The real value of Christian values (From Gazette & Herald)

The real value of Christian values

12:14pm Thursday 9th July 2009

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I would like to come back on John Collins, letter in your issue of June 24.

He disagrees with my suggestion that the political parties should reconnect with traditional Christian values, on the basis, I think, that there are universal standards of honesty integrity and respect which are not exclusively Christian.

The point is that, when people lose faith in their religion, they look for moral guidance elsewhere.

This could be in the works of great philosophers such as Confucius or Budha, and something like this did happen in the UK in the 60s, when many students were attracted to Marxism.

Now that Marxism has been discredited, we have little in the way of moral guidance at all. Instead, we have a “progressive” outlook which teaches that right and wrong are not absolutes, but depend on one’s point of view.

On this basis there can be no absolute values, and “honesty, integrity and respect” begin to mean different things to different people.

This leads to relative values and can result in situations where people are likely to put their own interests before those of their political party and the interests of their political party before those of the community or the nation, and this is what I believe has led some MPs to believe that they had done nothing wrong in claiming extraordinary expenses, because the rules allowed them to do so.

The advantage of all religions is that traditionally they teach absolute values, which are designed to encourage people to care about others and look at the wider picture and not just at their own personal interest.

Religion defines “right and wrong” as absolute standards for everybody.

I fully appreciate that other religions may provide guidance similar to Christianity, but I have been brought up as a Christian; Christianity is our national heritage, and the UK is a Christian country. That is why I think all of our political parties should reconnect with traditional Christian values.

PAUL ANDREWS, Great Habton

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