By Samuel Yung
Five Conservative MPs have announced their intention to stand for Conservative Party Leadership today. What have they said about faith and religion?
Stephen Crabb: "It is easier for a politician to admit to smoking weed or watching porn than it is to admit that they might take prayer seriously in their daily life."
The Work and Pensions Secretary gave the Conservative Christian Fellowship's Annual Wilberforce Address in December 2015. In his lecture to CCF members, the Member of Parliament for Preseli Pembrokeshire warned that Britain’s increasingly secular society risks “pushing more young Muslims into the arms of ISIS” and urged "people of faith to protect the freedoms of each other and of all minorities”. He also suggested that freedom of religion is under threat, as the current mood meant “faith gets squeezed further into the margins of public life and religion becomes delegitimised through suspicion, fear or ridicule”. Listen to Stephen Crabb's full address here.
Liam Fox: "Blessed are the peacemakers is hardly the slogan of intolerance."
Responding to criticisms of his short video titled "Don’t apologise for Christmas" on oneminutefox.com, the former Defence Secretary argued for the right of people of faith to express their religion. "The truth is that banning a school nativity play or instructing civil servants not to use the word Christmas in official greetings cards, is ... part of a conscious attack by a self defined and self righteous minority on the freedoms of the rest of us", wrote the Member of Parliament for North Somerset. He pointed to the "wider issue" that this revealed - "the politically correct" imposing their values on the rest of society. But Fox is confident that "the British people would never vote for such nonsense".
Michael Gove: "The reality of Christian mission in today’s churches is a story of thousands of quiet kindnesses."
In his article for the Spectator, boldly titled "In Defence of Christianity", the Justice Secretary and Member of Parliament for Surrey Heath asserted the inherent unfairness of labelling Christians as "intolerant, naive, superstitious and backward" when Christians are "at the forefront of the fight against poverty, prejudice and ignorance". He highlighted some of the invaluable work that Britain's churches do in providing "warmth, food, friendship and support for individuals who have fallen on the worst of times". The Christian value of compassion is founded on "a sense of empathy ... towards others because we recognise that we are as guilty of selfishness and open to temptation as anyone". Equally, the Christian faith "encourages us to see that, while all of us are prey to weakness, there is a potential for good in everyone", because "every individual is precious" as members of humanity.
Andrea Leadsom: "I always try to keep my beliefs and my faith through the work I am doing."
The Energy Minister shared her testimony of how she found faith in a video on Christians in Parliament's website. "Well I wasn’t brought up as a Christian, and as a child I spent a lot of time wondering about God", said the Member of Parliament for South Northamptonshire. But what convinced her that it was "absolutely impossible not to believe there was a God" was when her first son was born, which was a "complete miracle" and led her to realise that "nobody but God could have overseen such a perfect creation". When asked what difference does her faith make to her work in Parliament, she replied "I always try to ensure that I am doing what I think what God would want me to do. I try to keep in mind that God is there… guiding my hand and helping me". Faith helps her to "stay calm and be measured", and "not allow wave of politics and arguments get to me".
Theresa May: "It is part of me, part of who I am and how I approach things."
The Home Secretary was invited onto Desert Island Discs on BBC Radio 4 and spoke to presenter Kirsty Young about her favourite tracks. The Member of Parliament for Maidenhead chose Isaac Watt's classic When I Survey the Wondrous Cross as one of her Desert Island Discs. She spoke of her father who was an Anglican vicar. Growing up as the only child of her family, she was close to him. May "never took issue with the church" as it was "never imposed by her parents". She continues to be a practising Anglican but prefers to be modest about her faith: "It is part of me, part of who I am and how I approach things. It’s good that we don’t flaunt such things in British politics."