In America it is perfectly normal for politicians to talk about their religious faith.
British politicians tend to be more circumspect.
When Tony Blair started talking to an interviewer about his faith he was notoriously shut up by his spin doctor Alastair Campbell who said: “We don’t do God.”
A crass demand – and craven of Blair to be silenced by it.
MORE: John Whittingdale On Why He Is Voting For Brexit
The sense of English reserve does not make us natural evangelists. It follows there is a reluctance to mix religion with politics – or anything else for that matter.
Some teenagers regard it as easier to “come out” as gender fluid than as Christians.
However, there is a religious dimension to EU referendum.
Some regard a strong Europe as a bastion for Christianity and support Britain’s EU membership on that basis.
Cardinal Vincent Nichols, the head of the Roman Catholic Church in England and Wales, has said: “There is a long tradition in…Catholicism of believing in holding things together. So the Catholic stance towards an effort such as the EU is largely supportive.”
MORE: House Of Cards Creator Michael Dobbs On Why He Is For Brexit
Yet others are concerned that eliminating national identity for an emerging European State must inevitability be a secularist project.
Adrian Hilton, a Conservative theologian at Oxford University says: “God made the nations with diverse qualities, and these variations of national characteristics and cultures display a wonder of creation. If the story of the Tower of Babel teaches us anything, it is that segregation occurs along these lines, and that attempts to re-build a unified tower are doomed to failure.”
George Carey, the former Archbishop of Canterbury, is also backing Brexit despite “Project Fear” – the warnings from the Remain campaign of terrible consequences.
MORE: Pro-Brexit MP Kate Hoey On Why Obama Should Butt Out
“One Bible narrative which springs to mind in this context is the Exodus story of the people of Israel leaving captivity in Egypt, led by Moses into the wilderness and eventually to the Promised Land,” says Carey. “That began with the invitation by Joseph to his erstwhile people to escape famine and enter Egypt, though that resulted in the people of Israel facing hardship and restrictions on their liberty. To leave Egypt and face the unknown consequences was not immediately an attractive option. But the voice of God cried out, ‘Let my people go’.”
There is surely a moral case for Brexit in terms of international development.
Ending tariff barriers would allow greater trade with Africa – and reduce poverty on that continent.
Perhaps, with five weeks to go until the referendum, those who tire of the disputes over statistics may switch their attention to assessing the theological arguments.
