"Suppose a king is about to go to war against another king. Will he not first sit down and consider whether he is able..."
The defence and well-being of its citizens is the first principle and function of government.
It is a priority to have and maintain a well-resourced military, and it is vital to have a strong defence capability.
The Christian Party supports the doctrine of a ‘just war’. This acknowledges limitations to the doctrine of war. The extent of a nation's responsibilities and capabilities needs constant review. Whilst we are "our brother’s keeper”, Britain cannot act as a worldwide policeman. Even the USA is reassessing its role in this regard. However, Britain has a legitimate, historic and recognised interest in worldwide affairs, and through the British Empire and now the British Commonwealth it is well suited to give a moral lead on the world stage. This is still recognised by many countries around the globe, expected by them, and we cannot renege on such a responsibility.
This moral leadership is being called into question by over-eager foreign military adventurism, where it is too easy for others to question whether the motives are altruistic or self-serving. Britain still has a legitimate strategic interest in many areas of the globe, not only historical but also through ethnic and business ties. Britain has become the home of many world ethnicities, with London as the most ethnically diverse city in the world. This gives great scope for international and global leadership, and while Britain has demonstrated the capacity to downscale its former empire into a Commonwealth of nations, the recent debate and Referendum on Scottish Independence has demonstrated to the world the continuing capacity of the United Kingdom to lead on constitutional change without the necessity of resorting to violence. The threat from international islamic terrorism is another opportunity for Britain to lead in the subject of conflict resolution.
Scripture asks the rhetorical question, “Who serves as a soldier at his own expense?” 1 Corinthians 9:7. To our shame in recent times British armed forces have been ill-equipped for conflict and some service personnel have equipped themselves for their safety. The Christian Party will care for our armed forces and their families and treat them with the honour and respect that they deserve. Falling pay scales in the Armed Forces will be addressed to make them properly comparable to their civilian counterparts. Support for ex-service personnel needs radical improvement. The Christian Party will fight for such improvement, just as our ex-service personnel have fought so bravely for us.
the politics of fear
Government is to seek the well-being as well as the defence of its citizens. The Christian Party will resist the unnecessary creation of fear on our streets by reactionary measures.
It was fear which created unnecessary war aims in the Iraq war. It is fear which led to the routine presence of armed police on the streets of Inverness.
The aim of terrorism is to create fear and panic, and the Christian Party will resist reactionary measures which are inimical to the public peace. The Christian Party will oppose fear being used as a political tool to drive through unpopular legislation. The Christian Party promotes godly courage in the face of slavish fear engendered by faithless political leadership.
Conflict resolution is a necessary part of our national defence, civil defence, international relations and our Foreign Policy.
The Christian Party has a progressive policy on nuclear deterrence. It recognises the role of nuclear deterrence in ending WWII and in maintaining the peace during the escalating arms race during the Cold War. With increasing ethnic and ideological tensions in recent decades, this is not the time for unilateral nuclear disarmament.
Multilateral disarmament has proven to work, and with this continuing aim, the Christian Party is opposed to the proliferation of nuclear weapon capability, while acknowledging the benefits of nuclear energy. We support research towards nuclear fusion technology to hasten the reduction in current dependency on the more dangerous nuclear fission technology.
Consistent with these aims, the Christian Party believes in the retention of an adequate nuclear deterrent by those nations with proven responsibility in their maintenance. In pursuit of multilateral disarmament we propose the creation of an overarching body to begin the process of integrating the world's nuclear arsenal in a multilateral manner for the common defence of the free nations of the world and the promotion of world peace. In pursuit of international co-operation, the cost of nuclear deterrence could be shared by those nations choosing to come under its umbrella.
SERVICE veterans
The Christian Party will honour the military covenant and promote various initiatives to care for those who have fought for our country, paying particular attention to those suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, disabilities, difficulties in adjusting to normal life and in financial difficulty. War veterans should have lifelong care to ensure happiness and a reasonable standard of living, in return for their willingness to lay down their lives.
“I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.”
﻿Christian Party Members of Parliament will:﻿
Support the doctrine of a ‘just war’, but not military adventurism.
Maintain a well resourced military with a nuclear deterrent.
Treat our armed forces with the honour and respect that they deserve.
Fight for radical improvement in care and support for ex-service personnel.
You shall love your neighbour as yourself. Who is my neighbour ?
Just as the abuse of the welfare culture has produced dependency, so there is ample evidence that foreign aid has created a dependency culture in many countries. In order to break this dependency, the Christian Party will not support financial or monetary aid to other countries, but aid will be in material goods, products, medicines and services produced in and provided by the UK.
Resources are limited, but our policy can stretch beyond our resources. The Christian Party has the added benefit of being able to pray to the Lord of heaven and earth to work in those areas of the world that the UK cannot reach. Thankfully there are Christians in most areas of the world with the same principles as the Christian Party – nor do we need to control them nor to bribe them with western incentives, for they will respond with Christian goodwill to the needs of their neighbours. This is a useful resource, demonstrated by the large amount of charitable work and foodbanks run by Christians in the UK. Our foreign policy will utilise local Christian networks as a more reliable distributor of aid than corrupt governments that waste funds on financing presidential lifestyles and military weapons.
This useful resource is the fruit of the worldwide missionary activity promoted initially by the Christian church in the British Isles. The English Bible became the vehicle to educate millions of foreign nationals, to the extent that English is the world's international language of communication. Christians missionaries instilled the principles of freedom, governance and social justice in many countries and islands throughout the world. Christian principles of social justice still have the same power to free individuals and nations from domestic tyranny and international corruption and trafficking.
This contribution is known as 'soft power', or non-military means for conflict resolution, and with its Christian history, parliamentary experience, global Commonwealth and now its extensive, diverse ethnic mix, Britain is well-placed to contribute morally, religiously and economically, but less so militarily, to solutions in the troubled areas of the world. We must not let our military interventions squander the moral force and role that Britain can bring to the negotiating tables of the world's conflict zones.
The limitations on foreign policy include political interference in the domestic affairs of other countries. We disagree with Prime Minister David Cameron's attempt to link foreign aid to his view of homosexual partnerships, and with Ed Miliband's stated aim to promote the LGBT agenda as a key point of his foreign policy. Foreign aid should be dependent upon need. This blatant social engineering is likely to be discredited and rejected as British colonialism and imposition of western values.
Of more urgent attention is the persecution of Christians in foreign countries and the Christian Party will continue to expose the barbarism practised in nations aspiring to first world status.
Intellectual aid should not extend to the training of foreign troops. Training in policing, municipal skills and good governance, along with the proper education of children are necessary and will be encouraged, but the funding, supplying and training of foreign troops, of regimes which are not properly accountable to their electorate, should be discouraged unless with clear objectives and in conjunction with wider stabilising activity.
The Christian Party policy on the European Union is contained in the section on Government and Democracy.
We regret that in pursuing the European dream, our former global trade with the British Commonwealth suffered. The Christian Party will redress this imbalance. We are glad that the Commonwealth Games remains a tangible expression of our links with the Commonwealth, and the Christian Party will promote trade with our former partners.
Politicising sport
The successful Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games was abused to include a homosexual kiss in the opening ceremony, when most Commonwealth nations do not support homosexual promotion. We deplore the attempt to cajole Commonwealth nations into redefining marriage in order to participate in the Commonwealth Games, which is in the same disgraceful league as linking it to foreign aid. This inappropriate politicising of sport will spoil the useful role of sport in maintaining friendly relationships between nations.
trade with the BRITISH commonwealth
The Christian Party will encourage more trading and integrating the skills of the Commonwealth so that it becomes a Common Wealth to balance any deficit on withdrawal from the European Union.
There is a marked contrast between Britain's trade with the EU, the Commonwealth, and the rest of the world. Britain has a positive balance of trade with other nations of the world, but the only exception is our trade deficit with Europe. As Britain embraced Europe, she was persuaded to abandon the Commonwealth. Free trade with the Commonwealth was replaced with the European tariff on external trade, currently called the Common Customs Tariff. This artificial re-direction of trade to the European continent compromised our well-established ports at Glasgow, Bristol and particularly Liverpool, on the wrong side of the country to Europe, facing the expanse of the North Atlantic and the rest of the world. The Christian Party will seek to redress this imbalance through our economic and foreign policy. Our policy for Scotland addresses the strategic position of the north of Scotland in relation to European sea routes. The Christian Party has a better vision for Scotland than the Scottish National Party.
The Christian Party supports and fosters the 'unique relationship' between the UK and the USA. We distance ourselves from the anti-American and anti-Israeli sentiment too evident in contemporary British society.
conflict resolution and the middle east
The Christian Party promotes conflict resolution which creates an understanding of the culture and of the reality of life on the ground in the Middle East.
First must be the commitment to peaceful co-existence with those of different opinions. The imposition of one set of values upon another has always been a source of discord, and the premature attempt to impose western democracy on Iraq and Afghanistan is one of the latest examples. The stalling of the Arab Spring and the emergence of Islamic State reminds us that it takes time to bring one culture into alignment with another, just as surely as it takes time to align currencies as has been shown by the eurozone experiment.
Secondly, and not least in conflict resolution, must be the readiness to forgive. There are multiple mistakes on both sides, and Christians in the Middle East are in a strong position to give a lead in forgiveness and reconciliation. Already some Arab Christians on both sides of the divide - Palestinian and Israeli Arab Christians - are giving a lead as peacemakers, which we believe should be encouraged as a catalyst for change in the region.
Thirdly, Islam claims to be a religion of peace and therefore declarations of intent should be sought from the Arab League, influential Arab Nations, the major international centres of islamic influence, in the region and further afield, so that influential muslim leaders should discourage suicide bombers and jihadists who are misled into thinking that this is a short-cut to paradise, a very real incentive for some impressionable people. The small beginning in recent times by British muslim leaders should be an example and be promoted as a catalyst for muslim leaders in the Middle East.
Christian Party Foreign Policy on foreign aid will stop financial aid to Gaza which has led to grotesque salaries to fund the high lifestyle of Gaza's political leadership, and released funds to build a network of tunnels into Israel for terrorist activities. Aid should be in material goods rather than financial. We would like to see progress in educational and living standards for the poor in Gaza.
persecution of christians and minorities
One factor in the persecution of Christians and minorities is the stirring up of religious hatred among illiterate populations by religious leaders. It is important to influence foreign governments to raise the educational standards in such areas, and the Christian Party will make a point of publicising the failure of such foreign governments to educate their own people.
For example, it is deplorable that a country aspiring to first world status, with a space programme, has not addressed the caste system and its immoral breach of human rights. The Christian Party, consistent with its general foreign policy, will not give financial aid to India, but will assist in promoting equality of education and opportunity in other countries.
Some Christians are still persecuted in the UK. We support and promote initiatives such as 'Safe Haven', which offers advice and help for those who have converted from Islam to Christianity. We support the right for people to change their beliefs and values without the risk of harassment or persecution.
THE russian federation, china and emerging nations
The world has become a global village and the Christian Party welcomes the increasing international co-operation that has resulted. Transnational problems such as climate change, migration of infectious diseases with international travel, antibiotic resistance, diminishing traditional resources and ideological strife call for supra-national and international co-operation for the technological advances that benefit mankind collectively.
We support the retention of national identity, historic borders, and the diversity of national cultures - of international interest and humanitarian benefit - which make the world the beautiful place that it is.
“Glory to God in the highest – peace on Earth and good will toward men” Luke 2:14.
The Christian Party Will:
Support foreign aid in the form of UK goods and services rather than finance.
Bring pressure to bear on third world governments to promote education and health among their populations.
Resist imposing secular values as a condition for foreign aid.
Expose the persecution of Christians and human rights abuses in foreign countries.
Resist the anti-American, anti-Israeli and sectarian influences in UK public life.