Rt Rev Jackie Searle's general election encouragement (Diocese of Exeter)

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Transcript

00:00I'm hugely proud to live in a democracy and I think perhaps we need to remind ourselves

00:08every now and then of the privilege that that is. When we think about places around the

00:11world where people don't have a free and open vote on who is in government and that this

00:18is something that we should be really proud of and I really would encourage absolutely

00:22everybody to take part. I personally always want to make sure that I vote because I know

00:28that in the past women weren't allowed to vote and that other women campaigned and groups

00:34of people campaigned that those who had been excluded were then allowed to vote and I take

00:39that very seriously so I'd first of all just want to encourage everybody to play their

00:44part and to use that really precious vote that they have. And as Christians we'd want

00:49to say pray, we're asked to pray in the Bible for those who are in government and I think

00:55government and opposition have an important part to play in how our democracy works. People

01:02say that politics and religion don't mix but for me they are completely inseparable and

01:07I think Jesus really demonstrated that in his care for people, in how he both challenged

01:13structures but also helped introduce ideas of what it is to really love and care for

01:19one another. So politics really is about how we organise ourselves as a country, it's about

01:24the things that we value and I think Christians have so much to say into this arena. What

01:31is going to benefit the whole community and the country as a whole? This seems to me a

01:37really important question and as a Christian to love your neighbour as yourself, not just

01:43how does this kind of better me but how does this better others in society? So to think

01:49through our whole life together seems really important and it is easy to get tribal about

01:57these things and I fully understand that but there is also that opportunity to put yourself

02:03in somebody else's shoes. So my prayer would be for kindness, for goodwill, for people

02:11to come together to use that vote that we have been given. My prayer would be that decisions

02:20would be made that would be for the good of all and for the good of our communal life

02:26together.