The bloggers get younger every day.
"my school had a Remembrance Day assembly. Like the white poppy, it was incredibly stupid. Had any veterans turned up to watch they would be seething with rage at the disrespect my school showed with its lack of effort. No one sang or bothered to look as if they cared. Not that my school doesn't like war veterans; they just hate assemblies."
Jingoistic. Another for the blogroll, an interesting and entertaining read. But like Sam Tarran reading Peter Hitchens, he finds that our Christian past is a place of mystery 'that is easier to mock than to understand', in Hitchens' words. I suppose I should just 'get over it and move on'.
What is it with America and their dangerously high number of crazy religious people that follow the bible to each exact word ?
England was full of such people once, a hundred years sgo - fifty years ago too. But it won't return to that happy condition, if it ever does, without going through less happy ones first.
The Church of England, within living memory 'the Tory Party at prayer', now wonders whether disabled babies shouldn't be killed and frets about debt, Fairtrade chocolate and the hideous oppression of gay priests rather than the breaking of the Ten Commandments on an industrial scale.
Take a look at the history books. Non-religious societies don't feature a great deal. It could be that we've suddenly found the secular utopia that's never been found before. It could be that we're just at what geometry calls a point of inflexion, and a new spirituality will arise. Historically such movements have always been seen as extremist, driven by 'crazy religious people'. Do we see any candidates ?
I don't see a Wesley or a Bunyan. Abu Izzadeen ?
It'll get worse before it gets better. From a Christian perspective, it may not get better at all. But nature abhors a spiritual vacuum.
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3 comments:
The British Are Mad
Peter Hitchens' writings in 'The Abolition of Britain' lament the decline of the Church of England, amongst other things, to the extent that it seems he just refuses to modernise himself in any way, or to try and understand why things have changed.
Of course, the Christian church has played a massive role in British history. It may be said that the only reason Britain became a liberal nation in the first place is because of the Protestant reformation.
To me, it seemed Hitchens was far too busy moaning about the Church of England's decline, rather than understanding why it has lost its appeal.
As for me, I will always defend the right of the Anglican bishops to sit in the House of Lords, and for the rights of Christian Britain over one that bends the knee (continually) to Islam. I do consider myself a Christian (now, at least), but know that the old organised 'Sunday' religion has lost its mass appeal in a world changing far too quickly to care.
{England was full of such people once, a hundred years sgo - fifty years ago too. }
I'm not sure if that is the case, whilst there were certainly more believers then, they would still be less likely to follow the bible literally than Americans. The southern USA has generally followed less hierarchal denominations so the preaching has been done by people who hadn't studied 2000 years of theological nuance and debate but instead took their sermons directly from the bible.
Scotland and Ulster have had more in common with the bible belt than England has ever had.
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