CONSERVATIVE PARTY AT PRAYER?

It's always alarming to find oneself agreeing with a Tory MP but Mark Pritchard’s call for Christianity’s role in our culture to be recognised is apt – and, apparently, not being phrased in the usual loony Tory way. Whether you like it or not, Christianity has played a major part in shaping what this country is and who its citizens are, including those from other religions and cultures.

There is a current argument that it was the Protestant work ethic which lay at the heart of the rise of Britain to prominence in the 19th century. The influence of Christianity can certainly be seen in so many of our systems, structures and institutions, from the House of Commons, which is modelled on the King’s private chapel where MPs first met to debate, to that much neglected feature of almost every community in the country, the church on the corner which everyone walks past and which tends to be so sadly underused as a local community space. Even many of the founders of modern Liberalism seem to have imbibed a healthy dose of the faith to inform their philosophy.

Christianity should be recognised and celebrated in terms of its cultural contribution to England as it has proved to be durable, (largely) positive and – crucially – has encouraged a more inclusive view of the world than might have developed here - admittedly through centuries of strife and atrocities often committed in the name of God but the end of all that pain and strife has been a perhaps uniquely acommodating society.

Luckily Mr Pritchard’s useful contribution did include some welcome ‘Tory’ views on the world which can be challenged.

His call for Christians to get ‘full minority rights’ is a joke, surely. The Church of England is already established. What further rights does it need, exactly? (yes, Liberals have argued for decades over disestablishment but this is not the place for that discussion).

The other great point he makes is that ‘Christ is at the heart of Christmas’. Er, no he isn’t. That tree? Pagan. The fella in the red coat? Pagan. The unbelievable consumer frenzy? Can’t remember a passage in the Bible about that.

As any fule kno, the early Christians adopted the pagan midwinter festival and made it their own. They added a few bits and translated some existing customs and called it Christmas. So, take Christ out of Christmas and you have, er, Saturnalia, Yule, Diwali, Hannukah, any number of different midwinter celebrations to keep the cold out and remind people that things will shortly get a little warmer.

As a continually practising but very poor Christian, I have no problem at all with the apparent clash of all these traditions. To me that signifies the value of our own brand of Christianity. Crucially, an acceptance of the importance of Christianity to our culture does not imply a need on anyone’s part to agree with or practice the religion.

My faith is based on two key tenets: first, that the church is at the heart of my community, a small rural village, and that all villagers are welcome, not just those who attend church regularly; second, that the teachings of Christianity - put aside the gobbledegook the major churches preach - set out a very positive view of the world. That is pretty much a cultural approach to Christianity, rather than a blind, happy clappy devotion to magic.

That's the best thing about this debate: it seeks to drag Christianity away from the nutters and fundamentalists. That is reason enough to welcome Mr Pritchard's comments.