You do not need to be a psephological geek like me to realise that a referendum is taking place on May 5th concerning the adoption of the Alternative Vote system for elections to the House of Commons. It asks a crucial question about how our democratic political system operates and how we interact with it, because how we vote will affect the sort of parliament and government we get out of it.
It is important that churches are aware that the referendum is happening and are equipted to help people think through the issues involved. For some Christians, this may not be an issue that they have given much thought to, however others may hold very strong views and others still would prefer to be answering a different question and considering different systems. Disagreement though should not prevent us bringing our beliefs into the heart of the political process.
Various neutral and informative resources are available to stimulate reflection and discussion including the following which I commend to you:
Faithworks Direct Democracy campaign:
http://www.faithworks.info/SubSection.asp?id=9239
Evangelical Alliance:
http://www.eauk.org/articles/debate-av-referendum.cfm
Theos:
http://campaigndirector.moodia.com/Client/Theos/Files/VotingReform.pdf
In addition to these, the offical campaign sites are at:
http://www.yestofairervotes.org
http://www.no2av.org
There is planned to be a series of hustings meetings organised by church groups across the region which I will advertise when confirmed. Please do let me know of anything happening in your own locality.
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