We Can’t Make It Without Religious Values!
by the Rt. Hon. Margaret Thatcher,
Former Prime Minister of Great Britain

While reading recently, I came across the starkly simple phrase “Christianity is about spiritual redemption, not social reform.” Sometimes the debate on these matters has become too polarized and has given the impression that the two are quite separate.

Most Christians would regard it as their personal duty to help their fellow men and women. They would regard the lives of children as a precious trust. These duties come not from any secular legislation passed by Parliament, but from being a Christian. But there are a number of people who are not Christians who would also accept those responsibilities. What then, are the distinctive marks of Christianity?

They stem not from the social but from the spiritual side of our lives. I would identify three beliefs in particular. First, that from the beginning man has been endowed by God with the fundamental right to choose between good and evil. Second, that we were made in God’s Own image and therefore we are expected to use all our own power of thought and judgment in exercising that choice and if we can open our hearts to God He has promised to work within us. And third, that our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, when faced with His terrible choice and lonely vigil, chose to lay down His life that our sins may be forgiven. I remember very well a sermon on an Armistice Sunday when our preacher said: “No one took away the life of Jesus, He chose to lay it down.”

I think back to many discussions in my early life when we all agreed that if you try to take the fruits of Christianity without its roots, the fruits will wither. And they will not come again unless you nurture the roots. But we must not profess the Christian faith and go to church simply because we want social reforms and benefits, or a better standard of behavior - but because we accept the sanctity of life, the responsibility that comes with the freedom and the supreme sacrifice of Christ expressed so well in the hymn:

“When I survey the wondrous Cross
On which the Prince of glory died;
My richest gain I count but loss
And pour contempt on all my pride.”

Bible Principles - Relevance to Political Life

The Old Testament lays down in Exodus the Ten Commandments as given by God to Moses, the injunction in Leviticus to love our neighbor as ourselves and generally, the importance of observing a strict code of law. The New Testament is a record of the Incarnation, the teachings of Christ and the establishment of the Kingdom of God. Again, we have the emphasis on loving our neighbor as ourselves and to “. . . do as you would be done by.”

I believe that by taking together these key elements from the Old and New Testaments we gain:

(1). A view of the universe;

(2). A proper attitude to work;

(3). Principles to shape economic and social life.

We are told that we must work and use our talents to create wealth. “If a man will not work neither shall he eat” wrote St. Paul to the Thessalonians. Indeed, abundance rather than poverty has a legitimacy which derives from the very nature of creation.

Nevertheless, the Tenth Commandment - “Thou shalt not covet...” recognizes that making money and owning things could become selfish activities. But it is not the creation of wealth that is wrong, but the love of money for its own sake. The spiritual dimension comes in deciding what one does with the wealth. How could we respond to the many calls for help, or invest for the future, or support the artists and craftsmen whose work also glorifies God, unless we had first worked hard and used our talents to create the necessary wealth?

None of this, of course, tells us exactly what kind of political institutions that we should have. On this point Christians will very often generally disagree, though it is a mark of Christian manners that they will do so with courtesy and mutual respect. What is certain, however, is that any set of social and economic arrangements which is not founded on the acceptance of individual responsibility will do nothing but harm. We are all responsible for our own actions. We cannot blame society if we do not obey its law. We simply cannot delegate the exercise of mercy and generosity to others.

Political Action and Personal Responsibilities

The politicians and other secular powers should strive by their measures to bring out the good in people and to fight down the bad - but they can’t create the one or abolish the other. They can only see that the Laws encourage the best instincts and convictions which I am convinced are far more deeply rooted than is often supposed.

Nowhere is this more evident than in the basic ties of the family, which are at the heart of our society and are the very nursery of civic virtue.

You will recall that Timothy was warned by St. Paul that anyone who neglects to provide for his own house - meaning his own family - has disowned the faith and is “... worse than an infidel”.

We must recognize that modern society is infinitely more complex than that of Bible times and, of course, new occasions teach new duties. In our generation the only way we can ensure that no one is left without sustenance, help or opportunity is to have laws to provide for health and education, pensions for the elderly and succor for the sick and disabled. But intervention by the state must never become so great that it effectively removes personal responsibility. The same applies to taxation: for while you and I work extremely hard whatever the circumstances, there are undoubtedly some who would not, unless the incentive was there. And we need their efforts too!

Religious Education

Recently there have been great debates about religious education. I believe strongly that politicians must see that religious education has a proper place in the school curriculum. The Christian is a fundamental part of our heritage. I believe it is the wish of the overwhelming majority of people that this heritage should be preserved and fostered. For centuries it has been our very life-blood. Indeed, we are a nation whose ideals are founded upon the Bible. It is quite impossible to understand our history or literature without grasping this fact.

This strong practical case for ensuring that children at school are given adequate instruction is the part which the Christian tradition has played in moulding our laws, manners and institutions. How can you make sense of Shakespeare and Sir Walter Scott, or the constitutional conflicts of the 17th century in both Scotland and England, without some fundamental knowledge?

But I go further than this. The truths of the Christian tradition are infinitely precious, not only, as I believe, because they are true, but also because they provide the moral impulse which alone can lead to that peace, in the true meaning of the word, for which we all long.

Tolerance

To assert absolute moral values is not to claim perfection for ourselves. No true Christian could do that. What is more, one of the great principles of our Christian inheritance is tolerance. People with other faiths and cultures have always been welcomed in our land, assured of equality under the law, or proper respect and of open friendship. There is nothing incompatible between this and our desire to maintain the essence of our own identity. There is no place for racial or religious intolerance in our creed.

Christians And Democracy

When Abraham Lincoln spoke his famous Gettysburg speech of 1863 of “government of the people, by the people and for the people...” he gave the world a neat definition of democracy which has since been widely and enthusiastically adopted. But what he enunciated as a form of government was not in itself especially Christian, for nowhere in the Bible is the word “democracy” mentioned. Ideally, when Christians meet as Christians to take counsel together, their purpose is not - or should not be - to ascertain what is the mind of the majority, but what is the mind of the Holy Spirit - something which may be quite different. Nevertheless, I am an enthusiast for democracy. And I take the position not because I believe that majority opinion is inevitably right or true: indeed, no majority can take away God-given human rights. But because I believe it most effectively safeguards the value of the individual and, more than any other system, restrains the abuse of power by the few. And that is a Christian concept.

But there is little hope for democracy if the hearts of men and women in democratic societies cannot be touched by a call to do something greater than themselves. Political structures, State institutions, collective ideals are not enough. Parliamentarians can legislate for the rule of law. The Church must teach the life of faith. For when all is said and done, a politician’s role is a humble one. I always think that the whole debate about the Church and the State has never yielded anything comparable in insight to that beautiful hymn, “I Vow To Thee My Country”. It begins with a triumphant assertion of what may be described as secular patriotism, a noble thing indeed in a country like ours.

“I vow to thee my country,
all earthly things above;
Entire, whole and perfect
the service of my love”.

The hymn goes on to speak of “another country I heard of long ago” whose king cannot be seen and whose armies cannot be counted, but “soul by soul and silently her shining bounds increase”. Not group by group or party by party, or even church by church, but soul by soul - and each one counts!

That is the country you chiefly serve. You may fight your causes under banners of many different churches. Your success matters greatly - as much to the temporal as to the spiritual welfare of the nation.

The above article was written by Margaret Thatcher, the Prime Minister of England, before her resignation from that position.

Her words are encouraging to those of us who look for “Christian character” among those who are rulers over God’s people.

There are those in positions of leadership who must feel like Elijah of old when he spoke unto the Lord as follows: “Lord, they have killed thy prophets, and I am left alone, and now they are seeking my life. But what saith the answer of God unto Elijah? I have reserved to myself seven thousand men who have not bowed down to Baal”.

Again, today, the Lord our God has an unknown number of men and women who have not bowed down to “Baal”. May the Lord strengthen and encourage those leaders among our people who have remained true to Jesus Christ in spite of the tremendous pressures that are put upon them.

Pray for all those who have the rule over us, that they may realize the importance of searching in God’s Word for the wisdom they need in order to rule wisely and also their need to be guided by the Spirit of Jesus Christ.

The article by Mrs. Thatcher was printed taken from an issue of Pastor Otis Read’s KINSHIP COMMUNICATION Newsletter, and we felt that it was well worth sharing.