British PM Theresa May Says Faith in God Is Guiding Her on Brexit
British Prime Minister Theresa May says as a practicing member of the Church of England, her faith in God is behind every important decision she makes, including going forward with Brexit, or Britain leaving the European Union.
"I suppose there is something in terms of faith. I am a practicing member of the Church of England and so forth, that lies behind what I do," she said in an interview with The Sunday Times.
"It's not like I've decided to do what I'm going to do and I'm stubborn. I'll think it through, have a gut instinct, look at the evidence, work through the arguments, because you have to think through the unintended consequences."
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May added that her faith in God shows her she's "doing the right thing" as the U.K.'s leader, and is how she copes with what she called the "hugely challenging" task of negotiating Brexit.
"I want to make sure that everything we do ensures Britain is a country that works for everyone. And that we really get out there and forge a new role in the world post-Brexit," she said.
As Catholic Herald and other publications have noted in the past, although May's background as a vicar's daughter is well known, she hasn't talked much about her religious beliefs.
While she has been seen attending church on Sundays, she's largely let her actions, rather than her words, define her faith.
Speaking about her childhood and her father, Hubert Brasier, who was the vicar of an Oxfordshire village, in her Sunday Times interview, May added: "Being brought up in a vicarage, of course the advantage is that you do see people from all walks of life, and particularly in villages you see people from all sorts of backgrounds and all sorts of conditions, in terms of disadvantage and advantage."
"What came out of my upbringing was a sense of service."
Premier Christianity reported in July that despite May mostly keeping her faith private, she has applied Christian principles in the way she handles herself on the political stage, such as her refusal to gossip or bad-mouth colleagues.
"I know I'm not a showy politician, I don't tour the TV studios, I don't gossip about people over lunch, I don't go drinking in Parliament's bars," May previously said.
She has also talked about social equality in her speeches. After being appointed as U.K.'s new prime minister in July, she said: "If you're born poor, you will die on average nine years earlier than others. If you're black you will be treated much more harshly by the criminal justice system than if you're white. If you're a white working class boy, you're less likely than anybody else to go to university. If you're at a state school, you're less likely to reach the top professions than if you're educated privately."
"These are all burning injustices and as I did with the misuse of stop and search, and deaths in police custody, and modern slavery, I am determined to fight against them."
