Arts & Ideas Christian faith, politics and culture
Jun 27, 2025
Mark Lawson, a writer and theatre critic for The Tablet, joins experts like Anna Rowlands, a Catholic social thought professor, and Chine McDonald, director of Theos, to explore how Christian faith intertwines with politics today. They discuss the resurgence of religious themes post-pandemic and how historical events like the Council of Nicaea impact modern governance. Sam Tanenhaus delves into William Buckley's influence on American conservatism, while Dafydd Mills Daniel reflects on faith's role in contemporary theatre and music.
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Faith More Central in Politics
- Christian faith has become more central in politics than in the late 1990s and early 2000s.
- Religion influences major global stories like US evangelicalism, Gaza, and Iran conflicts.
Party Politics Outweighs Religious Vote
- MPs often vote along party lines rather than religious beliefs on issues like assisted dying.
- Public debate wrongly assumes religious people uniformly oppose such bills.
Divergent Meanings in Debates
- Religious and secular worldviews use the same words but with radically different meanings in debates.
- This gap causes talking past each other, especially on concepts like dignity in assisted dying.
