A Christian relationist vision for Britain through a party based on Christian ideals relies heavily on policies to construct new and strong extended family and community networks, encouraging a new sense of regional identity and building an independent professional class which stands apart from both the regional and central government systems. The complex set of relationships set up through this network of mediating structures would encourage people to see themselves constantly as part of different but overlapping groupings and would help to prevent the polarisation between individuals acting on their own on the one hand and central government on the other.
Such a vision, he said, 'does lead us to hope for a happier tomorrow, as happiness depends on relationships rather than economic growth'.
Salt and Light
The direction of the Epiphany discussion then switched to Europe and lessons which we might learn from experiences in the East. Michael Bourdeaux, Director of Keston College, and Cllr. David Campanale, who had just returned from Romania, outlined their views about how events were likely to unfold. Along with Bill Hampson I reported on our own recent experiences in the Ukraine (see Chapter 3). Mike and Katey Morris concluded the evening with a talk on 'Staying Spiritually Fresh Under Pressure'. During the concluding session an attempt was made to apply what Martyn Eden had described as an understanding of scripture to politics. Eden saw a logical inevitability in what we were doing. His argument was that for much of the twentieth century, Evangelical Christians in Britain had tended to steer clear of politics:
It involved too many compromises and they preferred to keep their hands clean. In any case, they believed that their principal calling was to proclaim the Gospel and win souls for Christ. Social and political involvement was a distraction from this which seemed so easily to lead believers astray down a 'social gospel' track.