Keir Hardie: A Politics Shaped By Faith
When we tell the story of Christian socialism in Britain, there is one figure whose influence still echoes through our politics, our churches, and our common life: James Keir Hardie. Often called the “father of the Labour Party,” Hardie was far more than a political organiser. He was a man shaped, softened, and strengthened by a deep Christian faith, the kind of faith that does not sit comfortably in private but insists on stepping out into the world, demanding justice for working people and dignity for all.
As Christians on the Left celebrates 65 years of faith-filled public witness, it feels fitting to return to Hardie’s life and story as a moral compass for our own time.
A Working Class Prophet
Keir Hardie was born into poverty in Lanarkshire, Scotland in 1856. His childhood was marked by hardship most of us would struggle to imagine today: long hours in the mines, little formal education, and the daily grind of a society stacked against the working poor. Yet even in that harsh environment, seeds of compassion and conviction were taking root.
Hardie’s faith was not inherited from a well-resourced church or a comfortable pew. It was forged in the fires of working-class struggle. The Christianity he embraced emphasised human worth, equality, and the radical idea that every person is made in God’s image. It was a faith that believed God sides with the oppressed and calls His people to do the same.
For Hardie, following Christ meant fighting for food, freedom, and dignity for working families. And so he stepped into public life, carrying both political courage and spiritual conviction in equal measure.
Faith That Led to Action
Hardie was outspoken about how his Christian commitments shaped everything he did. He believed that society’s value could be measured not by its richest citizens but by how it treated its poorest. He insisted that a just society was one built on cooperation, compassion, and shared responsibility; values he understood as profoundly Christian.
His political speeches often sounded like sermons, echoing the prophets who thundered against exploitation and injustice. Yet he did not use faith to shame or condemn. Instead, he used it to invite, to inspire, to imagine a better world. Hardie’s Christianity was hopeful.
Hardie’s vision led him to champion causes including:
universal suffrage
fair wages and decent working conditions
peace and internationalism
women’s rights
social welfare
and the belief that politics should serve the common good rather than the wealthy few.
In many ways, Hardie sketched the outline of what Christian socialism would become in Britain. His was a generous faith that imagined society as a fellowship, a community where every person mattered and no one was discarded.
A Foundational Influence on Christians on the Left
When Christians on the Left (then the Christian Socialist Movement) came together 65 years ago, it was because a group of believers felt compelled to keep this tradition alive, the tradition Hardie helped birth.
Hardie’s influence is woven through the origins of our movement. He showed how Christian faith and left-wing politics are not in tension but in partnership. He refused to accept the idea that faith should stay in private or that religion had nothing to say about wages, housing, or political power. He also modelled something else essential to who we are today: a politics rooted in hope, not cynicism.
As we celebrate 65 years, we recognise that Hardie paved the way for Christians who want to bring compassion and justice into the public square without apology, people who believe that Jesus’ command to love our neighbour applies as much to policy as it does to personal charity.
What Keir Hardie Means For Us Now
It’s easy to just look at Hardie as a figure of the past, but his values feel remarkably, almost startlingly relevant today.
We live in a time when political life can feel fractious, disillusioning, even despairing. Inequality is deepening. Communities are fractured. Public trust is wearing thin. The stakes feel heavy. In such a climate, Hardie’s example is not merely historical. It is prophetic.
He reminds us that:
Politics can be an expression of love, not just power.
Faith can inspire courage, not withdrawal.
Hope can be a discipline, not a luxury.
Compassion can be a political force, not simply a private virtue.
Every person, every single one, carries the image of God.
These convictions still guide Christians on the Left today. They shape our belief that Christians have a place, even a calling, in public life. They inspire our commitment to economic justice, to the dignity of work, to the common good and to a politics that places people, especially the poorest, at its heart.
Hardie’s legacy is not about nostalgia. It is about reminding ourselves who we are and who we are called to be.
Carrying the Movement Forward
As we mark 65 years of Christians on the Left, Keir Hardie stands among the great figures whose faith lit the way for us. His life invites us to live out our faith not only in our churches but on our streets, in our workplaces, in our communities and, yes, in our politics.
Hardie believed that Christian hope could transform society. As we celebrate this anniversary, may we rediscover that same hope for our own time, and may we carry it forward with compassion, courage and conviction into the next 65 years.
