Compromise and Coalition

Synod Ecumenical Officer John Durell reflects on post-election events

To seasoned ecumenists, some of the political events of recent days are more than a little familiar. Maybe the search for Christian unity is a little less super-heated than the rough old trade of politics, but the same concepts of compromise and coalition are central to it all. And even if most of our church constituency tends towards politeness and restraint,  the accusations of betrayal and sell-out are never too far away.

Fascinating too how the initial suspicions of what might turn out to be radical change are deep-rooted within the structures. Press and politicians united to tell us that there could be nothing worse than a hung Parliament: it needed the voters to say “We don’t believe you”. Members of LEPs (Local Ecumenical Partnerships) will tell you of the frustration they feel when the denominations appear to look on their ecumenical witness as an aberration and a nuisance, and resent the fact that local enthusiasm is able to break the logjam that has prevented any further steps to visible unity over nearly four decades.

Their witness of course is simply to show us that coalitions can work – whatever the denominations may claim. Often the constitutions we write and the way they operate are a bit messy and involve some fudging round the edges, but within our own region and synod we have a number of congregations that show us ways in which different traditions can work together and even learn from each other in building up the worshipping life and mission of the local church. Bringing together talents and resources for the greater good is a way of releasing energy, not sapping it.

Nick Clegg put his finger on something  when he pointed out that all the political parties are themselves coalitions anyway. How true that is of the Church! We’ve long since learned to talk about horizontal as well as vertical ecumenism; and it’s not just the grief of the Anglican communion that can provide a timely reminder of vicious divisions within our own church families.

Part of the division in every grouping will be over how purely the particular tradition is to be maintained, and times of crisis and change will inevitably spark soul-searching over recent history. So while a certain type of Catholic mourns the loss of the Latin mass, their Labour Party counterpart longs to reinstate Clause Four. And we all know those among our own number who wonder if the URC wasn’t a disastrous mistake right from the beginning. People who have genuinely wanted to be loyal can easily feel betrayed and sold down the river.

But if we’re ready to compromise, if we’re prepared to enter coalitions and work with partners whom once we would have kept at a safe distance,  how do we negotiate? I recall one respected ecumenist in our Church warning us against would-be partners who were eager to announce at the beginning of the conversation the things that were non-negotiable. Surely, the argument goes, if we are all Christians, then everything is negotiable save Christ himself?

Maybe it’s that that gives our conversations, whenever we have the courage to go with them, a head start. Whatever else divides us, Christ unites us. So maybe we shouldn’t be critical of politicians who have no such sense of a common goal and a common journey, and for whom compromise and certainly coalition are all a new discovery. But we may also stop to think that any coalition, political or ecclesiological, is only going to succeed if it is backed up common values that are deep-rooted and lasting. And only time will tell if Cameron and Clegg have that kind of basis to theirs.

However, should anyone prefer to explore precedents, there's a slightly worrying one in our own history that Symon Hill has pointed to on the Ekklesia website. Just 350 years ago this month the more nervous elements of the political establishment rejected their radical past and reached an agreement with the the former king's son by inviting him to take the throne. The hopes that their moderating influence would temper the royalists' excesses and prevent their abuse of power were quickly dashed, as our spiritual forebears found to their cost. Let's hope for better things this time!

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