Over the last few years, people’s faith has paid a much more important role in their politics.

One can see that in global terms. In Turkey, there’s Erdoğan, an avowedly Muslim leader in what was once deemed to be a secular state. In India, there’s Modi, an openly Hindu Prime Minister in a country with a similar political history. Russia sports Putin, an individual claimed to be a reincarnation of St Paul by some of his "disciples". In Israel, there’s Benjamin Netanyahu.

The phenomenon hasn’t been entirely absent from other countries either. To some extent, it was a factor in the attack against both mosque and Muslims after the terrible and tragic event that occurred in Southport. Some politicians exploited this incident, seeing it incorrectly as connected to allowing those of that particular faith within the country’s borders.

One can see it, too, after the recent assassination attempt on Donald Trump where the presidential candidate declared God was on his side after his survival. This contrasted sharply with the reaction of former US President Ronald Reagan to a similar event in his existence. His focus was also on his attempted assassin John Hinkley Jr, whom he wanted to meet and forgive after the incident took place. To put it succinctly, unlike his successor, Reagan’s concerns were not simply about himself.

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In terms of all of this, there is no doubt that - in substantial terms - people of faith have made a beneficial contribution to our politics. This can be seen especially in the lives of men like William Wilberforce and Anthony Ashley-Cooper, the 7th Earl of Shaftesbury. The former was a crucial figure in the campaign for the abolition of slavery. The "conservative" politics of the other was also governed by his moral concerns. The width of his remit included attempts to achieve better working conditions and education for the poor, the reform of lunacy laws and setting limitations on the sheer extent of child labour that were prevalent in this country’s nineteenth century existence. All of this should be thoroughly commended.

And then there are the many important figures who have possessed faith but have been relatively quiet in declaring they were believers. They include Tory and Liberal Prime Ministers such as Harold MacMillan, William Gladstone and Alec Douglas Home, left-wing leaders such as Eric Heffer whom I recall being described as a "Communist" but later discovered to have written several Christian books. There is, of course, the declaration that "the Labour Party owes more to Methodism than Marxism", made by Morgan Phillips, General Secretary of the Labour Party at one time but in some ways, this is an over-statement. A similar remark could be made about virtually all political parties at some stage in their existence. Each one has its own legacy of faith. Sometimes, too, this can even be current, such as can be seen in the reaction of Kate Forbes, the SNP MSP who was asked questions about her faith when she stood to become leader of her party.

There was nothing wrong in this. She was completely correct in being honest about her own personal beliefs. She was also not employing her faith as a weapon in political arguments, but instead revealing the privacy of her conscience. In this, she is completely unlike Erdoğan, Modi, Netanyahu, Putin and  indeed  Trump and his Vice-Presidential candidate,  JD Vance. And there are examples of this nearer home.

One graphic case is Ian Paisley Jr, the former DUP MP for North Antrim in Northern Ireland. Like his father, he continually espoused his Protestant faith. Despite this, what was most distinctive about him was his fondness for claiming expenses and being a member of often-elusive and ridiculous All Party Parliamentary Groups. He continually reached the Top of the Charts in the former, a process that went on year after year. His expenses for the 2012–13 financial year were £232,000; the highest of any MP. Eventually the whistle began to blow again and again. In 2018 he was suspended from the House of Commons for 30 sitting days because he broke paid advocacy rules by receiving hospitality from the Sri Lankan government without declaring that to the Commons. In September 2020, he was fined by the Electoral Commission for another serious offence. Eventually, the electorate in North Antrim began to wake up and take notice, voting him out of office.

Ian Paisley JrIan Paisley Jr (Image: PA)

Long before this, they should have been aware of his flaws. Ian Paisley Jr was someone who regularly drew on the Bible in order to make political points. Unfortunately, he is not unique in this behaviour. I have seen it elsewhere: party supporters overlooking the morality of their representative’s actions, the occasional use of Biblical quotations in even Council discussions. Both these forms of behaviour are utterly unacceptable. Religious faith should motivate someone’s internal heart and spirit.

But it all too often happens that certain individuals think it can be displayed publicly on either mouth or sleeve because it meets their immediate, political ends…

Raised in Ness, Isle of Lewis and now living in Shetland, Donald S Murray is a Gaelic-speaking poet, author and occasional dramatis. His novel As the Women Lay Dreaming won the Paul Torday Memorial Prize for 2020. His latest novel is The Salt and the Flame (Saraband).