DAILY POST YOUR VOICE IN VALES: Just why do clergy side with the BNP?

CHRISTIANS believe that we are all equal before God. The British National Party, on the other hand, is accused of dividing man according to race.

They deny it but do openly call for the voluntary repatriation of immigrants to "their lands of ethnic origin".

Many Christians - and people of other and no faith - don't accept the BNP's denials and say that this party's adherents believe some human beings are different from, and indeed are better than, others by definition of race alone.

And from a Christian standpoint, that makes adherence to this party morally incompatible with the principles of belief set out in Holy Scripture.

The logic of the argument is hard to fault but until now it has been down to the individual Christian, clergy or otherwise, to work that out for themselves.

That was until yesterday, when the General Synod of the Church of England voted overwhelmingly in favour of measures to stop clergy being members of the British National Party.

The proposal followed the publication last year of a list of 12,000 names of BNP members, which included five clergy, although none was a serving Anglican priest.

It was not for the fact that the BNP wants to bring back corporal punishment for petty criminals, and capital punishment for paedophiles and terrorists.

Nor was it for encouraging the descendants of post-war immigrants from Asia and the Caribbean to "move back where they came from".

The proposer of the motion, who works for the Metropolitan Police, said it was necessary to prevent the BNP from associating itself with the Church.

That's not a good enough reason. The BNP, whether or not you hold its views to be obnoxious, is a legitimate political party.

Banning clergy from this party prevents the church from addressing the more fundamental question which is, what train of thought has the individual followed that makes them believe their faith is morally aligned to what the BNP believes and how can they be set straight?

Try persuasion, try ridicule but don't stop the discussion by banning people from a political party that society as a whole is prepared to tolerate within the law, however grudgingly.