The secularisation of the UK church

It’s a familiar secularist cry – ‘we want freedom for religion, but we also want freedom from religion’. It sounds good and it sounds nice. But like so many soundbites the devil is in the detail. What do they mean?

In reality freedom ‘from’ religion means freedom from any form of religion (but especially biblical Christianity) in the public square. Militant secularists are as happy as Chinese Communists to have crosses in the public square pulled down. They want Christianity out of the public arena altogether. A ‘secular’ society is for them a ‘godless one’. We don’t ‘do God’ in education, health care, work, politics and media. They are happy for the church to be reduced to the equivalent of a line-dancing club or a Trekkie society. Do it in private – and don’t scare the horses!

Sadly, it seems to me as though the militant secularists are getting their way – aided and abetted by much of the church in the UK. We don’t need them to persecute us – we are in danger of secularising ourselves out of existence. The Spectator has a ‘religious’ podcast called Holy Smoke – which is largely a Catholic/High Anglican perspective on the state of the church. A few weeks ago they had a fascinating edition entitled ‘Suicide by Secularisation’. Although I largely come from a different perspective, I found myself in agreement with much of what was said. Damian Thompson accused both Anglican and Catholic bishops of forgetting spiritual power and instead seeking to exercise secular power. He suggested that there has been an intellectual decline in the quality of Christian leadership which has resulted in leaders virtue signalling that they are on board with the secular programme. ‘You can’t mitigate secularism by becoming secular’.