Difference between revisions of "Conservative Family Campaign"

From Powerbase
Jump to: navigation, search
(Orientation)
Line 2: Line 2:
 
==Orientation==
 
==Orientation==
 
According to the political scientist Martin Durham it was the CFC which ‘rejected the argument of both [[CARE]] and [[Family and Youth Concern]] that the traditional family needed to be defended from a position of political independence.  It argued that although the Conservatives were not yet properly supportive of the family, the greatest danger lay in a Labour return to office and that Christians needed both to work and pray for the re-election of Margaret Thatcher.  As with other ‘pro-family’ groupings, the [[Conservative Family Campaign]] devoted considerable energy to abortion, homosexuality and other of the facets of what might be described as an old pro-family agenda.  However in its denunciations of single-parent families, above all in its 1988 pamphlet, ‘’A Tax on Marriage’’, in which it called for the tax and social security system to “discriminate” in favour of married couples, it anticipated what in the 1990s would become the social agenda of significant sections of the New Right’<ref name=”Durham2”>Martin Durham ‘[http://pa.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/pdf_extract/54/3/459 The Conservative Party, New Labour and the politics of the family]’,  ‘’Parliamentary Affairs’’, 54 (3): 459. (2001)</ref>
 
According to the political scientist Martin Durham it was the CFC which ‘rejected the argument of both [[CARE]] and [[Family and Youth Concern]] that the traditional family needed to be defended from a position of political independence.  It argued that although the Conservatives were not yet properly supportive of the family, the greatest danger lay in a Labour return to office and that Christians needed both to work and pray for the re-election of Margaret Thatcher.  As with other ‘pro-family’ groupings, the [[Conservative Family Campaign]] devoted considerable energy to abortion, homosexuality and other of the facets of what might be described as an old pro-family agenda.  However in its denunciations of single-parent families, above all in its 1988 pamphlet, ‘’A Tax on Marriage’’, in which it called for the tax and social security system to “discriminate” in favour of married couples, it anticipated what in the 1990s would become the social agenda of significant sections of the New Right’<ref name=”Durham2”>Martin Durham ‘[http://pa.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/pdf_extract/54/3/459 The Conservative Party, New Labour and the politics of the family]’,  ‘’Parliamentary Affairs’’, 54 (3): 459. (2001)</ref>
 +
 +
==Influence==
 +
 +
Though not without influence the CFC, like the rest of the UK Christian right has been less successful than in the US.  As the ''Church Times'' noted in 2007:
 +
 +
:Despite common platforms on nationalism, free-market economics, and civic order, the Republicans and the Conservatives pitch at different audiences with different priorities.
 +
 +
:British Conservatives seek to preserve the monarchy, constitution, and Established Church, along with the family and the country’s broad Christian heritage. Their goal is to preserve social stability and the organic cohesion of British society. Central to this process is its orderly evolution, which requires accommodations with secularism — itself a fact of the past 60 years.
 +
 +
:So, while the voices of the Conservative Family Campaign’s Dr [[Adrian Rogers]] and pro-lifers such as [[Ann Widdecombe]], [[Jill Knight]], and the Wintertons continue to be heard, and, more recently, that of [[Nadine Dorries]], in her challenge to the 24-week limit on abortion, the party has secularised — as has mainstream British society.<ref name="CT">[http://www.churchtimes.co.uk/content.asp?id=47062 Britain’s Christian Right has reason to feel blue] Christians in the Conservative Party are outgunned — unlike their Republican counterparts in the US, says Vincent McKee, ''Church Times'' Issue 7548 - 9 November, 2007</ref>
  
 
==Views==
 
==Views==

Revision as of 16:46, 3 September 2010

The Conservative Family Campaign was created in 1986.

Orientation

According to the political scientist Martin Durham it was the CFC which ‘rejected the argument of both CARE and Family and Youth Concern that the traditional family needed to be defended from a position of political independence. It argued that although the Conservatives were not yet properly supportive of the family, the greatest danger lay in a Labour return to office and that Christians needed both to work and pray for the re-election of Margaret Thatcher. As with other ‘pro-family’ groupings, the Conservative Family Campaign devoted considerable energy to abortion, homosexuality and other of the facets of what might be described as an old pro-family agenda. However in its denunciations of single-parent families, above all in its 1988 pamphlet, ‘’A Tax on Marriage’’, in which it called for the tax and social security system to “discriminate” in favour of married couples, it anticipated what in the 1990s would become the social agenda of significant sections of the New Right’[1]

Influence

Though not without influence the CFC, like the rest of the UK Christian right has been less successful than in the US. As the Church Times noted in 2007:

Despite common platforms on nationalism, free-market economics, and civic order, the Republicans and the Conservatives pitch at different audiences with different priorities.
British Conservatives seek to preserve the monarchy, constitution, and Established Church, along with the family and the country’s broad Christian heritage. Their goal is to preserve social stability and the organic cohesion of British society. Central to this process is its orderly evolution, which requires accommodations with secularism — itself a fact of the past 60 years.
So, while the voices of the Conservative Family Campaign’s Dr Adrian Rogers and pro-lifers such as Ann Widdecombe, Jill Knight, and the Wintertons continue to be heard, and, more recently, that of Nadine Dorries, in her challenge to the 24-week limit on abortion, the party has secularised — as has mainstream British society.[2]

Views

Gay Rights

According to the Daily Telegraph:

Dr Adrian Rogers, chairman of the Conservative Family Campaign, said in 1991 that homosexuality was "a sterile, disease-ridden and God-forsaken relationship".[3]

People

See also

Christian Voice | Family and Youth Concern | National Viewers and Listeners Association | CARE

Resources

Notes

  1. Martin Durham ‘The Conservative Party, New Labour and the politics of the family’, ‘’Parliamentary Affairs’’, 54 (3): 459. (2001)
  2. Britain’s Christian Right has reason to feel blue Christians in the Conservative Party are outgunned — unlike their Republican counterparts in the US, says Vincent McKee, Church Times Issue 7548 - 9 November, 2007
  3. Daily Telegraph, Obituaries: Professor Peter Campbell Published: 12:01AM BST 15 Jun 2005
  4. Conservative Party Julian Brazier, accessed 22 August 2010