A Christian case against Brexit

My friend Joshua Searle, who is tutor in theology and public thought at Spurgeon’s College, London makes the case against Brexit in Christian Today ..

Here’s a clip or two – click on the link to read the whole article:

The EU is currently under a concerted attack by an unholy alliance of communists, hardline demagogues and neo-Nazi parties. Right-wing political parties and associations such as PEGIDA in Germany, UKIP in England, the National Front in France, and Geert Wilder’s neo-fascist, Islamophobic Party for Freedom in the Netherlands are on the rise. In Slovakia the ultra-nationalist fascist Marian Kotleba refers to foreigners and refugees as “parasites”. Kotleba, who despises the EU, has recently won a significant regional election in Slovakia. He was head of a banned neo-Nazi party which allegedly celebrates Adolf Hitler’s birthday and looks back nostalgically on the Nazi puppet state that ruled Slovakia during World War II.

 

I’m now afraid that these extremists are winning and that those of us who believe in solidarity, peace and reconciliation among the nations are going to lose. We are about to enter a new age in which nationalism triumphs over solidarity.

We might think that we are now living in a civilised world and that we can take peace for granted, but this would be a huge mistake. The EU does not get the credit it deserves for preserving peace among nations that for centuries before had been cutting each others’ throats.

I do not believe that the EU is free from the seduction of anti-Christian forces. But in the light of its role in facilitating peace and reconciliation in Europe, I would tentatively argue the EU was established in the providence of the “God of peace” in order to promote peace, security and the general welfare of the world. The EU offers a model of international solidarity and a bulwark against xenophobia, nationalism, fascism and racism.

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I do feel a Christian obligation to warn of the dire consequences that would ensue from a Brexit. Sir Edward Grey said almost exactly 100 years ago: “The lamps are going out all over Europe and we shall not see them lit again in our life-time.” I’m afraid there is now a risk that we are about to enter another period of prolonged political and spiritual darkness in Europe.

There is a real danger that politicians are not spiritually equipped to grasp the cultural or geo-political consequences of withdrawing from the EU. Many Christians, too, do not have a proper understanding of the tectonic spiritual shifts that are taking place in the world.

I hope readers will at least consider carefully the case I’ve tried to make about why, from a Christian perspective, it is essential that solidarity and hope prevail over nationalism and fear.