This is a hugely important question for all citizens of Western societies, whether Christian, Atheist, Agnostic, or even adherents of another faith. As individuals and as a society we make sense of our lives through stories. Why else would we spend so much time immersed in fiction whether it be stories, film, or games? The story that has informed Western society for nearly two millennia is the Christian story. It is embedded in our language. Allusions and modes of thinking are inextricably linked with both the religion itself and its text, the Bible. Much of our art, music and architecture is inspired by Christianity. But at a deeper level, and this is where stories really do their work, our understanding of ourselves, the nature of our society, and our place in society is formed by the story of Christianity. Since the Renaissance there has been a deep embarrassment about our Christian heritage and this is a problem. It has led us to forget where we have come from and what has made us who we are. This is an argument that has gained ground amongst scholars, historians and philosophers irrespective of their faith position. It is not an argument for the truthfulness or otherwise of the Christian faith.
Understanding of the Renaissance – radical start or continuity?
Even if we reject the idea of God and the other accoutrements of faith, the fact is that Christianity has been a massive part of our story. The very idea of the value of the individual is something that derives from Christian concepts. There is no other culture that has produced a politics that places individual liberty as its organising principle.
So, even if we have moved beyond our Christian past and we no longer have faith, it is still absolutely essential we understand how we have got where we are, that we recognise the foundational ideas that have produced liberty. If we don’t then we leave ourselves open to much more malign ideologies. We have already seen this in Nazism, Communism, and Maoism under which tens of millions of people died, the “collateral damage” for naive utopias.
A related theme is that of secularism. This is not the idea that religion should be abolished. It is the idea that human politics is a separate domain from that of holy law. This again is a concept that has Christian origins: the two swords of Pope Gelasius I in the 5th century was based on Jesus’ saying “render to Caesar the things that are Caesars and to God the things that are God’s”. In a time when we are facing the resurgence of the religion of Islam that in many of its forms wishes to reign supreme this concept of secularity could not be more important. Holy law is unchanging and as such is unsuitable for the practice of politics in which dialogue, compromise, and change are essential as the basis for co-existence.
It is not just religion that needs to be excluded from power over the public square. Communism and Fascism were ideologies that imposed an absolute on politics, although without God. The reality is that these ideologies are religions that have replaced a transcendent God and the life to come with a frighteningly oppressive utopia.
For whatever reason, the majority of humans do not seem to be able to live without a sense of the transcendent. For the sake of liberty and peace we must restrict this to the world beyond. Attempts to achieve perfection in this life have only and always led to death, destruction, and hate.
I disagree with the New Atheists. I tried being one. I believe now that we must come to terms and live with our innate religiosity, but keep it away from political power.
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