The Archbishop of Canterbury has dismissed the notion of secular Britain and reaffirmed God's love for all people in spite of failure. In article for the Mail on Sunday, Dr Rowan Williams said that the fascination with Darwin and religion showed that people in Britain still cared about religion.
He also quoted polls which showed that the majority of people believe religion and Christianity should have in influence in public life.
Dr Williams said that many people valued the contribution of church schools and churches to their local communities.
“If we really were as secular as some claim, none of this would be true … The truth is that in the greater part of the country, saying people couldn’t care less about the church or the Christian faith just would not fit the facts.”
The Archbishop also spoke out against the culture of political correctness which has led to a number of high-profile cases of Christians facing discrimination in the workplace.
“Whatever nervous or silly bureaucrats may think, it’s nonsense to say that some vast percentage of the population will be traumatically offended by someone using Christian language, asking them if they want to be prayed for and so on, or that people of other religions are offended by public recognition of Christian festivals.”
He claimed that most people wanted a society and a government that takes Christian values seriously and that Christian values had given society its values in regards to human dignity, leading to things such as the law of habeas corpus and the campaign against slavery 200 years ago.
Most of all, he said that the Church was there to give comfort to those in distress. He used the example of hospital chaplains who support those going through times of struggle and fear.
He said that the Church gave people comfort and value in a society which looks down on failure.
“When everything around us seems to say that failure is unthinkable and we must never be seen to be at a loss or out of control of the situation, the Church says failure is normal and happens to everyone, and we don’t have to succeed to be loved.”
He added that during the days before the recession people had got used to the idea that they have a right to get anything they wanted. He added that this had led to a society that sets people against each other and tells people they can become angry if they do not get what they want.
He spoke of how society was now widely seen as angrier than before, with increasing road rage and knife crime and “unmanageable levels of aggression” in the public space.
This anger resulting from failure was something that Christians do not need to feel, he said.
“Christianity takes it for granted that whether you succeed or fail, you’re valuable. God’s view of you doesn’t depend on how you do – it’s always the same love, always giving you a second chance. And you can face failure without fear and rage.
“You’ll still try your best but you’re also free to see that if you can’t get what you wanted, you still have your dignity before God, so you still have a future.
“This is the sort of thing the Church gives space for – a realistic picture of who you are, based on a vision of who God is.”
In his Easter sermon delivered at Canterbury Cathedral on Sunday, Dr Williams reminds Christians that belief in God is about living in the reality of faith and the unselfish life, and not about opinions or philosophical proofs.
He identifies St Paul as an early example of someone living the brave reality of faith, putting his life at risk for the sake of his belief and witness to the resurrection.
He goes on to say that the current financial situation shows that human fulfillment cannot be measured by material effects.
“The present financial crisis has dealt a heavy blow to the idea that human fulfilment can be thought about just in terms of material growth and possession. Accepting voluntary limitation to your acquisitiveness, your sexual appetite, your freedom of choice doesn’t look so absurd after all as a path to some sort of stability and mutual care," he says.
"We should be challenging ourselves and our Church to a new willingness to help this witness to flourish and develop.”
The challenge, he says, remains for us all.
"When all’s said and done, the call is to every one of us. We need to hear what is so often the question that’s really being asked when people say, ‘How do you know?’ And perhaps the only response that is fully adequate, fully in tune with the biblical witness to the resurrection is to say simply, ‘Are you hungry? Here is food.’"
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(Source: CT)