Moderator of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland Rev Dr Richard Murray urges his church to follow example of Mike Johnson, Speaker of US House of Representatives, and not to be "ashamed" of their faith. Taken on 10 June at General Assembly 2025 in Belfast.
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00:00Reverend Dr. Richard Murray, you're at the end of your year as moderator of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland.
00:07In your keynote speech this morning, you mentioned that you're inspired by Mike Johnson's words recently
00:13at the National Prayer Breakfast in America, where he spoke very openly and proudly of his faith.
00:19And you mentioned that you felt that we here in Ireland, in the Presbyterian Church,
00:25should not be ashamed of the Gospel.
00:28Can you tell us what inspired you to say that and what you think that means for ordinary Presbyterians?
00:34Yes, well, Mike Johnson's the Speaker of the U.S. House, and he spoke about very openly his Christian faith.
00:41He spoke about how America is one nation under God, and he quoted G.K. Chesterton,
00:46who said America is the only nation founded on the creed.
00:49And when he had finished having referenced his own faith, I just sat and thought,
00:54would any politician in Ireland, would any politician in Europe speak in such terms?
01:01Because I felt that if they had been so open, they might well have been out of a job very soon afterwards.
01:07So it was lovely just to be there and to sense the freedom of religion and freedom of conscience,
01:12and just the freedom to speak about someone's personal faith.
01:15And how would you like to see that adopted by leaders in the Presbyterian Church here in Ireland?
01:22Yeah, well, we're here at the General Assembly.
01:25We have 500 or so ministers and 500 or so elders.
01:29And we have the greatest message in the world.
01:33And I'm not sure people really understand what Christianity is.
01:36So often people just think it's just another religion, but it's not.
01:40Because at the center of the Christian message is the life and person of Jesus Christ,
01:45his miracles, his death, his resurrection from the dead, and his ascension to God's right hand.
01:52And that's totally different from any other religion, which is very often following a set of rules.
01:59If I could put it like this, religion is man trying to climb up to God,
02:03but Christianity is God coming down to man.
02:06And whether we believe that or not and receive Christ as Lord and Savior,
02:09so that's the message of Christianity.
02:12And you mentioned you used the word sidelined today,
02:15and you urged Presbyterian leaders not to be sidelined.
02:18In what way do you think that that is happening today?
02:20Yes, I feel people are happy nowadays to have clergy, in inverted commas,
02:25taking part in different things.
02:27But they're not so happy with the clear message of the gospel.
02:31And they don't want that.
02:32They're happy for clergy to appear on TV.
02:35Lots of programs nowadays have ministers in them with round collars like I'm wearing.
02:39But how many of them are people of integrity?
02:42How many of them are people who are clear on the gospel and on their Christian faith?
02:46And there is a need for us in the Presbyterian Church in Ireland to be really clear on our faith
02:52and not to be ashamed of the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.
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