A more cynical person than me might suggest that David Cameron's Easter message was rather political.
The PM declared: "This is the time when, as Christians, we remember the life, sacrifice and living legacy of Christ. The New Testament tells us so much about the character of Jesus; a man of incomparable compassion, generosity, grace, humility and love. These are the values that Jesus embraced, and I believe these are values people of any faith, or no faith, can also share in, and admire."
And in a No 10 reception for church representatives, Cameron added: "'I think there's something of a fightback going on, and we should welcome that.
"The values of the Bible – the values of Christianity – are the values that we need."
But he also had a cautious message for the assembled crowd about the forthcoming issue of gay marriage: "I hope we won't fall out too much over gay marriage. There'll be some strong arguments and some strong words.
He also reassured his audience that the proposals would "change what happens in a register office, not what happens in a church".
As I've written before, gay marriage is a hurdle that Cameron has yet to clear, even among some of his own MPs.
This year's Easter message was arguably Cameron's most religious yet.
(Last year, he stated: "Easter is a time when Christians are reminded of God's mercy and celebrate the life of Christ…")
And his relationship with organised faith has not been without moments of disagreement.
He stated that organised religion can "get things wrong".
And remember when the Archbishop of Canterbury guest-edited the New Statesman? He questioned whether the coalition had a mandate for reform, writing that ministers were committed to “radical, long-term policies for which no-one voted”.
Cameron responded that he “profoundly disagreed” with the Archbishop’s statement, while work and pensions secretary Iain Duncan Smith dismissed Williams’s comments as “a little unbalanced and unfair”.
We have an established Christian church. Our head of state is ‘defender of the faith’ and the supreme governor of the Church of England. Our parliamentarians hold morning prayers daily before debate begins. Parliament has its own chapel and chaplain. Twenty-four bishops sit in the House of Lords, and, in 2010, in Westminster Hall, the Pope delivered a speech on religion.
It seems this PM 'does God', but will church leaders 'do Cameron' over gay marriage? He spoke yesterday of a "Christian fightback". Let's hope it's not fought in a boxing ring with Peter Bone.
Comments
Clr Ralph Baldwin / April 06 2012 3:36pm
Wise move of limited value to some groups, the focus on values and the ambition that we will need them in that tense and context is good. It's now going to be uphill for Cameron who has to sort out and clear his head about what he and his Cabinet want to achieve between now and 2015.
Ryan Jones / April 08 2012 7:47pm
This is merely the powers that be trying to reassert their emotional control over an increasively critically minded public.
We've figured out their lies and mistakes, and all they have left is their propaganda. Christianity is the best propaganda around, it has hundreds of milliions of devout believers.
But don't listen to him. There is no evidence of a Christian fightback. Worldwide secularism is on the rise. I make this claim based on the actual numbers, not because I have an agenda. See for yourself, type in 'increase of secularism' into google and enjoy.