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8.0.5.2 Political Parties and this Reasonable Global WayVersion 1.0 August 2014                              (Previous Version) Here we consider whether followers of this Reasonable Global Way ought to be involved in business or politics as representatives of this Way, ie as a political party promoting this Way. Party political activities, or the business decisions involved in large scale service delivery, inevitably involve compromises that may be incompatible with our beliefs and values, unless there is such extensive autonomy as to remove the need for such compromises. A comparable scenario is the adoption of Christianity as the state religion of the Roman Empire. Many Christian leaders reinterpreted their religion so that the empire was doing God’s work. This was quite contrary to the explicit teaching of Jesus, who suggested religion and politics should be separate (‘Render unto Caesar that which is Caesar’s and unto God that which is God’s’) and his contempt for war and the oppression inherent in contemporary empires. We don’t wish or need to compromise so much as to lose our independent vision. We conclude that the inevitable compromises in the political and commercial spheres would create confusion as to our true beliefs. Such participation should involve separate institutions, which may support this way, but do not define or represent it. Rather than be involved in parochial, short term, partisan politics, on a local or national scale, we should present the conclusions and values of this way as the arbiters of what is right. 8.0.5.2 Political Parties and this Way a) We should not, as a group, form national political parties based on these beliefs. ●        Party politics, and business, inevitably involves compromise, which can be misinterpreted and inevitably involves abandoning some principles. ●        Party politics, and business, involves pragmatic decisions on organisation structure and promotion, but it is better if these are separate from the debate regarding the ongoing investigation and definition of these beliefs and values. ●        Party politics is also generally parochial, centred around the local area government. ●        Business has to be financially viable, which shifts the focus away from ‘the truth’. b) Local political action as followers of this Way should perhaps be limited to ●        education, promoting values such as openness and democratic debate, and ●        pastoral care and support for the followers of this Way and the wider community; c) Political action on a global scale, on the other hand, seems more appropriate to this Way. Our values are universal: we do not favour one nation or ethnic group over another. We can promote these without compromise in international forums. ●        Even at the global level, direct political action should be taken by a separately focused organisation, with explicit, realistic goals, where practical action is needed. By comparison, this Way itself is more oriented to debate and tentative higher level conclusions, where alternative explanations must continue to be contemplated. ●        Nevertheless, this Reasonable Global Way does provide the global beliefs and values that we need to adequately address the critical issues we face.
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