The Bishop of Rochester, Michael Nazir-Ali has written an essay on the dangers that a declining Church of England pose to that nation, and how a declining consistent Christian voice will lead to a moral vacuum that “radical Islam is threatening to fill. Simon Barrow, writing in the Guardian takes Nazir-Ali to task and attempts to refute his main points.
Simon Barrow writes:
“Nazir-Ali is not, as some of his critics will want to claim, a stupid or bigoted man. He is, rather, a representative of a whole swath of opinion (some of it militantly Christian and some of it agnostic but conservative) that finds itself up a cultural cul-de-sac and cannot think of anywhere to go but backwards – towards an imagined society of stability and order based on allegedly Judeo-Christian values.
Much like the idea that churches used to be full to the brim in the Victorian era, a popular misconception punctured by the research of Professor Robin Gill and others, this notion holds little water. The era of Christendom in Europe, one where institutional religion found a secure and privileged place in the social order in exchange for pronouncing its blessing on governing authority, is coming to an end. For many of us, Christians included, that is a sign of hope not despair.
In a bygone era, organised Christianity did indeed play an important role in encouraging education, instilling civic virtue, promoting social reforms and populating great campaigns like the one to abolish the transatlantic slave trade. But it also blessed wars, maintained a hierarchical social order, used its place in public life to serve its own interests, and justified many of the evils that its sons and daughters subsequently struggled against.
So the ethical legacy bequeathed by the established religion that Nazir-Ali lionises is a very mixed one. It is not a case of the virtuous past versus an iniquitous present. Indeed, when it comes to some of the greatest positive changes of recent history (such as the extension of the franchise, the emancipation of women, labour rights, decolonisation and environmental consciousness), churches have often been dragged kicking and screaming into the process of change.”
The article concludes with this call in response to the main point of Bishop Nazir-Ali’s argument that Christendom is of critical importance to creating civilized society, and that an effort to remove the Church from a central and special role in society will create a moral vacuum:
What we need instead [of a special status for churches] are more churches that can be actively seen as places where hospitality, forgiveness, peacemaking, economic sharing, love of enemies, care for the outsider and restorative justice is going on. These are the gospel’s building blocks for a better society. They come from free participation and cooperation, not the top-down attempt to impose a single ideology.
Read the full article here.
Thinking Anglicans has coverage of this as well, with many additional links to discussions of Bishop Nazir-Ali’s remarks.