Woo hoo! An atheist Prime Minister?

In 2008 Professor AC Grayling discussed the possibility of the election of a self proclaimed atheist as British Prime Minister as a realistic prospect for the first time. (Neil Kinnock and Michael Foot never being serious contenders for the honour.) Then the atheist in question was David Miliband. Mr Nice, Nick Clegg was an also ran leading a party which hadn’t been in power since 1915. He was staple fodder for ‘’Have I Got News For You” and “Private Eye.” He was anonymous and a joke.

Two years, a plethora of political scandals and a television debate later, the two main parties are running scared as Mr Nice distances himself from the baggage of the existing political landscape, and presents himself as the face of change, and our only hope. In 2007 along with confessing to a minor skirmish with arson and ‘’drawing a veil’’ over his dabbling or not with drugs, Nick replied ‘’No’’, when asked if he believed in God. His low profile at the time meant the comment resulted in barely a ripple in the media.

The two other main party leaders are coy about their beliefs, lest they alienate their core supporters. Dave Cameron presents himself as Church of England, with a faith which he compares to ‘’the reception for Magic FM in the Chilterns. It sort of comes and goes.” Gordon Brown’s father was a minister, and he avoids talking about his faith, but does acknowledge that his father’s advice forms his ‘moral compass’. Tony Blair was reticent to talk about his religion, and delayed announcing his conversion to Catholicism until after he left office, fearing people would think him a ‘nutter’. As Alaistair Campbell said “we don’t do God”.

Blair wasn’t a welcome convert to Catholicism. Two weeks before he announced his faith ‘’The Catholic Herald’’ made the mistake of running a front page story with the headline that Blair had ‘’no plans’’ to convert and that was a relief to many Catholics. Why? This was because Blair voted in favour of abortion, stem-cell research, gay marriage and other such liberal ideas. Prominent Catholics demanded that Blair repent of these sins and recant.

So does it matter what our senior politicians believe, or don’t believe? Surely the parties’ policies regarding the economy, defence and so on are what we as voters should concentrate upon? Plus, of course, the leader is but one man, not the entire Cabinet or party. That is true to a point, but as AC Grayling shows, these policies are coloured by our politicians’ personal religious and moral views.

Grayling describes the advantages he sees to having an atheist as a prime minister as these:

“Atheist leaders are not going to think they are getting messages from Beyond telling them to go to war. They will not cloak themselves in supernaturalistic justifications, as Blair came perilously close to doing when interviewed about the decision to invade Iraq.

Atheist leaders will be sceptical about the claims of religious groups to be more important than other civil society organisations in doing good, getting public funds, meriting special privileges and exemptions from laws, and having seats in the legislature and legal protection from criticism, satire and challenge.

Atheist leaders are going to be more sceptical about inculcating sectarian beliefs into small children ghettoised into publicly funded faith-based schools, risking social divisiveness and possible future conflict. They will be readier to learn Northern Ireland's bleak lesson in this regard.

Atheist leaders will, by definition, be neutral between the different religious pressure groups in society, and will have no temptation not to be even-handed because of an allegiance to the outlook of just one of those groups.

Atheist leaders are more likely to take a literally down-to-earth view of the needs, interests and circumstances of people in the here and now, and will not be influenced by the belief that present sufferings and inequalities will be compensated in some posthumous dispensation. This is not a trivial point: for most of history those lower down the social ladder have been promised a perch at the top when dead, and kept quiet thereby. The claim that in an imperfect world one's hopes are better fixed on the afterlife than on hopes of earthly paradises is official church doctrine.

Atheist leaders will not be tempted to think they are the messenger of any good news from above, or the agent of any higher purpose on earth. Or at very least, they will not think this literally”.

Professor Grayling goes on to enthuse about the prospect of an atheist PM moving towards the disestablishment of the Church of England, which would in itself lead the way to religious groups en masse being stripped of privileges including the ear of ministers and public funding for faith schools. Regular church goers amount to 2% of the population yet the Church of England has huge influence over the state primary school system, representation of its bishops in the House of Lords and the ear of government.

As an atheist I should be celebrating the possibility of an atheist coming to power, but I’m not simply because I don’t think he is one in the sense that Kinnock or Foot were. Nick Clegg replied to the question if he believed in God with a one word answer. Subsequent to that he’s fudged the issue, saying he is not an ‘’active believer’’ whatever that means, and stating that he has ‘’enormous respect for people who have religious faith”. He is married to a Spanish Catholic, and his children are being raised as Catholics. That bothers me.

I acknowledge that it is a personal issue, but as an atheist I can’t countenance allowing children of mine to be raised as Catholics. He also courts faith schools, cosying up to the Jewish Community when it suits him for political advantage. If he does become PM then how will he deal with the Papal visit in September, and the threat of legal action against the Pope when he steps on British soil?

To me the religious issue shows Clegg is a political pragmatist as much as his competitors. His background is similar to Dave Cameron’s, but he manages to hide the fact. He is an opportunist who benefits from not being the other guy. Not a popular view as the country is awash with Clegg fever, but a realistic one?

If I vote Lib Dem (which I may still do, and in St Albans its anyone's guess who will win it's such a close call), Nick Clegg’s faith, or lack of it, will not be a factor.

We're not going to have an atheist PM quite yet.



Anthony Grayling MA, DPhil (Oxon) FRSL, FRSA is Professor of Philosophy at Birkbeck College, University of London, and a Supernumerary Fellow of St Anne's College, Oxford.

Jo Bale isn’t. Please be gentle.