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Christopher Furlong/PA Wire
UK News

Brexit: Christians urged to stop complaining and be peacemakers

It comes after a new global study revealed that an increasing number of Brits say they have lost faith in politics.

Ipsos Mori polled more than 18,000 adults from 27 countries and found nearly two thirds of British citizens believed their society was broken and 70 percent said they thought the economy was rigged.

As the deadline for Britain's exit from the EU moves ever closer, Christians in Politics have launched a new campaign urging the Church to bring 'Order from Chaos' and meet division with unity.

They are calling on Christians to respond to tensions over Brexit with an attitude of peace and prayer.

Executive Director, Andy Flanagan told Premier that he understands why people feel disillusioned by the country's political situation but says democracy is not simple to execute.

"We are caught in the head-on collision between representative democracy - a parliament that we vote to make decisions for us, and direct democracy - which happened with the EU referendum in 2016. We're very quick to cast blame around but it's actually a very challenging thing to negotiate and integrate direct democracy."

He went on to say that it's important for the public to be mindful of how they choose to react to the struggles currently faced by the UK government and appreciate the blessings of our political system.

"All the parliamentarians that I'm working with and praying with and standing alongside are working really hard to try and work this thing out. We go down a dangerous route when we start to kind of just slag off democracy, slag off parliament.

"Democracy is imperfect - but we have to stop sometimes and think how blessed we are to live in a democracy. There are many millions of people across this world who do not actually get to vote for their leaders."

He went on to say that the Church is perfectly placed to respond differently, displaying godly characteristics and standing for unity and positive change.

"If we just sit complaining about politics, nothing will change. Christians need to get involved, we need to be people of goodwill, being those who bring integrity, who are well connected to the communities to represent them well. We can be those people who step forward with that voice.

"To those who are getting frustrated, to those who are feeling disconnected, I would say the job is on us. A democracy is not just about government, a democracy is a covenant between the people and parliament, between the people and the local councils. We're always keen to cast blame on the others but actually, we need to look in the mirror as well."

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