Theos News

Is doing God doing good?

Alistair Burt MP, Alun Michael MP and Steve Webb MP today discussed the role of Christianity in society at a Theos debate in the House of Commons.

The debate entitled ‘Is doing God doing good?’ explored issues relating to the role of government, the moral dimension of public policy and the relationship between Christianity and the state.

The event, chaired by Theos Director Paul Woolley, opened with a presentation by Nick Spencer, Director of Studies at Theos, outlining the arguments of the latest Theos report. Christianity had an obligation to engage in public proclamation, assembly, action and confrontation, Spencer asserted. The precise nature of the church's engagement with the state would depend, he argued, on the political context that the church existed in at any one time.

The MPs on the panel said that the Christian community should be less defensive. It should be defined less by what it was against and more by what it was for. The challenge was to develop and champion a vision of the common good. MPs and others across the political parties would have different views on what constituted the 'good' and the extent to which the law should or should not be used to promote particular aspects of it, but the law did have a role to play in sending clear signals about the activities which government believed should be encouraged or discouraged. The Race Relations Act (1976) was a case in point.