What - if anything - does Christian thought have to say about the role of government in Britain today?

That was the central question addressed in a day of lectures and seminars put on by Theos, in parternship with the Kirby Laing Institute for Christian Ethics (KLICE), on Saturday.

Over 130 delegates from the Conservative Christian Fellowship (CCF), the Christian Socialist Movement (CSM) and the Liberal Democrat Christian Forum (LDCF) convened at St Matthew's Church on Great Peter Street in Westminster.

During the morning session Nick Spencer, Research Director at Theos, and Jonathan Chaplin, Director of KLICE, delivered lectures on the relationship between Christianity and government. Nick Spencer spoke about how all politics stood on moral commitments which themselves stood on anthropological and theological convictions - ideas of human nature and the common good. It was this that made Christian engagement in politics not only possible, but necesary. Jonathan Chaplin moved the argument on, exploring Christian ideas of the function of government, and exploring in detail what the Christian idea of 'public justice' entailed for the practice of politics today.

The afternoon sessions saw the different groups break up and discuss a range of political hot topics, such as immigration, prisoner voting, faith schools, and the budget deficit, in which delegates debated the issues in the light of the morning's moral and theological discussions.

The day was part of Theos and KLICE's on-going 'God and Government' project, which seeks to bring theological reflection on the question on the role of government, based on the book God and Government, which was published by SPCK in 2009.

To listen to Nick Spencer's contribution, click here.

To listen to Jonathan Chaplin's contribution, click here