European elections took place across the continent on 4th June 2009. 69 Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) were elected to represent the United Kingdom in the European Parliament.
Of particular interest to Christians, the Christian Party and Christian Peoples Alliance came eighth over all, ahead of several minor parties that enjoyed a higher profile and more media coverage. Although the party had its best results in London, where they received 2.9% of the overall vote this was not enough to secure a seat in the European Parliament.
Dr Tom Rogers, a candidate in East Midlands commented:
"We are grateful to the near quarter of a million people who cast their vote for our alliance and for the progress we have made in just getting on to the ballot paper. We do not despise the day of small beginnings and look to our friends across Europe, who better established, have succeeded in returning Christian MEPs to the Parliament. The challenge is now to build on our result at grassroots level and begin to make ourselves known."
The British National Party won two seats, in the North West and Yorkshire. This was met with widespread disappointment among church and political leaders.
The Rt Revd James Jones, Bishop of Liverpool, said Christians must react to this result:
“Why did nearly a quarter of a million people vote BNP and vote two BNP members into a European parliament? We’ve got to understand that at the same time as being unabashed, whenever we hear something that smacks of racism, we should say that that is anti-Christian.”
Legislation that is passed in Europe becomes law in the United Kingdom, and increasingly we are seeing more control of our legal system being taken by the European Parliament.
Particularly dangerous is EU Equality and Human Rights legislation. Although the proposed legislation often seems well meaning, very often the details of such laws result in a loss of freedom for Christians to voice and practice their faith. The promotion of minority sexual rights is also leading to the undermining of biblical marriage with the establishment of families based on relationships forbidden in the Bible. We are sowing the seeds of destruction for our society.
Such laws are progressively undermining the Christian heritage of our nation. We recognise that this goes hand in hand with our own Government’s policies. However we should remember that domestic legislation is much more easily reversed than legislation handed down by the European Parliament.
Please pray for those leaders who have been elected across Europe this week. Ask that God would give them wisdom to rule with justice. Pray that God would give the Christians who have been elected the courage to stand up for the rights of the weakest in society, and to fight for the Christian principles of free speech and religious expression.
We believe that our heritage owes its stability and tolerance to the biblical influence of past generations. We must not lose this beneficial influence and instead must work towards a new recognition of the benefits of living, as a nation, according to Biblical principles.