A letter from Simon Pitcher

Dear Friends,

2015 is an important year for our country as it is General Election year, with the date set for Thursday 7th May. A General Election is always a great event for all night television, with the swingometre going backwards and forwards, and the results coming in from excited town halls across the land.

Choosing how to vote, and deciding for oneself what criteria will shape our minds and opinions is very important. That is why the House of Bishops of the Church of England wrote a pastoral letter that identified some important questions.

The underlying question that they raised was “who is my neighbour”? The Bishop's write “we are not made in isolation. We belong together in a creation which should be cherished and not simply used and consumed.” The letter goes on to say that Christians should consider carefully “how to negotiate these dangerous times to build the kind of society that many people say they want.” The letter also states that Christians have a duty to engage with the political process because we share the responsibility of participating in the democratic structures of our nation.

What should voters ask of candidates?

The Anglican bishops write that this election provides the opportunity to “sow the seeds of a new politics” and encourage voters to support candidates and policies that demonstrate the following six values:

  1. Halting and reversing the accumulation of power and wealth in fewer and fewer hands, whether those of the state, corporations or individuals.
  2. Involving people at a deeper level in the decisions that affect them most.
  3. Recognising the distinctive communities, whether defined by geography, religion or culture, which make up the nation and enabling all to thrive and participate together.
  4. Treating the electorate as people with roots, commitments and traditions and addressing us all in terms of the common good and not just as self-interested consumers.
  5. Demonstrating that the weak, the dependent, the sick, the aged and the vulnerable are persons of equal value to everybody else.
  6. Offering the electorate a grown-up debate about Britain's place in the world order and the possibilities and obligations that entails.

Christians Together in Southwold and District have organised a Hustings event in St Edmunds Hall on Sunday 19th April at 6pm. The candidates for our constituency have all been invited and it is an opportunity to put your questions to them. This event is open to all. If you would like to ask a question please submit your question to Rev Simon Pitcher, The Vicarage, Gardner Road, Southwold IP18 6HJ by Sunday 12th April.

Yours in Christ.

Simon