Church attacks British P.M.

Press, 23 May 1988, Page 1

Church attacks British P.M.

NZPA-AAP London Claims by the British Prime Minister, Mrs Thatcher, that her policies are underpinned by deep spiritual beliefs have again brought her into confrontation with senior churchmen.

In a revealing speech to the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland in Edinburgh on Saturday, Mrs Thatcher justified her policies of wealth creation with passages from the Old and New Testaments, hymns, St Paul, and Abraham Lincoln.

Defending the moral basis of Thatcherism, she said the Bible taught that “we must work and use our talents to create wealth.” The Labour leader, Neil Kinnock, responded by accusing Mrs Thatcher of a “selective Interpretation of the Bible” while a Scottish clergyman said her speech represented “a disgraceful travesty of the Gospel.” Mrs Thatcher said she spoke personally as a Christian as well as a politician. Among the quotes she chose was from St Paul’s epistle to the Thessalonians, “If a man will not work he shall not eat.” While Mrs Thatcher defended Nigel Lawson’s taxcutting Budget, Mr Kinnock refused to let her recent disagreement with the Chancellor rest.

Commenting on Mrs Thatcher’s remark that she used to have trouble interpreting the biblical precept to “love they neighbour as ourselves,” Mr Kinnock said he was not surprised. “Her difficulty in understanding the ‘love thy neighbour’ philosophy might have something to do with the occupant of 11 Downing Street (Mr Lawson),” he said. “History is littered with rulers who sought to justify their excesses and deficiencies on the grounds of selective interpretation of the Bible.”

This is only the latest in a series of unfavourable reactions Mrs Thatcher has drawn from the clergy in the last few months.

According to a survey conducted for the "Observer” newspaper, Mrs Thatcher had created a society which as well as being richer and freer, was unhappier and more selfish. Mrs Thatcher delivered a message of hard work and self-sacrifice to the assembly of 1200 churchmen after an abortive bid by five clerics to stop her address.

"The Old and New Testaments told us that we must work and use our talents to create work,” she said.