Faith In Politics – Kevin Rudd, Dietrich Bonhoeffer and Rowan Williams

Paul writes – I was struck by a wonderful (although brief) exploration of Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd’s “faith in politics” (by Raymond Pelly) in the latest issue of Anglican Taonga (Autumn 2008). You can read the whole essay (2006), referred to in the Taonga article, here.

As I read it, I heard echoes of recent talks by Rowan Williams, particularly his “Faith and Politics” (here). Both make important and needful points, points I’m only now starting to appreciate. Both argue, in effect that “a Christian perspective on contemporary policy debates may not prevail, [BUT] it must nonetheless be argued…[humbly]”

Here are a couple of excerpts from Rudd’s essay:

“…God is not partisan: God is not a Republican or a Democrat. When either party tries to politicize God, or co-opt religious communities for their political agendas, they make a terrible mistake. The best contribution of religion is precisely not to be ideologically predictable nor loyally partisan. Both parties, and the nation, must let the prophetic voice of religion be heard. Faith must be free to challenge both right and left from a consistent moral ground…

A Christian perspective on contemporary policy debates may not prevail. It must nonetheless be argued. And once heard, it must be weighed, together with other arguments from different philosophical traditions, in a fully contestable secular polity. A Christian perspective, informed by a social gospel or Christian socialist tradition, should not be rejected contemptuously by secular politicians as if these views are an unwelcome intrusion into the political sphere. If the churches are barred from participating in the great debates about the values that ultimately underpin our society, our economy and our polity, then we have reached a very strange place indeed.

The Anglican Taonga article is attached as a PDF below:

Download kevin_rudd_faith_in_politics.pdf