The bishop of Rochester bemoans the moral vacuum caused by the decline in Christianity.
The decline of Christian values is destroying Britishness and has created a “moral vacuum” which radical Islam is filling, one of the Church of England’s leading bishops has warned.
Sigh…
I suppose a Church leader is bound to talk in terms of religion when discussing such things. And, to be fair, I do find myself sympathising with some of the points he makes; I simply despair when people talk of a moral vacuum following the decline in religious belief. Actually, we can manage perfectly well without it.
The Bishop of Rochester, the Rt Rev Michael Nazir-Ali, claimed the “social and sexual” revolution of the 1960s had led to a steep decline in the influence of Christianity over society which church leaders had failed to resist.
He said that in its place, Britain had become gripped by the doctrine of “endless self-indulgence” which had led to the destruction of family life, rising levels of drug abuse and drunkenness and mindless violence on the streets.
The bishop warns that the modern politicians’ catchphrases of respect and tolerance will not be strong enough to prevent this collapse of traditional virtues, and said radical Islam is now moving in to fill the void created by the decline of Christianity.
I’m inclined to say, “so what?” If church pews remain unfilled; so what? If less people turn to religion for their moral guidance, well, so what? Religion was once the moral compass our society used, but it is perfectly capable of deciding what is or is not moral without religion. I have no belief in supernatural deities, yet am perfectly able to deduce that murder and theft, for example, are wrong. Every civilisation, no matter what its belief system has reached decisions about morality and generally they include the basics. Naturally there will be differences. Like many people in the west, I do not consider “honour killing” either acceptable or honourable, indeed it is despicable and the euphemism makes it all the more revolting. Yet in some Islamic societies, it is both and those societies that accept it are not moral. So, as a non believer, I am sickened and disgusted by a practice that is regarded as acceptable buy some religious believers. Religion, therefore, is not necessarily the best arbiter of morality. Yes, I do realise that I’ve chosen one extreme example – but there are plenty to choose from should you want to.
The Bishop may well be right when he says that people are seeking alternatives to Christianity. However, this may merely reflect changing demographics and have nothing whatsoever to do with the sixties sexual revolution. Immigrants from Islamic or Hindu countries, for example – and as far as Christianity is concerned, an influx from Eastern Europe has seen Catholicism increase rather dramatically.
My parents were pretty conventional in their views and my upbringing was equally conventional, yet they did not instill in me (or my siblings) any religious belief. They left that for us to figure out for ourselves. Certainly until my early teens, the church was an alien place. Then for a few brief years I experimented before rejecting the whole concept as, well, twaddle. I simply do not need the church or anyone else to decide for me what is right and what is wrong. I have a moral compass all of my own and it is functioning perfectly well. Indeed, I find the church somewhat immoral at times.
But he said the Church’s influence began to wane during the 1960s, and quotes an academic who blames the loss of “faith and piety among women” for the steep decline in Christian worship.
Presumably this is because women are expected to drag the menfolk to the church of a Sunday… Maybe they woke up and realised that there were better things to be doing than talking to the sky and hoping for a response, eh?
It is this situation that has created the moral and spiritual vacuum in which we now find ourselves. While the Christian consensus was dissolved, nothing else, except perhaps endless self-indulgence, was put in its place.
No, no, no. Not believing, not taking part in some archaic superstitious ritual does not mean that we are in a moral vacuum. I meet a wide variety of folk in my work and I would regard none of them as being in a moral vacuum. The Bishop is wrong. Some people have no moral compass. But, then some people have been like that throughout human history. Whatever my criticisms of our society, by and large, it consists of decent people going about their lives working hard and looking after their dependents. They are not in a moral vacuum and the suggestion that they are is repugnant.
The bishop, who faced death threats earlier this year when he said some parts of Britain had become “no-go areas” for non-Muslims, said Marxism has been exposed as a nonsense but went on: “We are now confronted by another equally serious ideology, that of radical Islamism, which also claims to be comprehensive in scope.”
This is where I tend to feel that he has a point – Marxism is a nonsense and radical Islam is a problem.
Asking what weapons are available to fight this new “ideological battle”, the bishop said the values trumpeted by modern politicians such as “respect, tolerance and good behaviour” are “hardly adequate for the task before us”.
Actually, they are. Deal firmly with bad behaviour and reward good behaviour.
The consequences of the loss of this discourse are there for all to see: the destruction of the family because of the alleged parity of different forms of life together; the loss of a father figure, especially for boys, because the role of fathers is deemed otiose; the abuse of substances (including alcohol); the loss of respect for the human person leading to horrendous and mindless attacks on people.
Unfortunately, the Bishop is taking a few high profile issues and conflating them into real life. Again, looking at the world about me and the people I meet on a daily basis, I see normal, working people who live in family units. Sure, there are people who have split form their partners and sure, there are units such as my sister and her son who are single parent families. However, my nephew is well adjusted and well behaved – a credit to his mother and neither of them goes to church or is religious. The lack of a father figure has not caused any great problems (although, there has been a grandfather and uncle in the background). The Bishop is tarring all with a broad brush and it won’t do.
He said many values respected by society, such as the dignity of human life, equality and freedom, are based on Christian ones.
True.
But he warned that without their Christian backbone they cannot exist for ever,
Yes, they can if they are right and proper and society deems them to be so.
and that new belief systems may be based on different values.
Possibly so and those new values might just be better.
Radical Islamism, for example, will emphasise the solidarity of the umma (worldwide community of the Muslim faithful) against the freedom of the individual.
Instead of the Christian virtues of humility, service and sacrifice, there may be honour, piety and the importance of ‘saving face’.
Yes, well… frankly, I find them equally ridiculous or equally commendable depending on the context. And, importantly, none of it requires belief in a deity or subjection to tedious rituals of pointless worship.
He said that the Church of England must retain its importance in public life even if it does not remain privileged as the established church.
That importance is somewhat over rated. The decline in attendance tends to support that view. If the church of England disappeared into a black hole tomorrow, I doubt many would notice nor would we be any worse off for it.