Labour, religion and Christmas
Most reading this I suspect might concur that Boris Johnson’s Christmas address was at best waffle and arguably rather offensive in somewhat minimising the impact of the pandemic on people’s lives.
One thing that Johnson did get right however was in pointing out that while Christmas is a Christian country the values celebrated are human ones common to all.
England has as an Established Church, the C of E, and is officially if perhaps somewhat nominally in 2021 a Christian country. A good deal of British history is tied up with that however. I’m not religious but have always respected people’s right to have and follow a faith whatever it might be. Religious tolerance should be a cornerstone of democracy.
That said Keir Starmer’s Christmas message is a little odd. The Labour leader has publicly stated that he is not religious but does believe in faith, something at a broad level I might agree with him on. In that context starting the message by arguing that Christmas is a time for Christians, implying that all others, needn’t read on, is puzzling
I want to wish you a very Merry Christmas. Christmas is a time for Christians across Britain and across the world to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ. It’s a time to come together, to spend time with friends, with family and with loved ones.
https://labourlist.org/2021/12/keir-starmers-christmas-message-i-know-a-better-future-is-possible/
Labour of course does have a strong relationship with religion of various faiths. The Tolpuddle Martyrs were Methodists and Keir Hardie had been a lay preachers in the evangelical temperance context. The ILP had roots in Methodism too.
Harold Wilson quipped that Labour owed more to Methodism than Marx, a line which seems to have been first used by Morgan Phillips in 1953. Wilson was making the point that he had barely glanced at Marx’s Capital (he was Oxford Don & an economist so like many things Wilson said this probably wasn’t entirely true). Labour probably does owe more to Methodism than Marx but that doesn’t meant to say that Marxism in various forms hasn’t had its influence.
Tony Benn is one of the better known examples of that, taking ideas from both traditions and finding common ground, another issue much debated.
Methodists were of course non-conformists and so we can perhaps understand why Keir Starmer prefers to avoid being religious at all however..
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