Life

Dr Norman Hamilton: What is 'morally proper'?

The British government's controversial policy of sending asylum seekers to Rwanda raises serious questions about how the Church of Jesus Christ should relate to the government of the day in a democratic society, says the Rev Dr Norman Hamilton

A group of people thought to be migrants are brought in to Dover, Kent, following a 'small boat' incident in the Channel. In a heavily criticised policy, Britain intends to provide those deemed to have arrived unlawfully with a one-way ticket to Rwanda. Picture by Steve Parsons/PA Wire.
A group of people thought to be migrants are brought in to Dover, Kent, following a 'small boat' incident in the Channel. In a heavily criticised policy, Britain intends to provide those deemed to have arrived unlawfully with a one-way ticket to R A group of people thought to be migrants are brought in to Dover, Kent, following a 'small boat' incident in the Channel. In a heavily criticised policy, Britain intends to provide those deemed to have arrived unlawfully with a one-way ticket to Rwanda. Picture by Steve Parsons/PA Wire.

IN his sermon in Canterbury Cathedral on Easter Sunday morning, Archbishop Justin Welby, speaking about the British government's Rwanda asylum plan, said there were "serious ethical questions about sending asylum seekers overseas".

He added: "The details are for politics and politicians. The principle must stand the judgement of God and it cannot." His words were one of the most dramatic criticisms of government policy by any Archbishop of Canterbury in recent times.

He was publicly supported by the Archbishop of York, Stephen Cottrell, who told the BBC: "I'm appalled at what is being proposed, and I think we can do better than this." He added that he thought the policy was "unethical".

The reaction was swift. The prime minister, Boris Johnson, responded by saying: "This is the morally right thing to do and the humane and compassionate thing to do. We cannot have people continuing to die at sea, paying huge sums to evil people traffickers who are simply exploiting their hopes and their ambitions."

There is much to commend in that statement, and it opens up an important debate on opposing views of what is morally proper.

Predictably, however, much of the response was also hostile. A headline in a leading national newspaper the next day declared that 'MPs attack Welby rant', and one MP is quoted as saying that "commenting on government policy is not Justin Welby's job. He's usually way out of tune with public opinion, and he undermines the role of the church with daft statements like this".

Those comments once again raise the highly contentious issue of how the church of Jesus Christ should relate to the government of the day in a democratic society. It is not at all unusual for politicians (including some on this side of the Irish Sea) to demand that religion is left at the front door of one's house when politics is involved.

That is a view that I suggest Christian people should totally reject, since it implies that politics should be a zone largely freed from Biblical perspectives and ethics. A place which is morally self-regulating and adjudicating; where the ever-changing standards of wider society should be taken as normal and acceptable; where God's standards should be increasingly pushed to the margins; and where public opinion rules.

Whilst there is certainly room to disagree and debate with the Archbishop on this particular topic, a healthy society will not seek to vilify him for seeking to speak to 'truth to power' - a phrase coined in 1942 by a black Quaker in the United States.

It certainly is his job - irrespective of what any MP says - to call the government to account for its moral and ethical standards, for if Christians back away from doing that, can we expect others to do it for us?

Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby, pictured right, with Belfast Deputy Lord Mayor Tom Haire and Fr Martin Magill, during this year's Four Corners Festival in Belfast. The Archbishop was one of the event's keynote speakers. Picture by Mal McCann.
Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby, pictured right, with Belfast Deputy Lord Mayor Tom Haire and Fr Martin Magill, during this year's Four Corners Festival in Belfast. The Archbishop was one of the event's keynote speakers. Picture by Mal McCan Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby, pictured right, with Belfast Deputy Lord Mayor Tom Haire and Fr Martin Magill, during this year's Four Corners Festival in Belfast. The Archbishop was one of the event's keynote speakers. Picture by Mal McCann.

The Bible is absolutely clear that "righteousness exalts a nation, but sin condemns any people" (Proverbs 14:34, NIV). Upholding what is true, right and good is always a challenge in political and public life, just as it is in personal life, for we are fallen people in a fallen world, with everything tarnished by sin.

This fact makes it all the more important that there is moral and ethical accountability in public life as well as in the life of the individual.

I remember well asking a well-known elected representative (who is unashamedly an atheist) what he saw the role of the church to be in our society. His answer was immediate and deeply challenging: "To be the moral conscience of the community." It has stayed with me ever since.

It is extremely hard to disagree with his comment, and extremely hard to carry the responsibility it brings, for it often requires great wisdom, great compassion and great courage. Yet when great sin taints a nation, or great scandal convulses a community, it can hardly be honouring to Christ or in accordance with the teaching of Scripture for silence to be kept by God's people.

The call of Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount to be salt and light in a corrupted world is as demanding as it is important. One Bible commentator described that call in unambiguous and very strong language. Christ's disciples are "to be a moral disinfectant in a word where moral standards are low, constantly changing, or non-existent".

And so I cannot outsource my own responsibilities to the church generally or church leaders in particular. Without arrogance or self-righteousness, without rancour or prejudice, the call to be a moral disinfectant in the world I inhabit is ever with me - and you too.

Whether or not you agree with the Archbishop, he was faithfully seeking to carry out his Christian and Biblical responsibility as a leader of the church. For that he is to be thoroughly and unambiguously commended - and constantly prayed for.

The Rev Dr Norman Hamilton is a former Moderator of the Presbyterian Church.