Opinion – UK General Election; Westminster 2010 Declaration

The UK goes to the polls on 6th May 2010. Commentators are already describing the result of  the General Election as likely to be too close to call. In my view this is proving to be a difficult election for many, including myself, in which to vote – the main parties are really very similar in their positions on so many of the issues and UK politics in general is increasingly mistrusted. There seems to be an air of disillusionment about the whole affair.

Thirty senior Christian (mostly Evangelical) leaders, including the former Archbishop of Canterbury Lord Carey and Peter Maiden (OM), launched a Christian Manifesto; ‘Westminster 2010: Declaration of Christian Conscience’ on Easter Sunday.

It’s well worth reading and is, I believe, a positive and useful tool for all in the wider Christian community.

Westminster 2010 is a declaration aimed to appeal to UK Christians of all denominations who subscribe to the historic Christian faith and who hold orthodox Christian beliefs about life, marriage and conscience.

It was initially inspired by the ‘Manhattan Declaration’, which was launched in November 2009 and has now been signed by over 400,000 US Christians. Westminster 2010, however, is a completely independent initiative by UK Christians focused on UK issues.

The Declaration calls upon all parliamentary candidates to pledge that they will ‘respect, uphold and protect the right of Christians to hold and express Christian beliefs and act according to Christian conscience’.

One excellent feature of the site is that you are able to search online to find the various parliamentary candidates in your area and ascertain their likely position on the Westminster 2010 Declaration.

I applaud this important Christian initiative and trust it will be helpful to anyone who, like me, is struggling to work out just who to vote for in May.

For more details log onto www.westminster2010.org.uk