Christians, and other believers, believe in life before death (as well as after). If we are serious about our faith, we will want to see at least some of our values reflected in public life, however imperfectly. But values are not rules.

No policy is purely fact-based: all policies are also based on values or ideologies, good or bad. Of course, the ways in which values can be translated into policy are often difficult to discern in a complex world, and it would be a mistake to be dogmatic about this. Christians do not necessarily agree with each other about which policies are the right ones. But we should not put ideologies above people. We totally reject theocracies, which are in fact dictatorships trying to use God as their excuse. And we base our recommendations on hard facts, not just on faith. It is often secularists and people who have turned their backs to God, who seem to base their choices on ideologies and prejudices, rather than on facts, and can be absolute about their favoured policies. History shows that the results are often catastrophic.

In any case, Christian values have never been more relevant to the problems of the world than today. Would it not be fair to say that materialism, self-centredness and the pursuit of short-term gain have contributed to our present environmental, social and economic problems? And might not the faith-based values of selflessness, community, and the duty to care for the natural world and for others, be part of the solution?