With pre-Christmas election fever hotting up, John Coulter examines how the Christian lobby could affect the outcome across the 18 constituencies in Northern Ireland. You can follow John on Twitter @JohnAHCoulter.

Has Santa come early for the Christian lobby in Northern Ireland in the form of December’s General Election?

After the expected failure of pro-life MLAs to form a power-sharing Stormont Executive in October, Westminster legislation legalising same-sex marriage and liberal abortion provision has come into effect in Northern Ireland. This can be viewed as a heavy theological defeat for Christian fundamentalists and evangelicals in Northern Ireland who would be Biblically opposed to both concepts.

Rather than Brexit being the dominant topic on the canvas or hustings in this election, could the Christian lobby push issues such as abortion, same-sex marriage, and divorce laws up the political agenda when it comes to deciding Northern Ireland’s next 18 MPs?

On Northern Slant earlier this year, I noted how attendance amongst mainstream denominations in Northern Ireland are falling; this posed the question, who constitutes the real Christian Churches of influence in Northern Ireland? This debate was emphatically answered by Jason Sime’s excellent analysis about the rise in the smaller denominations in Northern Ireland, probably at the expense of the larger traditional denominations.

The challenges facing the various Christian denominations is one of forming a united political front which will have real voter impact in the same way as the so-called Moral Majority in the USA can play a very influential factor in the presidential race. The real problem is not an organisational one – all the Christian Churches have to do is encourage their flocks to both register and vote. It is a theological one. The overwhelming majority of the evangelical and fundamentalist denominations and fellowships would adhere to the Salvationist principle of being ‘born again’ or ‘saved’ – this maintains that once ‘saved’, you should leave the old worldly ways behind. In many interpretations, this could mean boycotting the ballot box. This is known as the ‘come ye out’ theology.

If the Christian Churches cannot mobilise their flocks to vote for candidates who hold Biblical values, then perhaps the only way forward for the Christian community is to form its own party – the Irish Christian Party. However, is there enough theological unity among Irish Christians to ensure that such a venture would work? Or, would the whole project simply disintegrate in rows over women wearing hats at church, the role of musical instruments in worship, and the definition of marriage?

Would such an Irish Christian Party end up as a theological hotchpotch more akin to the former Protestant Reformation Party, which once existed in England? Indeed, what would be the role of pressure groups in Northern Ireland, such as the Evangelical Protestant Society and the Caleb Foundation in either mobilising the Christian vote, or in a worst-case political scenario, having to launch an overtly fundamentalist Irish Christian Party?

One element is certain: Christians will have to vote if they want to have their voices heard. They cannot complain about certain political developments if they are not prepared to vote for candidates who can make a difference.