Faith in the Community: churches can host political debates

Should the church get involved in politics? That’s always been a controversial question. Just now, in a General Election campaign, it’s particularly pertinent.

So much of the current election campaign is focusing on party leaders, but we are not electing a president. We are voting for Members of Parliament, to represent a local area.

So it’s important that we can meet the candidates standing in our constituency, find out who they are, what makes them tick, why they are standing for their chosen party and what they are committing to do for the constituency they hope to represent.

Holding a hustings event is a great way to enable voters to meet all the local candidates. It’s an opportunity for local people to raise issues that matter to them, but which may be neglected in the national campaign.

Churches are embedded in their local communities, which means many churches, up and down the country, will be hosting hustings in the next couple of weeks. They’ll invite people from their community to play a part in the democratic process and enable them to hold all the candidates to account.

Here in Portsmouth a hustings for Portsmouth North has been organised by Churches Together in Cosham, a group of churches across different denominations that work together throughout the year.

It’s being hosted at the Church of the Resurrection in Drayton on Wednesday 19 June, at 7:45pm. We’re expecting all the local candidates to be present, ready to answer questions from constituents.

And it’s not just a chance to raise questions about local issues. In the cut and thrust of party rivalries, and arguments about tax-and-spend, very often the ‘big questions’ also get overlooked. The Bible has a lot to say about care for creation, justice, and peace. In a hustings the “big questions” about topics like climate change and justice for the poor can also be posed.

We want to make sure that a wide range of topics is covered in our hustings, so we’re asking for questions to be submitted in advance, by noon on Monday 17 June. Questions should be emailed to [email protected].

It’s not the place of any church or denomination to endorse a particular party or candidate, but churches can provide a service to their local community by enabling people to participate more fully in the democratic process and make a better-informed choice. That’s what we’re hoping our hustings will do.