The Archbishop of Canterbury seems set to accept an invitation to chair a post-Brexit Reconciliation Panel. Justin Welby’s political position on Brexit is: the people decided to leave in the Referendum and in honour bound we must see it through. He is now looking to chair a reconciliation forum reflecting, as he sees it, Christian principles of national mutual respect, a bit like shaking hands at the end of a rugby match. It is, of course, meant for the best, but there are a number of problems with this position.

1. Members of the Church of England tended to vote Brexit (66%) and contributed strongly to the Referendum outcome, and so Welby’s Church is not neutral. The call to accept the Brexit position and work with it is already one-sided and, as events will probably show, premature.
2. The Referendum has a questionable role in UK politics. For example, when it occurs might easily change the result. The poll could have happened six months later and with longer reflection the result might have been different. Arguably, it was called to solve a problem in the Conservative Party, and the result might have reflected anti-Government sentiment at the time.
3. Christianity does not believe the people, or rulers, are right. The prophets, and Jesus, emphasized the failings of both, and so it is possible to make wrong decisions. Indeed, we frequently do. Our political responses should reflect this underlying truth.
4. The Referendum was unfair (on both sides). The Remainers main effort was to scare people into remaining, as it has stayed since the event. The Brexiteers told lies, like the obvious side of a bus one, and refused to acknowledge that what they were saying was not true. They ran a social media campaign, based on dubious money, which was propaganda based rather than debate based. This was not new; there have long been dodgy election practices – slit-eyed Blair etc. – that pervert proper votes, but the fact remains, it was a dishonest campaign. Many issues, like Northern Ireland, were not on the Table.
5. The result reflected two media biases. The first is that major media outlets, especially the BBC, has failed for decades to report EU politics, except occasionally, giving few people any idea of what the EU does. Secondly, there have been a series of press reports about the EU of the “outlawing bent banana” variety, which have been untrue and really libellous, aiming to discredit it. Boris Johnson, now Prime Minister, contributed to this genre. Rich media outlets have born false witness to the EU.
6. Age is important. Given the remain votes of the young and the Brexit votes of the old, it is already likely that the voting pattern now will have moved to remain. There were no votes for 16-18, when arguably, because they may have to live with the vote for life, they should have been included in the franchise. Each and both points question the idea of mandate to leave.
7. The Church of England is an ecclesiastical organisation, and has not understood, let alone, shared the views of Christian Democratic parties throughout the EU. They have been and are crucial to peace, community, economic justice, workers’ rights, subsidiarity and just markets. The Church of England, and Welby, should not be turning their back on these deep and important Christian insights, but recognizing them over here. This they have failed to do.
8. Perhaps the deepest failure of the Referendum Campaign is that it was entirely a selfish event. All sides were preoccupied with our “national interest”. There was no discussion of what was good for Europe. We were similarly selfish on the refugee issue. Germany welcomed a million displaced people. We struggled to reach 10,000, grumbling in the process. That we could be concerned with European reforms which might make things better has not been on the UK Agenda since Thatcher. A Christian leader should hold to account our national selfishness, not merely give the pot a stir.
9. All European nations have deep and important Christian faith communities and sharing with them has been part of our Christian heritage for more than a thousand years. Often the Church of England has not been good at being part of European Christianity, though it tries a bit. The Brexit move would be a major retreat into Christian nationalism, a constant danger for the Church of England.

So, for these first six reasons Welby’s response to the Referendum is open to serious question. It is not a done event. The Bible reminds us, it is no good saying “Peace, Peace” when there is no peace. This is not a finished rugby match. And for these three others reasons, leaving the EU is a Christian defeat which we should not accept.