Faith in Politics

Civil society is often seen as providing a social foundation from which to combat injustices perpetuated by the state and the corporate sector. Faith institutions are an integral and often overlooked component of this abstract civil society. In this paper, it is argued that faith has an important role to play in offering answers to the challenges posed by increasing inequalities and urban injustice. The major faith traditions share a commitment to `looking out' to the wider community and testing faith through action. While this is often expressed as charity, service provision or interfaith dialogue, there is also the potential to politicise this impetus to engage. At present, faith institutions have been encouraged to get involved in `community cohesion' and `regeneration' schemes in urban areas, but it is argued that there is scope for faith organisations to develop a much more independent form of political engagement within their local communities. Using the example of London Citizens, a broad-based organisation, it is suggested that there is an alternative political route for faith institutions with an emphasis on the battle for justice. London Citizens is an alliance of about 90 civil society institutions, predominantly from the faith sector, but it also includes labour, educational and community-based organisations. It now has a decade of organising experience and the paper explores the basis on which people of faith join the alliance, how they work together and the effects this politicisation has on the institutions and people involved.