|
Has our country lost its spiritual heart?
By James Knight
There is a myth being spread – a lot of people are telling us that secularism and atheism are here to rescue the UK from the bad religious habits of old.
When one thinks about Christianity, the charges brought against it are often theodician charges, centred around suffering and feelings of an absence of God's love. Contrast the two halves of the 20th century - the first half arguably gave us greater grounds for turning away from Christianity - most notably we had two World Wars that ripped the stomach out of Britain and left us without a great many brave men and women. It would have been quite understandable for people to feel that these events are inconsistent with an all-loving, all-powerful God. Yet to the largest degree faith not only survived, but people went on to prosper; we had community spirit, loving one's neighbour, togetherness, and solidarity - all of these contributed to a strong family unit and a Christian-modelled impetus in post-war recovery. There weren’t widespread drug addictions and yob-mentality gang cultures and greedy financial executives and controlling media moguls in the first half of the 20th century – not in the same way that there have been in recent times. Have you ever wondered why?
The Sixties cultural and social revolution and its impact in the second half of the 20th century has resulted in the biggest diminution of Christian belief in modern history (maybe even in the entire human history). Radical changes in culture are what catalyse mass shifts in belief - and I note with considerable interest that the effects of the cultural revolution of the Sixties did (and continues to do) more harm to Christian belief than anything else in 20th century Britain.
Not only was the whole Christian framework inverted, there was a mass assault on most of the very things that bring about a good moral framework, self-worth, family stability, and positive mobility (as we've seen above). What this shows, I think, is that the pendulum-type swings in faith are most greatly catalysed by people's attitudes to other people, to money and material things, to ambition, to moral goodness, to work, and to their own contributions to the well being of others. Whatever our issues with the past (and we are right to be slightly hostile to it), there were institutions that anchored society in a moral framework - church, education, and leadership – and these have been dealt a severe blow by the current counter culture of modernity and post-modernity.
I’ll never forget the reaction to Britain from my Nigerian friend Dominic – a man of the Lord who wouldn’t bring his family to this Island because he sensed it had lost its spiritual heart. In fact, it is the correspondence I have with some of my Christian friends in the so-called poorer parts of the world that makes it clear to me how the whole idea of ‘secular progression’ in the UK is largely a myth. I would like to share with you my most recent letter from Witchaboon – he is the young boy I sponsor through Compassion UK. What to a British man is a small amount of money each month is to a young Christian boy in Thailand an opportunity to have food, a home and an education. In this moving letter (at least, I find it moving), he says:
Dear James,
Hello sir, thank you so much for always supporting me. Thank you for your letter. How are you? My school has started. On my school vacation I attended the camp that the project arranged for children. The camp title was “Who is Jesus Christ?” I was happy and had fun attending the camp. I learned a lot about Jesus Christ. I sang worship songs and did activities with my friends. On April 13-15 it was the Songkran Festival. My grandmother took me to join the festival. I had a chance to pay respect to elders and I splashed water to other people with my friends. I was happy and fun. Please kindly pray for my study and my health. May God bless you with the happiness in living your life forever.
Love in Christ
Witchaboon Duangta
Witchaboon lives in a place in which material prosperity is scarcer that in the UK. But from reading his letters I get the impression that what God is doing in his life is something that many young people in this country wouldn’t make room for God to do. I say ‘make room’ because I think the second half of the 20th century has brought us significant changes in our thinking that make it harder to focus on God in the way that Witchaboon clearly can. It just fills my heart with joy when he says “I was happy and had fun attending the camp. I learned a lot about Jesus Christ” – because he appears to be enthusiastically expressing a joy, a freedom and an unfettered ability to enjoy the light of Christ’s love.
I have shared that as an introductory piece. Over the next few messages I want to write more on social commentaries in the UK, and also expose the perpetuated myth that Britain is enjoying a secular progression that has lifted us of the religious doldrums.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The views carried here are those of the author, not of Network Ipswich, and are intended to stimulate constructive debate between website users. We welcome your thoughts and comments, posted below, upon the ideas expressed here. You can also contact the author direct at james.knight@norfolk.gov.uk
James is a Christian writer and local government officer based in Norwich. |
|
| | | Justin (Guest) | 30/09/2011 13:58 | Hey James, interesting piece and partly right. However, I'd like to challenge a few assumptions.
You mention the two world wars of the 1st half of the 20th century and praise the small amount of good that came from them. You then leap forward to the cultural revolution of the 60s and how everything started to unwind. But you seem to neglect the fact that the 60s revolution was largely a reaction to the 2 world wars and the conservative institutions that were seen to have allowed them to happen. It was the enlightenment and advance of the sciences in the 19th Century and the following two wars that created the conditions that led to the inevitable cultural revolution of the 60s and the decline of religious belief.
My other point would be that I think you are rather overstating the 'myth being spread'. Who is saying that simply not believing in god is going to lead to progress? What does a simple lack of belief have to do with progress?
Atheism is simply a lack of belief in god / gods. Atheism is not a political movement, it's not an ideology, it's not an ethical framework to live by. Atheism has no power, authority or mechanism to drive change.
Since Christian religious belief has been pushed to the margins there has grown a vacuum in the ethical foundation of some areas of our culture. This seems to have started in the 50s and got steadily worse generation by generation. Are you sure though that you are matching the correlation to the causation? A decline in belief in god and the cultural breakdown we are experiencing in some areas of society may well be part of a larger phenomenon, that of increased freedom, increased confidence and reduced respect for authority. I doubt its as easy and clear cut as you are attempting to set out above.
The question for all of us, no matter our belief or lack of it, is what do we want to fill that vacuum and what's the best way to do it. Religion as the old authoritative schoolmaster has had its day. The emperor's new clothes have, for the increasing majority, been shown to be illusory. Religion has all the right motives but no answers. Atheism is the wrong tool for the job. Humanism, the secular alternative to religion, suffers from the same image problems that preclude religion from mainstream dialogue. All we can do is our best, be a worthy example to those around us, be honest and respectful and encourage others to be the best they can be.
| | | | James Knight (Guest) | 01/10/2011 16:52 | Hi Justin,
Can you elaborate a bit more on this bit...
"the 60s revolution was largely a reaction to the 2 world wars and the conservative institutions that were seen to have allowed them to happen. It was the enlightenment and advance of the sciences in the 19th Century and the following two wars that created the conditions that led to the inevitable cultural revolution of the 60s and the decline of religious belief"
In what way do you think the 60s revolution was largely a reaction to the 2 world wars?
| | | | Justin (Guest) | 03/10/2011 09:21 | I'm sure there was more to it than just the world wars but its no coincidence that a near global cultural revolution occurred just as those who were born at the end of WW2 reached early adulthood. The fact that the '60's' happened all over the western world implies a global change of consciousness and cause. The world wars, the threat of nuclear annihilation, the Korean war and the start of the Vietnam conflict would all have fueled the fire. The 60's was a global 'let you hair down' moment - a turn towards liberal freedom and a release from the austerity and oppression of the earlier decades. To be sure it's likely that we'd have moved in this direction anyway, but it seems to me that the WW1 and WW2 were the catalyst for the abrupt change that too a lot of people by surprise. We're still living with the consequences of this today as each generation has become more liberal than the preceding generation. Not that that's a bad thing. However, with freedom comes responsibility - that's what needs addressing in the post religious world and without the threat of eternal damnation or a disapproving deity its not going to be easy...
| | | | James Knight (Guest) | 10/10/2011 14:49 | It is true that each generation has become more liberal than the preceding generation - but that hasn't always been a good thing. What is clear to me is that since this country has had its spiritual heart ripped out of it by the counterculture, Christianity has been missed, and what has replaced it - greed, celebrity worship, low self-esteem, gang culture, etc - has been worse. It also shows that the idea of secular progression is a myth.
| | | | Justin (Guest) | 11/10/2011 13:18 | I doubt Christianity has much to do with it to be honest. After all, Christians are no more virtuous that any other thinking person. No, rather I'd say its laziness on the part of parents, increased freedom with little or no increase in guidance from peers and role models. I'm with you on celebrity worship - certainly a scourge on society - not deadly in itself but just shows a total lack of imagination.
I'd blame the recent riots though not on a lack of spiritual heart but on the 'fact' that these people are trained consumers in an alien environment (a bit like the Nam vet who can't handle that the war is over these people have been fed a fad diet of consumerism and immediate gratification yet have been denied the jobs and money to feed this frenzy.
I would agree with you that the idea of secular progression is a myth. But I don't know how many secularists would put progress on such a high pedestal. You're not going to change Pleistocene man in a few decades. Technologically we'd achieved some great things since the enlightenment but the third chimpanzee is still a long way behind mentally.
|
|
|
|
