Quentin - Christianity

Quentin

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Parliament can be a flurry of raucous rancour. There is no shame in that, for such is the nature of electoral politics. Four days a week it grips our collars like a drunk in an alley. Then, on Sundays, comes church: detached, peaceful, ethereal, offering the consolations of cold stone and candle-light and the shimmer of communion wine on the breeze. The contrast is a useful reminder of what really matters and I suspect this is as true for those who worship in synagogues or temples or mosques as for those of us who kneel before the altars of English rural churches. The Book of Common Prayer talks of the 'King of kings, Lord of lords, the only Ruler of princes'. Ministers come and ministers go but the divine is an unending thread in human history. I would not particularly want to see more religion in parliamentary debates but could not imagine enduring the press of politics without weekly recourse to something so much deeper and calmer.