Pastoral Letter March 2011

There has been much unrest throughout North Africa and the Middle East in recent weeks. People have been demonstrating on the streets, and demanding a greater say in the way that their lives are ruled. Virtual and actual dictators are discovering that their grip on power is fragile at best. The people want democracy, a chance to decide on the make up of their government.

Contrast that with the so far low-key campaign in the UK for a change in the voting system. The system proposed is the alternative vote (AV), a system which is not much more proportional than our current first past the post system (FPTP). Is it really worth all the expense and upheaval to change to a system which is only slightly different to the present one?

Opponents of FPTP argue that there are many seats around the country that are so ‘safe’ that parties don’t worry about them. Instead, they focus their campaigning and their policies on the relatively small number of seats that are likely to change hands, rather than on policies for the whole country.

Opponents of AV say that it is more likely to produce weak coalition governments(!) and makes it harder to throw out the governing party at a General Election.

It appears that public at opinion is finely balanced, with a large number of don’t knows. It will be interesting to see what the outcome of the vote is.

In the Old Testament, the people of Israel demonstrated on the streets and demanded, not democracy, but a king. They believed that if they had a king all their problems would be solved. They were quickly proved wrong. It is not a change of the governing system that the country needs, although I personally think it may help. What we need is a change in the attitudes of people’s hearts. People need to live lives that are truly yielded to Christ. As we do that, our attitudes to one another will change, and as we are filled with the Holy Spirit we will come together and work together for his kingdom.

Nik