ARE we a Christian country? Against this is the fact that those who identify as Christian are now a minority. According to the 2021 census, 46.2 per cent defined themselves as Christian, and 37.2 per cent said that they had no religion. Muslims constituted 6.5 per cent of the population, and Hindus 1.7 per cent.
So, from the point of view of individual belief, we are a pluralistic, multifaith country. Most of life carries on without any reference to religion. It is assumed that people have different beliefs, and that this is a private matter.
In a recent parliamentary speech, however, Danny Kruger, the MP for East Wiltshire, argued strongly that we still are a Christian country, and called for a return to “Christian politics” (News, Comment 25 July).
He is certainly right in his first assertion. Our whole history has been shaped by the Christian faith, as have our major institutions. Even more fundamental, the values that we take for granted, such as the equal worth and dignity of each person, are a direct result of the influence of the Christian faith. This has been demonstrated in books by historians such as Tom Holland and Larry Siedentop (who particularly emphasised the influence of St Paul).
This Christian faith has taken particular form in the shape of the Church of England and the special part that it plays in relation to the monarchy and the State. The monarch is crowned in Westminster Abbey by the Archbishop of Canterbury. Each day in Parliament begins with prayers, in which parliamentarians identify themselves as “We thine unworthy servants”. In recent years, Church of England bishops and priests have exercised this ministry in a very inclusive and hospitable manner. Indeed, other religions welcome the establishment of the Church of England as an umbrella in which their own place and contribution is recognised.
IN HIS speech, Mr Kruger expressed two worries related to moving away from our Christian roots. One was the rise of Islam, while he noted that on a number of social issues he stood with Muslims. About the other religion, which worried him more, he said: “I do not think that ‘woke’ does justice to its seriousness.” Unfortunately, his attempt to define what he meant was so vague, general, and polemical that it is simply not possible to say what he was really getting at. Will someone define what it is to be “woke”, and why I should be worried about it?
Like Mr Kruger, I believe that the reality of God as made known in Christ is the most fundamental fact of all for both the life of a nation and for each individual. It is good that Mr Kruger has reminded us of this.
But to trumpet this in our present society would, I believe, be counter-productive. Not only would it fail to resonate with the majority: it would be misinterpreted to imply that Christians were seeking special privilege, or that they would like to enact repressive legislation. And his call for a “Christian politics” glides over the fact that Christians do, in fact, disagree on a number of issues. I am strongly opposed to the assisted-dying Bill, but there are a few Christians who support it, and they presumably do so on Christian grounds.
Rather than emphasise that we are a Christian society, I believe that what we should face up to is the decline in Christian influence, and, as a result, the consequent lack of any underlying and unifying ethical basis for our life together. We need to work together with people of other faiths and no faith to affirm certain fundamentals that are, sadly, lacking at the moment. These are that we are moral beings, that life is a moral struggle, and that, whether or not we think we are ultimately accountable to God, we are accountable to one another.
On this basis, we need to oppose the moral relativism that is so prevalent and debilitating in our society at the moment, and to reassert our belief that, as human beings, we are truth-seeking, truth-telling beings. This is not the gospel, but it is an essential preparation for the gospel.
T. S. ELIOT got it just right when he argued that a Christian society would be one in which “the natural end of man — virtue and well-being in community — would be acknowledged for all, and the supernatural end — beatitude — for those who have eyes to see it.’”
The importance of this definition is, first of all, in its rejection of individualism; for the end is well-being in community, for everyone. Then, what startles the modern mind is the inclusion of the word “virtue” — but this is just what our society needs now. Virtue cannot be imposed by the State, which can only make laws. But, unless virtue, or what we might call fundamental decency, is a feature of society, the part played by the State will be little better than that of a cage to stop us tearing one another apart.
In recent decades, our society and its governments have been shaped by a combination of market and social liberalism. In other words, the only value that has been recognised is that of free choice, both in the market to buy what you want, and in personal life to do what you want.
It is now beginning to be recognised that a much thicker set of values is needed, and that free choice cannot and should not stand alone. This is one of the reasons that there has been a swing to right-wing populism, and, in some instances, a turn to Roman Catholicism. The Churches have a crucial part to play in helping people to rediscover those fundamental values without which no society can operate. It is a question not of playing down the essential beliefs of our faith, but of what is the appropriate and right action in our society now.
Now is not the time to placard the claim that we are a Christian country. We remain a Christian country in the sense outlined above, but this is a truth about which, at the moment, it is best to be reticent, in the way in which Bonhoeffer suggested in his letters. What is needed is the expression of our Christian faith in a desire to find common cause with others in championing human beings as, above all, moral beings, and our life together as based on certain fundamental values.
The Rt Revd Lord Harries, a former Bishop of Oxford, is the author of Faith in politics? Rediscovering the Christian roots of our political values (DLT).
