and blood and thus we may expect it to have visible and tangible effects in the world.

At its deepest this is a vision which reminds the Christian community that part of its purpose is to treat people as capable of civic dignity and liberty, of that responsible maintenance of their environment by free decision taken in consultation. Because the point of having a citizen’s assembly or ‘ekklesia’ – a church – is of course so that responsible citizens can argue about what’s good for the community. The church, then, from that point of view, is a community where we argue about what’s good for the human race.

The Christian citizenChristian ideas of citizenship can help us strengthen civil society

— DR ROWAN WILLIAMS —

I find it odd when the media say that the church should not be in the public arena because

we do not want the church to tell us what to do. I don’t

particularly want the church to tell everyone what to do

either but I want the argument in public to be a genuine one about what it is that makes a

good citizen.

| 9 |

| features |

And we do so in the light of what God has shown concerning the dignity of humanity overall because this is a city, a polis, which has no ethical or local boundaries; which is in principle open to the whole of humanity.

All of a sudden some of these issues have become rather pertinent to the UK. The language, the rhetoric, of the ‘Big Society’ has arrived to stay, whether we like it or not, and is currently puzzling a great many people because it challenges us to ask questions about where political civic virtue and responsibility are best learned and best exercised. If the Big Society is to be anything more than a slogan, looking increasingly threadbare as we look out at a society reeling under the impact of public spending cuts, then reflection on this subject has got to take on board some of those issues about what it is to be a citizen and where it is that we most deeply and helpfully acquire the resources of civic identity and dignity.

If the church has a guaranteed public platform by the visibility of the establishment (even if that is simply a matter of Archbishops of Canterbury in Westminster Abbey from time to time), then the justification of that is not that the church has a God-given right to tell people what to do or to think. It is because the kind of argument the church should be having within itself about human dignity and hope is the kind of argument any healthy society needs to make room for. When the religious dimension and depth that is embodied in the vision of humanity that we’re talking about is overridden, forgotten or marginalised, what happens is that politics in the public square ends up operating with a desperately impoverished version of what human beings are like and are capable of. The only justification for the public presence of the church in British life, or the life of any society, is in its God-given capacity to keep that argument alive, to remind people that humanity is never exhausted by any particular political definition or social order and that there is always more to discover about human beings made in the image of God. It is that dimension of depth that we are here to celebrate, acknowledge and empower in public debate.

It’s not a matter of the church binding its vision to the agenda of this or that party or of the church creating a political party to embody its vision and priorities – another of the mistakes frequently made in Christian history. Much more, it’s a matter of the Christian gospel motivating a grassroots politics and activism of generosity and mutuality. The polity needs to be translated into policies and politics and that is a matter that needs reflection and involves risk and, as we have noted, sometimes real mistakes. But as the church seeks to encourage civic virtue it will be gaining the authority and experience to talk about this in the wider discussion of our society.

So if the church isn’t running political parties or telling you exactly who to vote for, what is it doing and why might it matter? The church’s commitment to civic virtue appears in all kinds of grassroots ways. It may appear in the local parish’s involvement in running a credit union or in the willingness of church members to serve on school governing bodies. But it also shows itself in other more personal ways. Christians are committed to domestic virtue, the virtues of family life, the faithfulness and generosity of personal relationships, promise-keeping and dependability in their sexual relations and honesty in their financial dealings because they are committed to political virtue, shared responsibility and creating a sustainable environment. So there isn’t a great gap between personal and public morality; between supposedly private issues and political ones.

Instead, for the Christian there is a real continuum uniting all of these areas of our lives and decision-making because in the whole of that complex of activities which makes us human every area has the capacity to show (or fail to show) the basic virtues of faithfulness, generosity, awareness of and sensitivity to the needs of the other. A marriage, a family, a governing body, a credit union, all of those things and many more are the ways in which Christian politics first becomes apparent. The Christian citizen who has learned these citizen’s virtues in the church is then called on to go out and make sense of all that in the policy-making and decision-making of a

wider world, where those visions and values are not taken for granted. That’s where we have to have the argument and that’s why I find it a little odd sometimes when the right-thinking or left-thinking critics in the media say that the church should not be in the public arena because we do not want the church to tell us what to do. I don’t particularly want the church to tell everyone what to do either but I want the argument in public to be real and honest; a genuine argument about what it is that makes a good citizen.

How do you define a citizen and how does the church contribute to civic identity, virtue and welfare? By treating everyone it encounters within and without its boundaries as potentially an adult agent capable of grown-up action: self-aware, self-critical, willing to carry the cost for others, not only to talk about the cost to themselves. These people are ready to take responsibility for meaningful decisions that communicate something in a community as well as creating the conditions which help other people’s decisions become meaningful in the same way. To be a Christian, a member of the ‘ekklesia’ – the Christian citizen’s assembly – is to seek to grow up into this responsibility with self-awareness, with repentance (because of all the ways in which we can get it wrong), to think and act and speak for a common good set before us in that transforming vision of the body of Christ: the community in which no-one lives for him or herself alone.

The bold claim we make in confronting the wider political discourse of our society here and now in the UK, our global society today or any imaginable human society is that this kind of adult, mutual, self-aware, responsible and thoughtful virtue is the heart of any sustainable civic freedom and any lasting political well-being for the human world. People may or may not agree with that claim but I hope they might think it’s certainly worth discussing.

Dr Rowan Williams is the Archbishop of Canterbury. This is an edited extract of the address ‘Relations between the church and state today: what is the role of the Christian citizen?’, delivered at Manchester University on 1st March 2011. © Rowan Wiliams

Citizenship played a central role in the self-identity of the early Christians.

Chr

ist in

Jeru

sale

m/P

hoto

s.com

| 10 |

| endnotes |

Why did you join the Labour Party? I joined the Labour Party because I believe in politics as a force for good. Forty years ago I believed that Labour was a force for good in people’s lives and I believe exactly the same today. We need to constantly demonstrate this though, which is why I believe that we need to turn local Labour parties into organisations for community action, creating good with and for local people. In my own South London constituency, community action days are seeing Labour Party members with local residents planting bulbs for spring, clearing unsightly ground, helping to set up a homework club, engaging young people and much more.

What are you most proud of?The two things that I am most proud of are being the minister responsible for setting up Sure Start and the part that I played in winning the Olympic Games for London. There’s a tremendous pride that comes from having played my part in a project like Sure Start which has been so transformative in so many young lives across the country. But I am also tremendously excited as we await the 60 days of Olympic and Paralympic Sport that we hope will bring an eruption of national pride, shared identity and community celebration across the country. I hope that the legacy of the games will come to be more important than the event itself – with the regeneration of east London, more young people playing sport and competing than ever before and Team GB coming fourth in the medal table.

What is your top policy priority? Ending child poverty.

What area would you challenge the coalition on?I think it would have to be the ‘Big Society’ which has, so far, completely failed to fly. I think that there are two possible explanations for the sense of crisis that is beginning to take a hold of the Big Society project.

The first is that it is failing because it’s an advertising slogan, not a policy; that David Cameron’s ‘big idea’ is to steal Labour’s language of fairness, solidarity and responsibility. The second is that their failure is simply a matter of incompetence. That while they’ve got a sharply developed political narrative they’ve no idea how to meet the promises that they’ve made; that the small number of people tasked with building the Big Society have a shallow understanding of community. I don’t know which is true. But whether it’s ineptitude or conspiracy the end result will be the same. My view is that services should be run by communities where possible but by government, in all of its forms, where necessary.

Who is your political hero?Heroism is found in the altruism and belief that we really do achieve more together than we do alone. I think that it is found in many of the 80,000 people that I represent. Many of them will sadly need to be heroic in the coming months, given the hardship that this Tory-led government is causing for thousands of my constituents through cuts to housing benefit, childcare tax credits and frontline services in policing and schools.

What must Labour do to win the next election? I think that we need to build a coalition of identity and ambition and live the different kind of politics that we’re beginning to talk about. We need to make sure that we are a loud voice for the millions of families whose lives are scarred by insecurity and disappointment, who need a government to help them achieve what they alone cannot – either for themselves or their children. We need to recognise that the raucous politics of Westminster is a distant noise to most people and find a way to talk about people in the way that they see themselves. We also need to have the self-confidence in opposition to reflect openly and think aloud and draw the public into a conversation about Britain’s future. Most importantly, we need to stick resolutely to the centre ground. In an era where people no longer see politics through an ideological prism, that is where they want their politicians to be.

TESSA JOWELLThe shadow cabinet secretary on her inspirations, motivations

and what Labour must do to win again

Deadline for completed ballot papers is October 22ndFor further information visit www.youngfabians.org.uk

Deadline for completed ballot papers is October 22ndFor further information visit www.youngfabians.org.uk

All our latest activity delivered to you.

Simple.

IN THE FULL EDITIONJoin the Young Fabians today for only £5 and get Anticipations in full delivered

to your door. For further information visit youngfabians.org.uk.

Join the Young Fabians at youngfabians.org.uk

INTERVIEW

ED BALLSby james green

The shadow chancellor talks to the Young Fabians about the budget, the

deficit and how Labour can win again.

FEATURES

JEWISH MORALITY AND MARKETSby rabb i j eremy gordon

Rabbi Jeremy Gordon argues that Judaism has much to teach us about

how to build a fairer economy.

FEATURES

IN DEFENCE OF THE HIJABby baroness haleh afshar

Muslim Women’s Network Chair Baroness Afshar argues that there are

strong feminist arguments in the hijab’s defence.

OPINION

YOUNG FABIAN IDEASby var ious

Young Fabian members share their ideas on a wide range of policy issues

from AV to the future of the Middle East.

STARTERS

ECONOMICS EYEby al len s impson

Young Fabian Allen Simpson argues that stagnation is a gamble George

Osborne is willing to make to close the deficit.

STARTERS

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR by var ious

Young Fabian members share their views on the winter edition of

Anticipations, Reclaiming the Big Society.

and much more....

SOCIETY NEWS

YOUNG FABIANSby var ious

All the latest from the Young Fabians including recent activities,

forthcoming events and plans for the year ahead.

ENDNOTES

WHY I’M LABOURby var ious

Young Fabian members talk about the values and experiences that inspired

them to join the Labour Party.

YOUNG FABIANSYOUNG FABIANS