Do politics and faith mix? Faith based organisations like Christian Aid come in for a lot of stick for our campaigning and political work. We have the ear of the government on issues like Climate Change and International Trade Rules. But shouldn't we just stick to raising money, and maybe a bit of prayer?
The God I believe in has a heart for the poor that hasn't changed. The Christianity I subsribe to teaches that no one is disposable to God. Christian Aid's gospel driven work is led by the belief that everyone deserves a future, refusing to be compromised by the world's complacency about poverty. Everything Christian Aid does come back to the responsibility laid by God at our feet, and the mandate to care for the vulnerable and speak up for the silenced.
Just as Jesus ministered outside accepted social barriers, healing people regardless of their beleifs - we are unafraid to get involved in complicated places. And while responding to people in need is vital, we believe that God does not want the world to be this way, so we campaign to change the underlying structures that make and keep people poor. It means challenging the people who have the power to change things, not trying to hide anger when the poor are exploited and pushing forward the values of justice, peace and love to change the world's values.
Becoming involved in politics helped people like William Wilberforce bring an end to slavery 200 years ago. It enabled campaigners to persuade rich governments to cancel the criplling debt if some of the world's poorest countries in the run up to the millennium. And so it is exactly because we are people of faith that we must continue to speak out.
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