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Divine Election: A Christian Guide to Irish Politics
Welcome to Divine Election, a podcast from the Jesuit Centre for Faith and Justice, exploring what it might mean to approach elections from a Christian perspective. I am Cherise McClean. I direct Communications for the Jesuit Centre for Faith and Justice. And as the Republic of Ireland goes to the polls in a General Election on November 29, we thought it was a good time to think theologically about the opportunities and obligations that fall to us as Christians in a democracy. While these issues are especially timely for Irish people, we hope that this series will be of general interest even after the election is completed and a new government is formed and that while it has Ireland as its context, it will be relevant for Christians anywhere.
Over the course of the series we pair big theological ideas with questions of applied public policy. We speak to experts in their fields to inform our reflection on a Christian approach to political life. And we argue that regardless of your particular political persuasion, there are common - and exciting! - commitments that Christians across the spectrum share around what it means to seek the common good. The Christian faith is about love and justice is what love looks like in public. So join us as we invite you to think deeper about these issues
Divine Election: A Christian Guide to Irish Politics
Dr Ciara Murphy - Care for our Common Home | Divine Election: A Christian Guide to Irish Politics
Welcome to Divine Election
In our last episode, we spoke with Dr Toni Pyke, of the Association of Missionaries and Religious in Ireland. Toni shared with us about the importance of hospitality to the stranger as a core element of the Christian faith. This might feel like a leap - but that really shows how thin our thinking is about these issues - but if we recognise we have to be hospitable to all our neighbours, it follows that we should be hospitable to our non-human neighbours. If, as Toni argues, helping others find belonging is one of the primary ways Christians can be public about their faith, it seems like a natural step to consider how we find our belonging.
This connection between caring for our neighbour and caring for our common home might come into view more clearly when we consider that these are the two issues that draw out the strongest negative reaction in the Irish electorate. Fear-filled conspiracies abound among the Far Right about those arriving on our shores seeking refuge and those who insist that we must care for the environment we rely on.
One of the pillars of Catholic Social Teaching is exactly this - care for creation. So often, we at the JCFJ find that even politicians or secular activists are taken aback by the profundity of the Christian approach to environmentalism. It can never be disparaged as some indulgent form of "tree-hugging". Throughout the tradition - we can think of Francis of Assisi who was living this stuff out 800 years ago - care for creation has been tied to social justice. We simply can't care for God's good world without also caring for the very good humans that bear God's image. This integrated, humanistic approach to ecology is an exciting one, deeply relevant for our present situation, and entirely free of fear mongering.
So while Christians are free to hold a range of different positions on different political or policy possibilities, we are bound to care for the world that God has gifted us and the creatures who live in it. In this episode, we talk to Dr Ciara Murphy, the Environmental Policy Advocate at the Jesuit Centre for Faith and Justice, to help us understand how Christians can respond to climate collapse and biodiversity breakdown in a way that is authentic to our faith. She is interviewed by Kevin Hargaden, the Director and Social Theologian of the Jesuit Centre for Faith and Justice.
Reach out with your feedback, queries, or any other input @JCFJustice on Twitter, Instagram, Bluesky, Linked In, or directly at www.jcfj.ie.