Labour is a broad church
What is it about the Labour Party’s obsession with faith? If you click ‘Get Involved’ in the main menu bar of the Labour Party website (screenshot pictured) you get 4 main headings: Join the Party, Conference 2008, Faith Groups and Labour – winning for women. OK, I’ve heard people say that Labour is a broad church in the sense that it brings in people with plenty of different beliefs, but this is frankly ludicrous – Labour is meant to be a political party, not some kind of religious crusade. Stephen Timms states “As a Party, we remain committed to listening to and learning from those who make up our faith communities.” While I hate the term ‘faith communities’, that nevertheless might be OK as something Labour should be aiming for, but it damned well should not be the 3rd item on the ‘Get Involved’ page on Labour’s website. I somehow doubt that our French, German or Swedish comrades would ever put something like that on their pages to attract new members…
I didn’t say Italian more because there’s no real equivalent party! I’ve not really understood the ‘Partito Democratico’ thing yet…
Plus the religious aspect in Italian politics is very different to the UK. In the UK the tradition is weak, and Labour is insistent on strengthening it. In Italy I doubt the Partito Democratico would want to increase the influence of religion, and would not try to attract members by highlighting religious issues.
“French, German or Swedish”, but you didn’t say “Italian”… and we all know why!
I hope the Labour will not take the Italian way on religion, where “listening” to ‘faith communities’ means obeying (and giving money) to the Church, the Roman Church of course… well, you are luckier than us, Britons started from a more advanced point than Italians, great Henry VIII !!!)