Jeffrey Donaldson tells GB News’ Arlene Foster: Strong Christian faith is my ‘anchor’ in politics

The DUP chief mentioned his faith throughout a Christmas Day interview with Baroness Arlene Foster on GB News.

Faiths of the Nation concerned interviews with 4 high-profile politicians.

On the programme, Conservative MP Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg mentioned the “extraordinary” drift of Sinn Féin from Catholic instructing.

Labour MP Khalid Mahmood and Tory peer Lord Wolfson have been additionally interviewed.

In a deeply private dialogue, Mr Donaldson recalled changing into a Christian in 1989, which he mentioned was “a life-changing experience”.

“I grew up in the Presbyterian Church in my home town and every Sunday we would go to Sunday School and church,” he mentioned.

“I used to be a member of the Boys’ Brigade — that was a vital a part of my childhood expertise, not only for the weekly conferences that we went to, but in addition loads of my outside exercise.

“I lived in the shadow of the Mourne Mountains and each month we might have been up in the Mournes…

“I all the time bear in mind the motto of the Boys’ Brigade, which in later life I got here to know extra absolutely, which is ‘sure and steadfast’.

“It’s out of that Christian hymn, Will Your Anchor Hold in the Storms of Life.

“And in politics, I’ve discovered that having a robust Christian faith has helped to anchor me in the storms of politics.

“And so, from my childhood days proper via to my profession in politics, my faith has been essential.”

Mr Donaldson, an MP since 1997, grew to become DUP chief in 2021.

He added: “My Christian faith has influenced the best way that I work together with others, it has helped me via troublesome and difficult instances, not least in Northern Ireland.

“It’s helped me to have a way of perspective, to maintain targeted on what is actually vital in life.

“And after all it influences your strategy as nicely on the broader insurance policies and challenges that we face in politics at present – the social points that influence on us.

“The thought {that a} politician who has a faith perspective can in some way divorce that faith perspective from the politics fails to know what is on the coronary heart of faith.”

He advised Baroness Foster how “faith goes to your very being — it defines you in so many ways”.

He mentioned: “To provide you with an instance, once I’m going into troublesome conferences, the place I do know that there will probably be disagreements, variations — a few of them basic — I simply discover that saying a prayer earlier than you go right into a troublesome assembly has a really profound influence on the best way that you simply conduct your self.

“Going in to do a troublesome interview with the media, for instance, simply taking day trip to hope, offers you a way of calm, a way of peace, and that helps.”

Earlier, in his interview Mr Rees-Mogg mentioned he was “encouraged” by what number of MPs are individuals of faith.

They mentioned the expertise of Christians similar to ex-Lib Dem chief Tim Farron and the SNP’s Kate Forbes, who have been criticised for his or her beliefs.

Asked if individuals in faith could possibly be delay politics, or there is an area for politics and faith to coexist, he added: “I feel it’s essential that there is an area. I feel as a Conservative it is a lot simpler than it is if you’re in the Labour social gathering, the Lib Dems or the SNP, and clearly should you’re with the DUP it’s a part of your social gathering.

“It’s extraordinary how Sinn Fein has misplaced its faith and has utterly deserted any understanding — so far as I can inform — of Catholic instructing. Certainly it’s strongly pro-abortion these days, which I feel is very unhappy and damaging.”