Green Energy
Of course, Infidel Bloggers Alliance is not a Christian website, but I think all our readers, whether Hindu, atheist, Buddhist, or whatever, can agree that Britain's Christian history is interwoven with it's culture, and that it is a good thing for Brits to fight for their culture.
And, apparently, that is happening (thanks to Religion of Pieces for the link):
A poll published today by the new think tank Theos reveals public confusion. If 42 per cent of a thousand adults agree with Dawkins that religion is like "the smallpox virus but harder to eradicate", 53 per cent claim that "religion is a force for good in society", with a slightly higher percentage agreeing that Christianity had an important role to play in public affairs.
Perhaps some strange dialectic between rabid Islam and the militant secularists is partly responsible for these mixed messages? The more secularists hear from those like Sheikh Taj el-Din al-Hilali, the "Aussie imam" of Sydney, who thinks that underclad women are like displays of meat for predatory men, the more they feel entitled to lash out at religion in general.
However, daily Islamist provocations, a wider fatigue with consumerism and a popular culture in which a scion of the Victorian dynasty that built London's sewers brings us Big Brother could equally be fuelling a recrudescence of cultural Christianity, in which many people see personal or social benefit in the old faith of our Continent.
Encouragingly, Michael Nazir-Ali, the Bishop of Rochester, has forthrightly attacked the notion that Britain is a "multi-faith society", saying: "Almost everything you touch in British culture, whether it's art, literature or the language itself has been shaped by the Judaeo-Christian tradition, by the Bible, by the Churches, worship and belief."
Today's inauguration of Theos is an encouraging sign that intellectual Christians in Britain are not going to flee the battle that militant secularists have long declared, as can be seen from Owen Chadwick's Secularisation of the European Mind, which deals with their campaigns in the 19th century.
There is something encouragingly American about Theos, provided one associates US Christians with its many distinguished public intellectuals, like Richard John Neuhaus or George Weigel, rather than the literalists of dread imaginings.
And how revealing that it is a new think tank, rather than the limp-wristed universities with their cadres of Islamist militants, that has ventured into these contentious areas.
Supported by the Anglican and Roman Catholic primates, Theos will not confine itself to locking horns with academe's celebrity atheists, nor will it simply react to provocations (overwhelmingly involving radical Islamists) that appear to discredit all faith.
Rather, in a brilliant exposition of Theos's remit, entitled Doing God, Nick Spencer indicates that the very notion of a separate public sphere, or what we call civil society, is an indirect offspring of Christian rejection of imperial theocracy, and that Christians have much still to contribute to their own legacy.
Indeed, whether for demographic reasons, which over the long term favour religious believers, or, because of the creeping withdrawal of the state from social provision, future generations will hear a lot more about God and politics.
Go read the whole thing.
- Atheist Richard Dawkins: Christianity Has The Power To Defeat Radical Islam
From Christianity Today:Despite spending years criticising Christianity, well-known atheist Richard Dawkins is now admitting that Christianity is much better than Islam. Dawkins even conceded that "Christianity may actually be our best defence against...
- Islam Could Replace Christianity In Britain Within A Decade
The latest census figures (via MSN) strongly suggest that the most dhimmified European country could be the first to have its prior religion supplanted by the Islam: One in 10 people under 25 are Muslim, while Christianity is in decline, the 2011 UK census...
-
Muslims will become majority in Europe, senior Vatican official warnsEuropean Christians must have more children or face the prospect of the continent becoming Islamised, a senior Vatican official has said. From the Telegraph: While many European...
- Uk: Practising Muslims 'will Outnumber Christians By 2035'
(Thanks to Michael) From the Telegraph: Practising Muslims will outnumber worshipping Christians in Britain within 30 years, according to research published today. By 2035, there will be about 1.96 million active Muslims in Britain, compared with...
- One Bishop Who Knows About What He Is Talking - Christians Endangerd In Muslim Neighborhoods
The Telegraph informs us in a deserving article by Jonathan Wynne-Jones about "no-go zones for non-Muslims" in Britain. The Rt Rev Michael Nazir-Ali, the Bishop of Rochester and the Church's only Asian bishop, says that people of a different race...
Green Energy
British Intellectual Christians Making A Resurgence
Of course, Infidel Bloggers Alliance is not a Christian website, but I think all our readers, whether Hindu, atheist, Buddhist, or whatever, can agree that Britain's Christian history is interwoven with it's culture, and that it is a good thing for Brits to fight for their culture.
And, apparently, that is happening (thanks to Religion of Pieces for the link):
A poll published today by the new think tank Theos reveals public confusion. If 42 per cent of a thousand adults agree with Dawkins that religion is like "the smallpox virus but harder to eradicate", 53 per cent claim that "religion is a force for good in society", with a slightly higher percentage agreeing that Christianity had an important role to play in public affairs.
Perhaps some strange dialectic between rabid Islam and the militant secularists is partly responsible for these mixed messages? The more secularists hear from those like Sheikh Taj el-Din al-Hilali, the "Aussie imam" of Sydney, who thinks that underclad women are like displays of meat for predatory men, the more they feel entitled to lash out at religion in general.
However, daily Islamist provocations, a wider fatigue with consumerism and a popular culture in which a scion of the Victorian dynasty that built London's sewers brings us Big Brother could equally be fuelling a recrudescence of cultural Christianity, in which many people see personal or social benefit in the old faith of our Continent.
Encouragingly, Michael Nazir-Ali, the Bishop of Rochester, has forthrightly attacked the notion that Britain is a "multi-faith society", saying: "Almost everything you touch in British culture, whether it's art, literature or the language itself has been shaped by the Judaeo-Christian tradition, by the Bible, by the Churches, worship and belief."
Today's inauguration of Theos is an encouraging sign that intellectual Christians in Britain are not going to flee the battle that militant secularists have long declared, as can be seen from Owen Chadwick's Secularisation of the European Mind, which deals with their campaigns in the 19th century.
There is something encouragingly American about Theos, provided one associates US Christians with its many distinguished public intellectuals, like Richard John Neuhaus or George Weigel, rather than the literalists of dread imaginings.
And how revealing that it is a new think tank, rather than the limp-wristed universities with their cadres of Islamist militants, that has ventured into these contentious areas.
Supported by the Anglican and Roman Catholic primates, Theos will not confine itself to locking horns with academe's celebrity atheists, nor will it simply react to provocations (overwhelmingly involving radical Islamists) that appear to discredit all faith.
Rather, in a brilliant exposition of Theos's remit, entitled Doing God, Nick Spencer indicates that the very notion of a separate public sphere, or what we call civil society, is an indirect offspring of Christian rejection of imperial theocracy, and that Christians have much still to contribute to their own legacy.
Indeed, whether for demographic reasons, which over the long term favour religious believers, or, because of the creeping withdrawal of the state from social provision, future generations will hear a lot more about God and politics.
Go read the whole thing.
- Atheist Richard Dawkins: Christianity Has The Power To Defeat Radical Islam
From Christianity Today:Despite spending years criticising Christianity, well-known atheist Richard Dawkins is now admitting that Christianity is much better than Islam. Dawkins even conceded that "Christianity may actually be our best defence against...
- Islam Could Replace Christianity In Britain Within A Decade
The latest census figures (via MSN) strongly suggest that the most dhimmified European country could be the first to have its prior religion supplanted by the Islam: One in 10 people under 25 are Muslim, while Christianity is in decline, the 2011 UK census...
-
Muslims will become majority in Europe, senior Vatican official warnsEuropean Christians must have more children or face the prospect of the continent becoming Islamised, a senior Vatican official has said. From the Telegraph: While many European...
- Uk: Practising Muslims 'will Outnumber Christians By 2035'
(Thanks to Michael) From the Telegraph: Practising Muslims will outnumber worshipping Christians in Britain within 30 years, according to research published today. By 2035, there will be about 1.96 million active Muslims in Britain, compared with...
- One Bishop Who Knows About What He Is Talking - Christians Endangerd In Muslim Neighborhoods
The Telegraph informs us in a deserving article by Jonathan Wynne-Jones about "no-go zones for non-Muslims" in Britain. The Rt Rev Michael Nazir-Ali, the Bishop of Rochester and the Church's only Asian bishop, says that people of a different race...