Christians and the State by John Duddington Gracewing, £12.99 John Duddington was greatly inspired by Benedict XVI’s Westminster Hall address in September 2010. The pope asked where the “ethical foundations for political choices” were to be found and pointed to the role of religion – not so much in producing “concrete political solutions” as in promoting the “discovery of objective moral principles”. Such words may not have pleased those who, as Duddington puts it, would like to “confine religion merely to private belief”, but they bolstered his conviction that “a political debate that fails to accord weight to religious views will be greatly impoverished”. This book raises all sorts of fascinating issues. To what extent is English law rooted in Christian ideas? How does faith fare in a country with an established or “national” religion? What are the best rules of behaviour for Christians engaged in public debates? A spirited case is made for acknowledging the contribution Christianity – and especially Catholicism – can make to contemporary political and legal discourse. The Church’s natural law tradition comes in for special praise: what better touchstone when confronted by legislation that undermines basic principles of justice? Similarly, if you want your politics to be based on fundamental, unshakeable values, then religion is an excellent place to look. The book avoids the mire of abstraction usually associated with treatises on Church and state. Duddington examines specific cases that touch on prickly issues such as infringements of religious freedom and expression and, on the other side, religiously based organisations seeking to impose selective policies – Catholic adoption agencies and same-sex couples, etc. There are also challenging thoughts on how Catholics should engage with the concept of human rights – better to think in terms of shared humanity and dignity than individualistic autonomy – and wise words about precisely when it is legitimate to disobey a law on grounds of conscience. Perhaps the most abiding theme is that people of faith, with concerns ranging far beyond the worldly, should relish their role as “in a sense, outsiders” and as the prophetic voice of difference.