The three main party political leaders have revealed what Easter means to them, with Prime Minister David Cameron saying it is about “remembering the importance of change, responsibility, and doing the right thing for the good of our children”.
Meanwhile the Chief Whip, Michael Gove, has explained what Christianity meant to him personally and praised churches for their contribution to national life.
The Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg recorded a video message in which he said the story of Jesus is “moving and powerful”.
The Liberal Democrat leader, who told The Tablet last year that faith “is not something I would close my heart or my mind to” added: "The values that Jesus lived his life by - compassion, humility and forgiveness - resonate with people of all faiths and none."
"It's why so many people, both Christian and not, use the weeks before Easter - the forty days of Lent - to take stock of what is truly important to them and their families.”
In his Easter message, Ed Miliband, drew attention to the plight of “Christians in Syria, Iraq and other countries where the church suffers terrible persecution” and the “over two million children … now living in poverty in the UK”.
Noting that through Easter services “the Church shares the story of the resurrection, and spreads the good news of Easter”, he thanked church members and Christian charities who help people in need and concluded: “In the months to come I hope that we will all stand up for justice, serve the most vulnerable and work to positively transform our communities together.”
All three leaders were speaking to Premier Christianity magazine. Mr Cameron in his message said “the values of Easter and the Christian religion – compassion, forgiveness, kindness, hard work and responsibility – are values that we can all celebrate and share”.
He admitted: “I’m hardly a model church-going, God-fearing Christian. Like so many others, I’m a bit hazy on the finer points of our faith.” But he said his faith had helped him in tough times.
The message, which critics noted does not mention Jesus, his crucifixion or resurrection, included a section devoted to the economy, in which he stated the ways the Government had helped “the poorest paid and most vulnerable in society”.
Acknowledging that some people had disagreed with the Government’s economic policies, he pleaded: “I would urge those individuals not to dismiss the people who proposed those policies as devoid of morality – or assume those policies are somehow amoral themselves.”
Meanwhile Michael Gove wrote in the Spectator a lengthy article in defence of Christianity, which he outlined “the contrast between the Christianity I see our culture belittle nightly, and the Christianity I see our country benefit from daily”, which he said “could not be greater”.
“Churches provide debt counselling, marriage guidance, childcare, English language lessons, after-school clubs, food banks, emergency accommodation and, sometimes most importantly of all, someone to listen."
Christianity, he said, encouraged people to foster a resolve to do better and feel empathy rather than superiority towards.
He added: “Genuine Christian faith — far from making any individual more invincibly convinced of their own righteousness — makes us realise just how flawed and fallible we all are. I am selfish, lazy, greedy, hypocritical, confused, self-deceiving, impatient and weak. And that’s just on a good day,” he wrote.
Loading ...
