Faith and politics - some questions

On the sofa in the lounge of a student house in Bradford this week I came across a copy of the Economist dated April this year. One article to catch my eye was about Margaret Thatcher's faith.  You can read the article here.  The writer makes two main points: firstly, that Thatcher was the last Prime Minister openly to embrace some serious faith in God and, secondly, that she abandoned her low church roots in favour of a higher Anglicanism as she climbed the political ladder. Of course that didn't prevent her from savagely attacking the Anglican hierarchy at times, not least Archbishop Runcie - a decorated war hero - for his compassion towards the families of 'enemies.'

1979 was the first general election in which I had a vote and Thatcher was the main political fixture of the following 10 years. There then followed the bland John Major before the arrival of Tony Blair. I don't think we had any clue about Blair's faith before he was elected and Alastair Campbell famously advised the press (and Blair, according to Campbell's diaries) that we "Don't do God."  I take this to mean that faith as motivation or ground is entirely acceptable but the overt embracing of any faith which is then open to political scrutiny runs a serious risk of unravelling. Blair's faith also went on a journey, in this case from Anglicanism towards his wife's Roman Catholicism. I can remember the point when I first thought that Blair would seek admission to the RC church only after he left office. My reaction then was that he had sacrificed integrity for expediency and I have not changed my mind since.

Blair went on the Michael Parkinson show in March 2006 and said this when asked about his decision to invade Iraq:

 "The only way you can take a decision like that is to try to do the right thing according to your            conscience. I think if you have faith about these things, then you realise that that judgement is made by other people... and if you believe in God, it's made by God as well." When asked if he had prayed to God on the matter, he replied: "I don't want to go into that... you struggle with your own conscience about it... in the end, you do what you think is the right thing."

It would be silly not to acknowledge some aspects of the work of both these Prime Ministers. Yet I despised most of Thatcher's policies and I came to distrust Blair, who I suspected was overawed by his position and tried to make up for that. I am glad that in the UK we do not have much truck with 'Christian' parties or the horrid religious Right as they do in the United States. I am delighted that, quietly and without fuss, Christians, Muslims, Jews, Hindus, Sikhs (and I'd better say, Humanists!) contribute greatly to our political life in councils and governing bodies, as well as in Parliament. People who differ politically but share the same desire to serve others for the public good.

But did it make any difference that the two most influential British Prime Ministers of the late 20th Century are both identified with their faith? And what might we learn from their example about how faith and public service may be linked?