by James Price, The Critic
Christianity is politically valuable as well as, you know, true
“Blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed.” The Critic’s own doubting Thomas, Tom Jones, recently welcomed the withdrawal of polling that had been suggestive of a “quiet revival” — a surge of interest in Christianity in Britain, especially amongst the young.
Tom’s argument is that Christianity in politics is a non-starter. Any actual increase in Christianity, he writes — to the extent that it is plausible at all — will be weaponised by both sides of the aisle, used as a justification for socialism and immigration on the left, and to inspire a wave of so-called “Christian nationalism” on the right.
I certainly don’t want more socialism or immigration, either. But as much as there are of course left-leaning Christians, this is not an essential feature of Christianity. Look at, well, hundreds of years of British history! Bijan Omrani’s book, God is an Englishman, beautifully shows the influence of the Christian faith on all aspects of Anglo civilisation — the way that our villages, our family structure, the law, our language, our art, time itself through the calendar, and much more are suffused with the teachings and moral guidance of the Bible.
It would be fanciful to suggest that we would have reached the heights of civilisation we have without it — as ignorant as Homer Simpson sleeping through his sherpa carrying him to the top of a mountain and believing, upon waking, that he managed the ascent by himself. Christianity is the bedrock of practically everything in our society. Once you strip it away, what is there left to conserve?
Indeed, without it, we can already see Western civilisation start to shake — the contradictions in ideas about liberty and society, once Christian ethics are removed, become too much for a secular public sphere to bear. We were promised by Richard Dawkins that ending Christianity’s involvement in public life would bring us flying cars and secular compassion. Instead we have rampant Islamism, 87 genders and cancel culture with no recourse to forgiveness.