Both Catholics and Anglicans have been caught up in theological and political arguments about the relationship between politics and the theological question of “Who is my neighbour?”
In America, an unlikely public debate sprang up, bridging the Atlantic divide, between Vice President J.D. Vance and English politician and pundit Rory Stewart, a former contender for the Conservative Party leadership. Yet, in spite of his Tory credentials, he is very much on the left of the political spectrum.
The argument erupted when Mr Vance suggested that Christians have a hierarchy of obligations, with their family and communities coming first. Mr Stewart, who was keen to claim Christ for open borders and unlimited immigration, accused Mr Vance of not understanding the implications of Jesus’s words in John 15:12, where Our Lord says that the greatest love entails laying down one’s life for one’s friends. When Mr Vance perceptively quoted the Church Fathers on the ordo amoris, Mr Stewart retorted that Jesus was ambivalent about family connections and that the Christian tradition had been over-influenced by Cicero. He alleged that, unknowingly, Mr Vance was urging a form of paganism.
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