Given the massive support for what was effectively a national strike day last Thursday across Northern Ireland and the return of Stormont kicked further down the political road, Christians of whatever denomination need to get a grip on the situation.
Put bluntly, Christians need to stop back-stabbing each other over petty theological issues and focus on how the Christian Church as a body can become a very significant force for good within the community.
Ironically, as a starting point, the Church must come up with some solution to combat the influence of the so-called judgemental gossips which plague so many places of worship, congregations and fellowships.
For generations, church gossips have been unofficial power brokers within places of worship, largely because of the perception that it was ‘unChristian’ to sue a church gossip for defamation.
In reality, folk tended to settle their differences behind closed doors, or swept the issue under the carpet, or forced the people at the centre of the gossip to leave the place of worship.
The power of the church gossips is not necessarily the accuracy of their accusations and allegations, but the speed with which these gossips can get their information around a place of worship.
The majority of gossiping content in places of worship generally starts like a traditional game of Chinese Whispers - with a legally unsubstantiated rumour coated with copious amounts of exaggeration and embellishment until the original situation is blown well out of proportion.
In journalistic terms, imagine publishing or broadcasting a story about someone’s private life without first checking facts, observing legal codes or adhering to media ethical codes? There would be very serious consequences for the journalist if even poor punctuation changed the meaning of the story.
Church gossips, when caught out by inaccuracy in their information, generally speaking deploy an ‘opt out’ clause. They demand mercy, compassion and forgiveness, quoting the famous New Testament passage from St Matthew’s Gospel where Peter asked Jesus how many times he should forgive someone who had wronged him.
Peter suggested seven times, but Christ said it should be seventy times seven. Imagine a journalist trying to use Matthew’s Gospel as a defence in a defamation action in court. Any judge with a titter of wit would either hold the journalist in contempt of court for cheek, or recommend that the journalist seek serious psychiatric counselling as a matter of urgency.
In reality, we journalists do not enjoy the same immunity under the defamation laws which church gossips have enjoyed for generations. In practice, there needs to be an even playing field between journalists and church gossips.
To use a secular proverb - what’s sauce for the goose, should be sauce for the gander. There has to be equality between journalists and church gossips. If a journalist can end up in court for defamatory reporting, then more church gossips should be brought before the courts for defamatory gossiping.
Ironically, with the crises over the Rwanda Bill, and the conflicts in Yemen, Gaza and Ukraine along with the electoral threat to the Tories from the Right-wing Reform UK party, the current Conservative Government - like a misfiring soccer Premiership team - is pushing Northern Ireland further down the league of importance and into the danger zone of political relegation.
So now is the time for the Christian Churches to step up to the mark, put on hold their petty bickering about whether women should wear hats to worship, what instruments to play in praise, and put pressure on politicians to find a workable solution to the Stormont impasse.
As I said on my live analysis piece on GB News television on Thursday morning as the national NI strike got underway, history will not look kindly on any party or politician responsible for flushing devolution down the political toilet.
As I prepared to go on air shortly after 6 am that day, my thoughts were of my late dad, Rev Dr Robert Coulter MBE, who was a North Antrim UUP MLA for 13 years from the Assembly’s first mandate in 1998 until his retirement in 2011.
What crossed my mind were the chats at my parents’ home between dad and another 1998 mandate UUP MLA, the late Sir John Gorman of North Down. Those bay window conversations, as I dubbed them, would often continue into the wee small hours about how devolution could be made to benefit the citizens of Northern Ireland.
Dad and Sir John must be spinning in their graves at the politically cataclysmic scenario which has now unfolded at Parliament Buildings.
It’s no use the Christian Churches merely organising a united Day of Prayer for political stability - they need to put words into action and apply as much pressure as possible on the political representatives.
Sinn Fein currently has a two-seat majority over the DUP entitling the former under present rules to the First Minister’s post. Might the DUP be secretly hoping the Secretary of State pushes the election button and triggers a fresh Assembly poll to give the party its three needed target seats to outgun the republican movement in the Chamber?
Whilst a snap election is one option, given the cost of living crisis and the severe winter weather, many of the political parties will not want to hit the campaign trail, especially if they have to prepare for a snap Westminster General Election if the Sunak administration loses any potential vote of no confidence.
During yet another failed attempt to get a Stormont Speaker elected last Wednesday, a number of MLAs in their speeches were hinting that the lifetime of the current Assembly mandate - even devolution itself - could be running out.
Later this week, we should know for definite what the Secretary of State’s mind is for future governance in Northern Ireland. Given the crisis in the Tory Party, he is most likely to kick the political can down the road and bring in emergency legislation to extend the status quo in the hope the DUP will sign up to his pre-Christmas deal.
If not, he has the option of introducing a hybrid Direct Rule, whereby he gives more financial powers to senior civil servants, especially the permanent secretaries at the various departments, leaving the Secretary of State as a final decision maker.
Perhaps Unionism’s Plan B in this scenario is to resurrect former UUP boss, the late Jim Molyneaux’s model for Direct Rule - with Northern Ireland elected MPs and peers taking on the ministerial roles.
That would certainly place Sinn Fein in a political pickle as from its foundation in 1905, the party has continued to operate its outdated policy of abstentionism and refusing to take its Commons seats.
But ever since Sinn Fein entered the electoral arena seriously during the 1981 hunger strikes, the party has voted to drop abstentionism in both the Dail and Stormont. It’s only a matter of time before the British Government can create a scenario or agenda whereby Sinn Fein MPs will walk into the Westminster Commons Chamber.
In the meantime, if tens of thousands of workers can show the strength of their opinion in last Thursday’s strike, surely the tens of thousands of Christians can get out of their pews, too, and lobby the politicians for a successful resolution?
If Jesus Christ can take positive action against the money changers in the temple by overturning their tables, then Christians have the perfect example to take positive democratic action to get good governance restored in Northern Ireland.
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Follow Dr John Coulter on Twitter @JohnAHCoulter Listen to commentator Dr John Coulter’s programme, Call In Coulter, every Saturday morning around 10.15 am on Belfast’s Christian radio station, Sunshine 1049 FM. Listen online. |
