Paranoia in christians

[Michael]

On faith, church and politics, that's a heady combination! But in England it was that mix that drove, in a sadly violent and bloody way, the introduction of democracy in the British civil wars. It drove the establishment of the trade unions, and the introduction of the welfare state. It drove the introduction of the Children's Act which protected children from harsh labour and ensured they had a rudimentary education. It drove the anti-slavery movement, and then gave the emancipated people a voice (they could use the Bible themselves, and learned how to do it powerfully). In England it was the churches (and especially the non-conformist ones) that drove social changes very much for the better. It even inspired Mary Wollstonecraft to begin what would later be known as the 'feminist' movement. It's hard to imagine what England would have been like without people first being empowered by the bible in English, and then by taking those positions of faith into the parliament they fought, died and killed for, and then into the cities which had fallen into a desperate state of poverty and slum conditions. Politics and faith can be a good mix, especially when in the hands of the ordinary people.