by Chris Alexion, Copyright November 30, 2006, all rights reserved. 293 views
My friend James Eglinton from Scotland has a great post about secular fundamentalism vs. liberal democracy:
'Ban religion completely.' These were the words of pop icon Elton John in a recent gay edition of the Observer Music Magazine. His claim is that as it 'turns people into hateful lemmings', organised religion (which 'doesn't work') should be outlawed.
I struggle to see Elton's staggeringly unintelligent views becoming a reality. This is because we live in a liberal democracy. You see, while Elton only believes in freedom of expression for those with whom he agrees, our nation operates on a significantly different wavelength. It is called tolerance (as opposed to Elton's dream concept of homosexual fundamentalism). I wonder what Elton thinks of our national hero Winston Churchill: 'I might disagree with what you have to say, but I will fight to the death to defend your right to say it.' . . .
1 • James Eglinton • December 01, 2006 • 4:44 PM
Hi Chris
Thanks for your post. Public life here in the UK appears to be on the verge of an out-and-out paradigm shift - I think it's not a case of 'if' but 'when' secular fundamentalism becomes the legally protected worldview of the United Kingdom.
Not wanting to be a prophet of doom though, I should say that I believe this will probably be good (in the long run) for the church over here. For the last half-century, our culture has been gradually de-Christianised, but the church has thus far failed to adjust its outlook to take in this gradual change. The result is that the church here (generally, and my own denomination certainly) operates out of a now outdated paradigm: we conduct ourselves as though we still live in a Christianised society. Because of this, we do a little bit of evangelism here and there, but we do not see ourselves as a missional church.
However, as our new national religion (secular fundamentalism) is applied consistently, the church will have to act differently: if we don't, we will not survive in the UK. An aggressive fundamentalist religion surrounds us - if we don't change our outlook and become a missional church in a post-Christian nation, we will necessarily become a church with its head buried in the sand, oblivious to our own demise.
——-