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The church is in the constituency of Finchley and Golders Green, in London.
Most of the church members live there too.
The six candidates that stood in the election on 5th May 2005 are listed below (in alphabetical order).
The link against each will take you to the individual's "profile" page, where it is available, on their own party's web site.
In the weeks leading up to the election we tried to find out
where each of the candidates stood on various moral and other issues.
We posed the same set of questions to each of the candidates.
Although there are many more questions we could think of,
these cover a wide range of topics
and are representative of the issues that concern us as Christians and as citizens.
We should stress that we have no particular party-political axe to grind.
But we are concerned to see our country governed well.
In the event,
the incumbent MP, Rudi Vis, was re-elected, but with a much-reduced majority.
The full results are listed below.
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Here are the questions that we asked.
After each is a brief introduction to the Christian viewpoint.
We were obviously hoping that the candidates would express similar opinions.
The Christian Institute has produced a useful (130 page) document,
Christian Apologetics on 20 Moral Issues,
that explains the Biblical guidance on many of these matters, and others;
as well as a shorter (24 page)
Election Briefing.
We recommend both of these.
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Society seems happy to accept and support all sorts of relationships other than traditional marriage,
including couples living together without marrying,
and homosexual relationships.
Do you support this trend?
Or, do you see a need to give greater support to marriage?
Marriage is special.
The Bible makes clear that the only right sexual relationship is within marriage,
between one man and one woman who have committed themselves to each other for life.
All sorts of problems arise if marriage is seen as just one option among many.
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As Christians we believe that parents must discipline their children.
Sometimes this may require physical punishment, such as smacking.
Do you support these principles and oppose the vocal and often ill-informed anti-smacking lobby?
Parents are responsible for raising their children
and God has given them authority over their children.
They are expected to discipline their children in love and,
as part of this,
may legitimately use physical punishment.
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The rise in house prices now means that children may face a substantial inheritance tax liability when their parents die,
often resulting in a loss of the family home.
How would address this?
It is debatable whether the state should tax individuals at all in this way.
Certainly, such high levels of tax in relation to income are unjust.
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How would you provide people with greater protection from criminals?
For example,
often people feel that their neighbourhoods are unsafe.
Others feel threatened by an increase in crimes involving guns and knives.
It is the duty of governments to uphold law and order and to foster peace in society.
Those in positions of authority need to remember that they will have to account to God for their actions.
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Justice often seems not to be done.
Some crimes aren't punished severely enough.
What would you do about it?
God is just.
The courts of the land must deal with criminals fairly,
and punish crime appropriately,
reflecting God's perfect justice as far as they are able.
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Are you in favour of capital punishment for any crime?
Although there is some disagreement about this,
the traditional Christian view has been that there are certain crimes which are so terrible that they deserve such punishment.
No punishment should ever, of course, be meted out lightly or indiscriminately.
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The laws of this country currently allow a great deal of religious freedom.
Do you oppose steps to limit such freedoms?
Religious liberty is not only the liberty to believe certain things,
but the liberty to act according to those beliefs:
to meet both formally and informally with like-minded people,
to tell others about our faith,
and to speak out against what we believe to be wrong.
Such freedoms are rightly cherished.
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What should the goals of the education system / national curriculum be?
(Exam grades? Good citizenship? Improve league tables? Respect for authority? Morality? Independent thinking? Something else?)
Education is not just about learning facts.
It also has a moral dimension and should aim to help children become wise in the use of that knowledge.
Any system of education should begin by acknowledging God's authority.
"The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding." (Proverbs 9:10)
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Should parents have a say in what schools teach?
Part of the responsibility of parents is to educate their children.
Nowadays many parents choose to use schools to help in this.
They need to be regularly consulted and involved,
since they are ultimately responsible for what their children learn.
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Do you believe that evolution should be taught as fact or as an unproven theory?
Should more time be given to other views on origins
(e.g. 6-day creation)?
The theory of evolution is becoming increasingly discredited
as more evidence comes to light about the complexity of even apparently simple forms of life.
Design is apparent in all that we see.
It is arrogant, then, for evolutionists to insist that only their view is taught in schools.
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Do you think that it is right to allow foetuses to be experimented on
(e.g. in the name of scientific research) or to be thrown away
(e.g. as part of fertility treatment)?
It is as wrong for these things to be done to a 3-minute old foetus as to a 30-year old man.
Human life begins at conception, not at some arbitrary later time when the baby is in the womb.
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As Christians we believe that life begins at conception.
How will you act to reduce the appalling abortion rates in this country?
God has commanded, "You shall not murder" (Exodus 20:13)
and affirms that life begins at conception:
"For you created my inmost being;
you knit me together in my mother's womb." (Psalm 139:13)
Doctors and hospitals should strive to protect and care for the unborn.
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Is it OK to take a life?
If so, when and for what reasons?
Which of the following would you be content to see killed:
an unborn baby without disabilities;
one with disabilities;
a sick child;
a terminally ill adult;
an elderly person;
someone with dementia or other psychological illness?
Life is not cheap.
Each of us is made in God's image (see Genesis 1:26-27).
It is not for us to decide, by some arbitrary "quality of life" measurement, who should live or who should die.
All should be equally protected in law.
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Do you agree that it is immoral to withhold food from those with terminal illnesses?
A distinction needs to be drawn between withholding food and withholding medical treatment.
To slowly starve someone to death, as recently happened in the case of Terri Schiavo, is abhorrent.
There may be cases where, in love, it is agreed that no further treatment to prolong life is appropriate,
but there are never any moral grounds for actively bringing someone's life to an end because they are ill.
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Only a small number of people claim to be homosexual.
Do you agree that they are given too much attention and support?
All sexual relationships outside marriage are displeasing to God.
In particular, the Bible asserts that homosexual acts are always wrong.
See, for example, Leviticus 18:22, and Romans 1:26-27.
Instead of continually giving way to homosexual lobby groups,
society should seek to help those tempted in this way to overcome their temptation.
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We should care for our environment.
What practical changes would you make nationally
(e.g. about graffiti, recycling)
and internationally
(e.g. in foreign policy, about endangered species, use of oil) to improve the environment?
God created man to rule over all the earth (Genesis 1:27).
We have a responsibility for the earth and for all the creatures within it.
We have a duty, as stewards of the creation, to care for the environment.
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With regard to immigration and asylum seekers,
how do you propose to ensure that those in need are given help,
while those who are not in need do not take advantage of the system?
The Israelites, when they were led into the promised land of Canaan, were
exhorted to ensure that foreigners in the land were given justice and that they were not mistreated.
"Do not oppress an alien; you yourselves know how it feels to be aliens, because you were aliens in Egypt." (Exodus 23:9)
The same principles of care and justice apply today.
We must not take advantage of immigrants;
however, they too are subject to law.
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Two of the candidates,
Noel Lynch and George Weiss,
did not reply to our emails.
We never received any answerws from Jeremy Jacobs.
Sue Garden and Rudi Vis declined to answer point-by-point to the questions,
preferring to answer only in general terms.
However, even these answers are instructive.
Only Andrew Mennear answered each question individually.
Here are the candidates' answers,
again in alphabetical order.
Their words are shown like this.
Text within square brackets "[ ]" has been added or altered for clarity.
Deleted text is indicated by "[ ... ]".
Small corrections (e.g. to spelling) have not been highlighted.
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Many thanks for getting in contact.
You have raised some very important, and complex issues, which cannot be adequately addressed by an e-mail response.
Even those where you invite a yes/no reply deserve more consideration - there are many open questions to be asked.
Broadly, I subscribe to Lib Dem policies on those areas where he have a party view - on many of your questions,
we have a view that these are not party-political decisions, but matters of personal conscience.
My professional area is predominantly education, which inevitably frames my views -
as school teacher, through university alumni and with City & Guilds working with vocational education and qualifications.
For 32 years, my husband was an RAF officer and we moved 24 times.
We have been based in London, and in civilian life, for some years.
As well as varied employment, I have been involved in varied voluntary work,
including welfare advice and counselling (CAB, service families, Relate and SSAFA Forces Help -
as well as 'reluctant organist' in RAF chapels!).
I should be very happy to meet you and your church members and discuss any issues you wish to raise.
As a Christian, I have been making contact with churches in the constituency,
took part in the Good Friday procession of witness in Finchley,
which ended at the Methodist church and a very moving interdenominational service.
I hope I could join you in worship at one of your services in the next week or so?
In any event, I look forward to meeting you and much appreciate your interest and involvement in the political process.
We asked Sue to provide more detailed answers,
since we didn't know what her Party's policy is about these issues and of course we knew nothing about how her conscience would guide her.
She did not reply.
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Jeremy did not respond to our questions.
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Noel did not respond to our questions.
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Please find below each question, my answers. I've tried to keep them as short as possible!
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Traditional marriage
I'd like to see more support given to marriage.
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Discipline of children
I believe most parents resort to smacking only as a last resort.
So long as the smack doesn't leave a mark, I don't believe the parent should be victimised.
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Inheritance tax
My preferred solution would be for principal residences to be made exempt from inheritance tax (IHT).
Gordon Brown's recent announcement that the IHT threshold will rise in line with inflation
does very little for people in Finchley & Golders Green
where the value of the average property is now above the ITH threshold.
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Protection from criminals
First, we'd provide more police:
not just two in three years as happened in Barnet,
but approximately 370 extra over eight years.
Second, we'd end Labour's early release scheme
which has allowed criminals out of prison early just to reoffend once more.
Third, we'd introduce mandatory sentences for third time burglars and drug-dealers.
Fourth, we'd reverse the declassification of cannabis
and increase dramatically the number of drugs rehabilitation places
which are available for drug addicts to reduce the amount of crime that is drugs-related.
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Punishment of crime
We'd build more prisons.
Britain has fewer prison places per crimes committed than many other European countries.
As stated, we'd also end Labour's early release scheme.
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Capital punishment
Because Tony Blair has signed up to the European Convention on Fundamental Human Rights
this is no longer something which the UK Parliament can rule on.
I believe laws for this country are better drawn-up in Westminster than Brussels
and that Parliament should always reserve the right to alter the law
should circumstances and public opinion demand it,
including on the most appropriate form of punishment.
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Religious freedom
I'm extremely nervous about any conversations regarding limiting freedom.
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Purpose of education
[The goals of the education system / national curriculum are]
to deliver pupils who are well-balanced, articulate and law-abiding, well-equipped for life with transferable skills.
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Parents and schools
Parents should be able to choose a school which is appropriate for their son or daughter,
whether they be state or private schools, religious or specialist.
Governing bodies, including parents' representatives,
are the appropriate people to decide on what gets taught in a school outside of the National Curriculum.
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Creation vs. evolution
6-day creation should be included as part of the Religious Education curriculum.
Evolution should continue to be taught in biology classes.
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Experiments on embryos
I find this an extremely difficult question to answer.
I am probably in favour of limited experimentation for medicinal and scientific research;
but I do worry about the moral implications.
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Abortion
Given recent advances in science and my own experience as a father,
I support looking at a lowering of the current age limit for abortion to around 20 weeks.
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Euthanasia and abortion
While I support abortion on the proviso laid out in Q12,
I was extremely concerned at the recent case of the unborn baby who was aborted due to a cleft palate.
This should not be allowed.
I don't favour legislating to allow voluntary euthanasia.
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Terminal illnesses
Yes [I agree that it is immoral to withhold food from those with terminal illnesses].
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Homosexuals
I believe that taxes, health, education, crime, etc affect everyone in society and should be addressed as such.
So long as different minorities are not discriminated against,
I don't believe that society should offer special attention to particular lobbies.
I was attacked by Stonewall (the gay pressure group) for calling
for homosexuals to take their used condoms back with them after their nightly cruising on the West Heath.
They claimed I was anti-gay.
This was political correctness gone mad: I wasn't anti-gay, I was anti-litter.
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Environment
We hold what this generation has inherited in trust for posterity.
We do not have the rights of a freeholder to do just as we please in our towns and countryside,
but the obligations of a tenant with a full repairing lease.
That long-standing Burkeian principle continues to guide Conservative policy in relation to the environment.
Barnet Council was the first in the country to introduce fines for households not using their recycling boxes,
and, nationwide, it is Conservative councils
which have the best record for the percentage of household waste that is recycled.
We want to see existing legislation properly enforced (e.g. fines for people who drop litter),
and that's part of the reason we see a need for more police.
We'd make fly-tipping an arrestable offence.
We'd give stronger protection to marine species
and make powers available to ensure that the law is rigorously enforced.
We would put Britain at the forefront of a more effective global response to climate change,
seeking agreement on new post-Kyoto standards for reductions in CO2 and other harmful emissions,
including the complete phasing out of HFCs
and we'd lower the prices of greener cars.
On a personal note,
I currently work for BP on renewable energy issues
and as a Friend of London Zoo
I'm pleased to be helping the Zoological Society's conservation work worldwide.
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Immigration and asylum seekers
[We would ensure those in need are given help, while those not in need do not take advantage of the system]
by bringing back some order to Labour's current mess of a system!
Britain has a proud record of helping those in need
and in assimilating many different groups of immigrants over the centuries.
But that doesn't mean we should be a soft touch
for anyone seeking access to our pensions, health service, education system and housing.
We'd allow Parliament to set annual limits
for the numbers of people able to enter the country
(with three categories: asylum, work and family reunion),
with decisions taken more quickly before claimants arrive in the UK.
Once in, people would be allowed to work.
We'd also increase humanitarian assistance to trouble-spots around the globe,
while creating a new police force to secure our borders.
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Thank you for your e-mail [...] and your 17 Questions.
The questions are stretching over an enormous canvas of our lives.
The answers, no doubt, would have been different if asked 30 years ago.
Rather than answering them in detail,
allow me to say that I am a very happy married person
who is totally law abiding and who was born in the Netherlands.
I add this last part since you will be familiar with
the cautious approach of the Dutch to money matters,
but the generously liberal approach to personal freedoms and human rights.
I belong to that tradition,
but in a somewhat old fashioned way, having been born in WWII.
We encouraged Rudi to respond point-by-point to the questions
and asked in what way his answers would have been different 30 years ago.
Thank you for your e-mail.
I believe that I was sufficiently clear in my previous answer.
I was born in 1941 in the Netherlands
and what I meant by my answer having been different 30 years ago is that
we had a much less violent and much more conservative nation.
Where there is now much more opportunity,
feelings of less generosity and more violence in our society as well as internationally.
I deeply regret that the 70ies, 80ies and 90ies created a much more selfish nation.
I hope you will accept that a broader answer as I have given
is at least as honest as that from candidates saying yes or no to specific questions
second guessing of those who have asked the questions.
The Christian Institute has investigated how current MPs
have voted on important moral issues,
and produced a useful summary.
Refer to its web site to see
how Rudi has voted
on some of these issues.
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George did not respond to our questions.
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The full results of the election are listed below.
The incumbent Labour MP, Rudi Vis, won with a majority of 741.
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| Name |
Party |
Votes |
Turnout |
Electorate |
| % |
+/-% |
% |
+/-% |
| Rudi Vis |
Labour |
17,487 |
40.47 |
-5.80 |
25.05 |
-1.47 |
| Andrew Mennear |
Conservative |
16,746 |
38.75 |
1.00 |
23.99 |
2.34 |
| Sue Garden |
Liberal Democrat |
7,282 |
16.85 |
4.79 |
10.43 |
3.52 |
| Noel Lynch |
Green |
1,136 |
2.63 |
-0.54 |
1.63 |
-0.19 |
| Jeremy Jacobs |
UK Independence Party |
453 |
1.05 |
0.29 |
0.65 |
0.22 |
| George Weiss |
Vote for Yourself Rainbow Dream Ticket |
110 |
0.25 |
0.25 |
0.16 |
0.16 |
| Majority |
741 |
1.71 |
|
1.06 |
|
| Turnout |
43,214 |
100.00 |
|
61.90 |
4.57 |
| Electorate |
69,808 |
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|
100.00 |
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