A Christian Country?

A Christian country?

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% defined  themselves as Christian and  37.2% said they had no religion. Muslims constituted 6.5 % of the population and Hindus 1.7%. So from the point of view of individual belief we are a pluralistic, multi-faith country. Most of life carries on without any reference to religion. It is assumed that people have different beliefs and this is a private matter.

However in a recent parliamentary speech  Danny Kruger the MP for East Wiltshire argued strongly that we still are a Christian country and called for a return to ‘Christian politics’. 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 which we take for granted, like 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 like Tom Holland and Larry Siedentop ( who particularly stressed the role of St Paul).

This Christian faith has taken particular form in the shape of the Church of England and its special role 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 role 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, whilst noting that on a number of social issues he stood with them. 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 and general and polemical it is simply not possible to say what he is 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 mis-interpreted 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 presumably do so on Christian grounds.

Rather than stressing that we are a Christian society I believe 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 which 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 with 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 role of 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 in 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 free choice cannot and should not stand alone. This is one of the reasons why there has been a swing to right wing populism and in some cases a turn to Roman Catholicism. The Christian churches have a crucial role to play in helping people rediscover those fundamental values without which no society can operate. It is not a question of downplaying 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 same way 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.  

Richard Harries is the author of Faith in politics? Rediscovering the Christian roots of our political values.