Christianity and government

Conservative and radical Christians

The widespread assumption that Christianity was a natural prop to government rested upon an interpretation of the faith which did not go unchallenged or undefended. On the most superficial level, there was some discussion of whether or not it was proper to introduce politics into the pulpit. Most agreed in practice that, whilst it was improper for their political opponents to do so, their own views were so quintessentially truthful they were not out of place. Burke argued that politics should be kept out of the pulpit if the preacher were a man like Richard Price; such a ‘confusion of duties’ benefited neither liberty, government nor religion. Like most establishment writers, he assumed that sermons defending the political and social status quo were acceptable, while those advocating change were not.

Many radicals pointed out that political sermons from conservative clerics were traditional on Martyrdom Day and on fast days appointed by the king and ministers for political reasons; moreover, from 1793 the clergy had prayed for the success of the nation's fleets and armies against those of another political ideology. In 1793 the Vicar of Wellsbourn, J. H. Williams, complained that the clergy had become mere instruments of the secular government. The church was no more than an ‘engine of state’ valued and rewarded for its social usefulness. Conscience made a clergyman defend government in general, but ambition led him to support the policies of an administration.