British Member of Parliament calls on UK government to form new working relationship with faith communities

by Karen Faulkner, Worthy News Correspondent

(Worthy News) – Asserting that faith values should not be excluded from public life, a British Member of Parliament has called on the UK government to recognize that faith communities can be an “enormous resource for society,” Christian Today reported Monday. In a report submitted to Prime Minister Boris Johnson, Conservative (and Christian) MP Danny Kruger suggests the government ought to work out a “new deal with faith communities” that includes them in societal policy considerations.

Titled “Levelling up our communities: proposals for a new social covenant,” Kruger’s report outlines the historic contribution of faith based organizations to societal welfare: “Every faith has charity, and particularly voluntary financial redistribution, at its heart: the Jewish and Christian tithe, the Sikh dasvandh, the Muslim zakhat, the Hindu dana,” Kruger writes. “[Faith organizations] have deep roots in local communities and are there for the long term…The networks of a faith community, the relationships within a congregation or faith group, are a source of huge resilience and opportunities for the people they seek to help,” the MP explains.

However, Kruger says, public servants are “reluctant to partner” and formally contract with with faith organizations. According to Kruger, this reluctance is due to “faith phobia” and ignorance about religion and the positive impact faith groups can have “especially in poor and immigrant communities.” Public servants often assume that religious values are a private matter and that “the public square is somehow a values-free zone,” Kruger says.

Pointing to the exclusion of faith “in all but its ceremonial aspects” in British public life, Kruger warns that “the orthodoxies of technocrratic secular liberalism have total sway.”

PM Johnson said in a statement that Kruger’s report is “comprehensive and highly ambitious” and contains “many exciting ideas,” Christian Today reports.

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