The WeeFlea com, 2/25/25
I have a confession to make. I actually like listening to political speeches — at least the good ones.
But in recent years the quality of political speeches has rapidly declined; I can remember speeches by Tony Benn, Alex Salmond, Michael Gove, Margaret Thatcher, Michael Foot, Ronald Regan, George Galloway, Dennis Skinner and Charles Kennedy. But it’s been a long time since I have heard a speech that I would regard as culture-changing — or perhaps emblematic of a culture change. Until just recently. For there is no doubt that JD Vance’s speech to the Munich conference was a game-changer.
Vance is an excellent speaker. He is clear, intelligent, measured, respectful and stimulating. He speaks as well as he writes — his book Hillbilly Elegy is a wonderful and inspiring read. This is not to say that I would agree with everything he says — but he is certainly someone to be taken seriously.
His speech in Paris on the EU and AI was followed by an extraordinary speech at the Munich Security Conference, where, instead of playing the usual nice diplomatic games, he brought out a few home truths – and in such a devastating manner, that it threatens to reset the whole US/UK/EU transatlantic alliance.
So what is the Christian perspective on this? Is there one single Christian perspective? I doubt it. But let me offer mine. I would suggest that in terms of being like the men of Issachar who understood the times (1 Chronicles 12:32), there are lessons we can all learn – whatever side of the political spectrum we are on.
1) The reaction to the speech tells us almost as much as the speech itself
According to the BBC, reporting with their usual balance and impartiality, ‘Vance’s speech went down very badly — unequivocally badly. It was extraordinarily poorly judged.’ The BBC’s reporting is itself indicative of a form of news reporting, which rather than reporting just what has happened, tends to offer a prejudiced perspective based on the politics/ideology of the reporter or reporting organisation. Which is why, without being totally cynical, Christians need to be much more discerning and balanced in how we deal with the news that is passed on to us. And why we need some more principled Christian journalists!
Some Christians bought into the line that Vance was lying about the restrictions on prayer within the so called ‘safe access’ areas to abortion zones in Scotland. I have been involved with this particular issue for many years, and I knew that he had not lied. Indeed, it was the Scottish government who misinformed…. Endlessly on X and in the secular media.
2) The real danger is from within
Vance shocked his audience when he pointed out that the real danger to European liberal democracy comes not from outside (Russia and China), but from within. In passing, I was disappointed to see that some Christian commentators bought into the meme that Vance was saying that Russia was not a danger. He wasn’t. He was talking about what he thought was the greater danger. And surely he is not wrong? It is not just the Kingdom of God that is within, it is also the Kingdom of Satan. Western Europe in particular is in full retreat from its Christian past — and as a result, a cancer is eating away from within.
3) Vance was right to point out the threat to free speech
There are numerous examples of this — ironically evidenced when CBS published a 60-minute documentary showing the German police delighting in punishing people for so-called ‘hate speech’. You don’t fight fascism with fascist measures.
Speaking of free speech, the hypocrisy is breathtaking. The Green Party Chancellor candidate Robert Habeck said that Vance should not have spoken, stating: ‘It’s just none of your business. Mind your own business. There are enough problems in the USA.’ And yet Halbeck had no problem endorsing Joe Biden during the US election and feels perfectly free to lecture the world about climate change. Why shouldn’t a friendly nation have the right to make comments? The wounds of a friends are faithful!
4) Uncontrolled immigration is a major threat
I would hope that Christians would see it as a priority to welcome the genuine refugee and to try to provide as much help as possible. Immigration overall has been a great boon to most countries. However, the issue of uncontrolled immigration is a serious one. It is potentially one of the greatest threats facing Europe today. Vance was right to point out the problems that both his own and European countries are facing with this issue. If the church wishes to make a significant contribution, we need to stop virtue signalling with selective Bible texts and ‘Jesus was a refugee’ rhetoric, and offer some practical principles and solutions.
5) Islam is a serious threat to European liberal democracies which have been founded largely on Christianity
No one who understands that there is no separation of religion and politics in Islam could disagree with that. We see the impacts of that even now. The UK is about to bring in a new blasphemy law which, under the guise of preventing Islamophobia, will be used to crush critics of Islam. Although, given recent events it is questionable whether such a law is needed. If you critique Islam and a Muslim threatens or attacks you, the courts are more likely to look upon you as the offender. Vance cited the case of a Christian activist who has been convicted by a Swedish court for the blasphemy of burning a Koran — just after his friend had been murdered for doing the same thing. I’m not a big fan of book burning — but this reaction from the law courts indicates just how much danger many Christians are in — in a Europe where Islam is protected and Christianity derided.
As if to further prove the point, the day after Vance’s speech there was a dispute in London between a man who had set a copy of the Koran on fire and another man who assaulted the Koran-burner with an enormous knife. The book-burner, Hamit Coskun, has been charged with a ‘religiously aggravated public order offense.’ The knife-wielder has been released on bail. Two-tier justice is alive and well in the UK.
6) Democracy is under threat if judges and EU technocrats can just cancel elections
— as happened in the recent Romanian elections. The audience in front of JD Vance were largely the elites, the technocrats and bureaucrats, who run most European institutions and media. The only area where they do not as yet have control is social media — which is why they are now so desperate to clamp down on X and other social media platforms which can now no longer be safely relied on to follow their previous Californian woke doctrines.
This latter point is crucial for the Church. If we have countries run by elites who get to enact blasphemy laws, how long will it be before faithful churches are persecuted because they preach biblical doctrines that are a direct contradiction of the new ‘progressive’ religion? Sadly, there are some Christians who think that such talk is just right-wing conspiracy theories — which they do not want to be associated with. They are, after all, decent members of society. There are some weird and wonderful right-wing theories (as there are left wing) — but that is not the issue. We don’t allow the devil to determine our agenda or speech. We now live in a world where if you say you do not think that men can become women or that marriage should be between a man and a woman — you are called a Fascist!
None of the above is meant as an endorsement of Vance’s politics or of his boss! Christians need to avoid this narrow kind of political tribalism. I was disappointed to be labelled by some Christian commentators as some kind of Trumpian right-winger, just because of my views on Vance’s speech. We should be free to comment on issues as we wish without being labelled according to the partisan politics of this world. I should be free to state that I regard Trump’s remarks on Ukraine as bombastic and ignorant without being called a liberal, and I should be free to state that Vance’s speech was one of the best and most significant in recent political history, without being accused of being far right!
We are, as Os Guinness has observed, in a civilisational moment — a crossroads, especially for the West. As Christians our first and last priority is to pray for kings and those in authority. But we must also stay informed, get involved and engage respectfully and intelligently. And above all we must realise that without Christians we cannot have a Christian civilisation. Our calling is to proclaim the Gospel — not the next political saviour/devil.
Yes, the case could be made that as the West loses its Judeo-Christian moral compass it becomes Godless, uncivilized, barbaric and inhuman, which is what Islam is under a false god. Judeo-Christianity was the very thing that civilized the West from its former barbarism and without it it will relapse and become dehumanized barbaric monsters.
In Christian terms we could say that the powers and principalities of this world are reasserting themselves to carry out their evil and Satanic ends. They will not accept any talk about the One True God.