Monday 30 September 2019

The Christian Case Against Brexit


There seems to be a Christian case for Brexit, supported by some well known leaders. The veteran preacher David Hathaway campaigns against the EU[1]. Dr Clifford Hill, founder of the magazine ‘Prophecy Today’ sees Brexit as a battle between good and evil, Brexit being the good[2]. Peter Horrobin, leader of the excellent Ellel Ministries, has argued that the UK had to come out for ‘deeply spiritual reasons’ [3]. And from across the Atlantic Franklin Graham, the son of the world’s most famous evangelical Christian, praised the Brexit result as being a set-back for those who wanted a one world government [4]

But is there really a specifically Christian case for Brexit?

This short article will explain why there is no serious Christian case for Brexit and why there is a strong Christian case for Brexit.

The Christian case for Brexit: superstition, sentiment, and faulty doctrine

Superstition

The European Union has a parliament that apparently looks like the Tower of Babel, and there is a statue outside the European Council buildings that reminds some of the whore in Revelation. This means the whole institution is from the devil. Indeed this is where the anti-Christ is going to emerge. So of course the UK must come out.

This is like seeing a lone magpie and assuming a whole load of bad luck is coming your way. It’s superstition. And speculative references to the apocryphal literature in the Bible (Daniel and Revelation) does not change transform superstition to serious theology, especially when there is absolutely no proof that either the parliamentary building or the statue are meant to have any sinister meaning[5].

Not only is it superstition, but Christians have been down this dodgy road many times before. Most Christians over sixty can remember when Hal Lindsey’s book ‘The Great Late Planet Earth’ was all the rage in the 1970’s. The end of the world was just around the corner, Daniel and Revelation were being acted out on our news bulletins, and the Soviet Union centre stage. Well, the Soviet Union is no more.

Hal Lindsey joined a long line of Christians who over the last two thousand years have veered from the central teaching of the Bible (preaching the Gospel and serving the poor) to speculate on the end of the world. Along with Lindsey they were all proved wrong.

The anti-EU Christian rhetoric that looks to Daniel and Revelation belongs in the Lindsey genre. It is not reliable. Sensible Christians should give it a wide berth.

There is superstition; and...

Sentiment

The sentiment is that the UK has a special spiritual destiny. This is buttressed by the generally benign influence of the British Empire, and especially the role of Britain in the Second World War where, according to Churchill, the country fought for ‘Christian civilization’.

Peter Simpson, a Methodist minister, has written a book called ‘The Biblical Case For Brexit’[6] and a part of his argument is that Britain turned its back on God in the 1960s when it embraced the cult of drugs, sex, and rock and roll. And so the country weakened. Instead of turning back to God, the country joined the EU, a poor substitute. For Simpson, Brexit is getting back to trusting God and so moving to fulfilling the nation’s destiny.

This is beguiling; but it’s of course nonsense. Nations have a history and due to all sorts of reasons (geography, education, individuals) they can play a special part in world affairs at a particular time. But a special destiny? Where is that in the New Testament? This is the fare of nationalists (it certainly was for the Austrian), but clear-thinking Christians should be wary, for when you drill down you might well find untarnished racism.

Joe Boot for the Ezra Institute has given a more theological presentation of what amounts to the same argument[7]. Man is sinful so the closer the executive is to democratic accountability the better. The UK, because of the Civil War has incorporated this insistence on accountability into her national character in a way Europe, with her revolutions and dictators, has not. According to Boot the British have something special about them which stands up to authoritarianism, a stubborn streak moulded by history.

Boot is quite right that man is sinful and dangerous and that the Bible teaches that God wants people to have stable government. However there is nothing in the Bible that says that the way of ensuring this is through democratic accountability. There was no democracy in Bible times, nor has there been any democracy for most of the church’s long history. Moreover the world’s largest denomination, Roman Catholicism, is hierarchical in its governance, not democratic. Boot has an argument about what brings stable government, but it is not a Christian argument.

As for the British having some sort of national character moulded by the Magna Carta and the Civil War, this is nonsense. How can anyone think that nearly 70 million people can have the same sort of character, let alone a character shaped by distant events? It’s not just nonsense, it’s dangerous nonsense, because, as said, when you dig into this sort of argument about national characters, you are soon dealing with racism.

Faulty understanding of the Bible

Superstition, sentiment - and a serious failure to understand the Bible’s clear teaching on the state. In both the Gospels and the Epistles it is clear: the church and the state are separate[8]. However some Christians who argue for Brexit, the boundary thins, and the new Israel instead of being the church, becomes the UK.

It is impossible not to have deep respect Hathaway. He is a kind, generous and passionate man who aged 87 has preached to millions and still leads massive prayer meetings in the UK[9]. But he is not inerrant, and this was on full display at one of his rallies. There he said, ‘We must come out (of the EU).[10]’ By ‘We’ he meant the country.) David Hathaway was merging the UK and the church together into one Christian (Protestant) identity and so assumes the right to be able to speak for the whole nation and demand that it comes out of secular (and Catholic) Europe.

However there is no Christian Britain, there never has been. The wide and narrow road is as true in Britain, as it is true all over the world. There is a separation between the church and the state, and the church is always in a minority. So there are no Christian countries. Moreover there is not a hint in the New Testament that there should be any expectation that the state should be Christian. So this idea that Britain should leave the EU to preserve its Christian identity is based on a wholly false premise. It’s not in the Bible and it’s not in historical fact.

Superstition, sentiment, and a faulty reading of the Bible’s teaching on the state do not add up to a serious Christian argument for Brexit.

However there is certainly a strong Christian case against Brexit.

The Christians case against Brexit

Christians are against war

Paul urged Timothy to get people to pray for governments to that people can live peaceful and godly lives[11]. This is pleasing to God he says. He practices what he preaches. Luke portrays Paul as a keen supporter of the Roman Empire. It was bringing peace to a vast area.

And the EU has been bringing peace to Europe for over seventy years. For most of its history the continent has been engaged in ferocious wars. After the the Second World War the leaders of the coal and steel industries in Europe decided – wisely – to tie the continent’s economies together to ward off war. That was the start of today’s EU and in terms of keeping Europe away from war it’s been a fantastic success. There is nothing magic about the EU, but it’s helped keep the dogs of war at bay.

If Nigel Farage and others had proved to us that the EU was a war mongering institution that was going to set Europe and the world on fire – according to Paul’s instructions to Timothy that would be a Christian reason for opposing the EU.

But that’s not the case. It’s the opposite. The EU has proved its worth at keeping the peace for over seventy years, and so how can it be Christian to argue we should break this up?

Christians are against tribalism

Brexit certainly has a tone. Yes there is an argument about immigration and the control of borders, but the tone was and still is tribal. Our tribe must ‘take back control’. From whom? Foreigners. With the posters of queues of Turks knocking on Britain’s door, it was not just tribal, it was xenophobic.

This is not Christianity. The tone of Christianity from its inception has been to eschew tribalism[12] and embrace internationalism[13]. There are reasons why the church is the oldest, largest, and most successful organisation in the world. One is that she is unreservedly internationalist. The church is an organisation that is always reaching out across borders, always wanting to work with others regardless of race.

Moreover what has Christianity got to do with fear? That is also in the tone of Brexit. The Brexiteers like to talk about ‘project fear’, smearing ‘Remainers’ as people who are frightened to leave the EU. The irony is that it is the Brexiteers who actively stoke up fear: fear of foreigners before the referendum, and now as Brexit stalls in the workings of our parliamentary democracy, they are playing on fears of civil unrest. Christians are taught to be wary of fear. Not least because we have ‘not been given a spirit of fear, but a spirit of power, love and self-control’ (2 Tim. 1:7).

Christians are for what is most likely going to keep countries away from war;

Christians are for what will dampen the noise of tribalism and fear.

That’s a strong Christian case against Brexit. But there is more.

Christians are for what is best for the church

The primary concern of Christians is not the state, but the church and her agenda – the spread of the Gospel and serving the poor. It is not difficult to show that staying in the EU is much better for the church and this agenda.

Travel

Consider travel. Christians are always travelling because we have a message to spread, we have fellow believers to encourage, we help the poor. As members of the EU Britons can travel to all of Europe, quite a number of the former Asian Soviet countries like Armenia, Kazakhstan, and Uzbekistan, all of north and nearly all of south America, most of Australasia (including Japan), and some of Africa.

There is only word to use to describe this. It is a blessing.

Imagine a Christian from Tarsus coming to Paul and saying, please pray we can come out of the Roman Empire, their rules are oppressive and they have heathen statues? Paul, who was used to jumping on boats like we catch planes, would have been shocked. Leave the Roman Empire and risk losing his freedom of transport to preach the Gospel. No way. But that is what every Christian who voted for Brexit has risked. Once we are out we have no idea how easy travel will be.

Administration

In the EU any Christian can go anywhere in the EU to live and set up a business or a charity. Just like Paul and Barnabas could set up a church in Antioch. There was administrative cohesion in the Roman empire, just like there is in the EU. That is fantastic for mission minded Christians – not just for serving people in other European countries, but also to be able to serve outside Europe.

Security

Again we should learn from the apostle Paul. Being a Roman citizen for his security was a good thing. In Philippi it meant he and Silas were given a public apology, and in Jerusalem it saved him from being whipped[14]. Again, imagine his reaction if a Tarsus Christian for the sake of some grand idea of independence told him to campaign to leave the Roman Empire. Probably Paul would think that this Christian had never sweated in the danger zones of mission work and so had no idea how important the Roman empire was.

The case for Christians supporting the EU is exactly the same. Within the EU there are whole swathes of laws that bind the countries together to ensure the security of their citizens. This gives Christians with an EU passport some confidence. If they are mistreated, their opponents will have to deal with the EU. This is good for the church. Again this does not just help Christian activists working in Europe, but also helps mission workers outside the EU, because while most countries will have agreements with Britain, all of them will have agreements with the EU.

Pragmatism, usually best

Paul tells us in Scripture to imitate him and Luke has left us an example to do just that. So when we look at Paul in action we see he is pragmatic. He is against circumcision for new Gentile Christians, but he has no problem getting half Jewish Timothy circumcised (Acts 16: 3). It would make things smoother. He is not an ardent believer in cleansing ceremonies in the temple, but he is pragmatic. He believes this is important for church unity (Acts 21:26). He has no belief whatsoever in all the religious system of the Romans, especially the idea that the emperor was a god. However, as seen, he is very ready to make use of the Roman empire for travel, administration, and security.

Ask yourself

What is good for the church? Risking freedom of travel, ease of administration, and personal security and leaving the EU for the sake of sentimental ideology laced with exotic references to apocryphal literature; or staying in the EU and guaranteeing all the above?

Surely a sensible Christian’s answer has to be, we must support what is best for the church and with the solid evidence we have, church work is going to be easier if we oppose Brexit.

Open To Reason

This then is the Christian case against Brexit.

The Bible tells Christians to pray that we can all live peaceful lives. (1 Tim. 2:2)

Brexit weakens the institutions that keep the dogs of war at bay in Europe.

The Bible tells Christians to eschew tribalism and fear (Galatians 3:28, 2 Tim. 1:7).

The tone of Brexit is tribal and fearful.

The Bible tells Christians to support the church’s agenda, spreading the Gospel and serving the poor (Mathew 28: 19-20; Galatians 2:10).

Brexit risks ease of travel, administration, and security for the church.

A final word from Jesus’ brother. He said that the ‘wisdom from above is open to reason’.

I would ask any Christian reading this to be open to reason.

Tom Hawksley
September 2019




[1] David Hathaway believes the EU is the last empire seen by Daniel (see Daniel 7). He has made a film entitled, ‘The Rape of Europe’. See https://www.heartpublications.co.uk/is-the-eu-in-bible-prophecy/.
[5] The Louis Weiss building in Strasbourg was designed in a way to show that none of the Eastern European countries had yet joined the EU; the statues are of a Greek myth seeking to link Europe back to its ancient past. For more see - Brexit, Babylon and Prophecy: Semiotics of the End Times by Steve Knowles, University of Chester.
[8] Mark 12:17; Romans 13: 1 – 7; 1 Peter 2:17
[11] 1 Timothy 2:2
[12] Galatians 3:28; Ephesians 2:14
[13] John 3:16; Matthew 28: 19 - 10
[14] Acts 16: 37 – 40; Acts 21: 25 - 26





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