Italian Newspaper Declares, "Andy Flannagan 'Does God'"

In his article of 10 December 2009, A walk in liberal theocracy, published in IL FOGLIO, reporter Antonio Gurrado discusses what he refers to as the English tradition of church and politics, the place of faith within the major political parties in the UK and the various Christian organisations affiliated with the political parties. 

Antonio remarks on a comment Tony Blair apparently made while Prime Minister, stating that they did not "do God" and compares that to Christian Socialist Movement (CSM) Director, Andy Flannagan.  The article ends stating that Andy Flannagan "does God", which is a remarkably interesting contrast to make when one notes that Tony Blair was speaking as leader of a Nation, a Prime Minister seeking to serve all of his constituents irrespective of their faith and presumably seeking not to alienate anyone by identifying too closely with views not shared by all, albeit views of faith.  Conversely, Andy does not speak as Prime Minister, nor does he today speak as a politician, but rather as the Director of a Christian organisation.  Of course, Andy "does" God - it's embedded in his title. Such a statement is akin to stating that Andy "does" socialism.

It seems that the point of the news article was to implicitly advocate the separation of God from politics and reflect on where the British "succeed" and "fail" to do so.  The article perhaps best sums this up in its first sentence, "A country that has the decency to separate God and politics, but only up to a point," whilst referring to the United Kingdom.

Adversely, CSM declares the opposite to be true.  One cannot act outiside of one's world view; and one's faith (be it in God, gods, man kind, nature, or other) is the very fabric of one's world view.  One cannot "do" politics without one's world view.  As such, one cannot "do" politics, without one's faith.

If one's faith is in God, then one cannot "do" politics without "doing" God. Similarly, if one's faith is in the self or man kind, then one can only "do" politics from the perspective of the self or man kind.

The debate really should not be about whether one's faith and politics should mix, the two are inextricable.  The real debate should be around how one uses one's world view, of which one's faith plays a part, in politics and in life.  Are we "bless[ing] the world [that is] in pieces", to quote a song by Andy Flannagan?  Are we refraining from unnecessarily alienating others?

I would imagine that, at the time Prime Minister, Tony Blair meant that he would not discuss God in the Vanity Fair interview being conducted.  It would seem an opportunity for Blair to seek to connect with readers and he might thus shy away from topics that could alienate him from readers.

However, some Christians might strongly argue that Blair should have been more open about his beliefs.  Perhaps there are ways of sharing one's faith, as a politician, that will not alienate your constituents.  I can certaintly think of a few MPs and ministers who are incredibly open about their religious views.  They do, however, seem to keep their ministry related interviews separate from their faith based interviewes.

"The decency to separate God from politics..."  Who are we without our faith?  And how shall we make decisions, political or otherwise, in the absence of such faith?  What shall our decisions be fueled by, if not by our faith?