Easter and Christian Culture
Debate between Nick Fletcher and Andrew Rosindell(8 months ago)
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Nick Fletcher
I agree with every single word of my hon. Friend’s contribution. As I said, this is not just about society’s relationship with Christianity; it is the individual’s relationship with Christ that gives them the strength to do wonderful things for society as a whole. My hon. Friend mentioned three wonderful people who were all devout Christians.
Our need for something to believe in is always present and if it is not in the Christian teachings and God, what is it in? If we have no faith or turn our back on faith, we search for something to fill the void. Often, we start looking inwards. We start to lust after things that are not good for us. Like a drug, we may get a quick hit of happiness, but it is soon gone. Some may ask, “Where is the proof?” Here is the proof: with all the ways we have to entertain ourselves and spend our time, how many people in the UK are struggling with their mental health? Despite all those wonderful things Google thinks make us British and that I have spoken about, we have so many unhappy people. Why?
The Bible is clear: it tells us that if we turn our back on God, He will give us up to our natural state. We become filled with all kinds of wickedness, evil and greed. We gossip and speak badly of one another. We become proud and boastful and, when young, disobey our parents. It teaches us that we lose our conscience and do not keep our promises. We show no kindness or pity for others and become unforgiving souls. If we turn our back on God, He will give us up, and I think that in many places in society he may already have done so.
How did this happen? I remember many people calling anyone who believed in Christ a Bible-basher, a God botherer, and many laughed; I was called one myself. Then Christians were told, “It’s okay that you believe, but don’t ram it down my throat,” so guess what? That happened. In many quarters, the Church listened, Christians listened, and I listened, too. Many of us stopped talking about God for fear of being accused of ramming it down other people’s throats—not that other people seem concerned about sharing their beliefs. What is worse is those who do not want a faith did appear to want others not to have a faith either. Christians have been ridiculed on the big stage across the country, and now many believers have been too quiet for too long.
In the recent 2021 census, for the first time in England and Wales, less than half the population described themselves as Christian and 37.2% of people said they had no religion. Is there a connection with there being so much unhappiness, so many young and old dealing with mental health issues, and so many searching for hope often through sources that are not healthy in any manner of the word? Many vicars may feel they are just going through the motions, even feeling lost in their work preaching to empty pews. We even have many denominations trying to become progressive, or “relevant”, to fill those empty seats, and many are moving further away from God’s word. The meaning of scripture is often misinterpreted to reflect current trends, instead of holding firm and letting the Bible be the guide for our people to look to. It appears that the loudest voices continue to win.
I am often told in this job, “Let’s look at the outcome.” That is a fair point, so let us do so. The outcome is that a vacuum has been created that was always going to have to be filled. The question is, with what? First, we have filled it with seven-days-a-week shopping, 24-hour TV, the internet, the iPhone and, for those who have really lost their way, a host of illegal activities. Secondly, it has been filled with contested views and so-called progressive ideologies that not only vilify our past but demand reparations. Ideologies confuse our present through the indoctrination of our children with gender questioning, and through climate change zealots who are not pragmatic in their views, but seem intent only on terrifying people about our world’s future. Really, we should be proud of our nation’s history, content in our present and optimistic for our future, especially when we have a faith grounded in Jesus Christ.
Thirdly, something that is not necessarily filling the vacuum, but is taking a place in our society is the beliefs of other people who have made Britain their home—our next-door neighbours. Their way of living, their faith and their culture are growing, not through force—most, like us, are kind people—but because they have something to believe in and maybe because they see nothing else. Many visitors must be amazed at the apathy with which many of us regard our own culture. We want people to embrace it, but have we let it go? Have we let it go because we have let God go?
If we continue on that trajectory or fuel it with even more secular views, we will no doubt see the swift end of what many believe is British culture. When I google British culture, it might instead speak of multiculturalism, which many will say is good, but I am sure it will also be even more of a mix of nonsense that is grounded in ways to entertain ourselves and those contested progressive ideologies. It does not have to be that way.
The Department that has responsibility for communities has a role to play here. It has an interest in helping to protect our history. The Government have a duty to protect our young people from the nonsense they see on their phones that creates their confusion. The Government have done much with the Online Safety Act 2023, but can and should do more. A Department that has responsibility for communities can surely use its budget to help Christian churches and community groups, not stop them receiving money because of tick-box exercises that do not match secular belief. It can bring the schools, churches and community together through the things that make us British—our King, a cup of tea, a game of cricket, a beer in the pub, David Beckham’s left foot. I am sure there must be a way the Department can do much more to promote faith and family and our Christian heritage, values and way of life.
Andrew Rosindell (Romford) (Con)
I commend my hon. Friend on promoting this magnificent debate, so well timed in advance of Easter. I am sure he agrees with me that our entire heritage—the foundations of our laws, customs and conventions and our entire British way of life—is founded on the Christian heritage of these islands. Although we cherish the principle of freedom of religion for all and respect for people of no faith and other faiths, it is nevertheless the Christian foundations that have allowed a free society to develop, where anyone can choose the life they lead. We should therefore defend that Christian heritage because if we undermine it, we undermine the entire free society that so many generations have built.
Nick Fletcher
My hon. Friend said in 30 seconds what has taken me 18 minutes to say, so I thank him for his contribution. He is completely right.
As I was saying, I am sure there must be a way the Department can do much more to promote faith and family and our Christian heritage, values and way of life; encourage the country’s people to look out for each other instead of focusing inwards; embrace a culture of forgiveness and love for all our neighbours; and lead the nation to speak proudly of its past. The formidable Douglas Murray once urged people to have “an attitude of gratitude”. A nation that knows the boundaries of right and wrong sets them in stone so that we all know where we are and that no means no, not maybe, especially when speaking to and guiding our young. That is a nation where opportunity is available to all for the better of all. I want a nation’s people that believes what CS Lewis once stated:
“Aim at Heaven and you will get Earth ‘thrown in’: aim at Earth and you will get neither.”
Can we not do all that while letting those who have called our shores home enjoy their culture, too? I think we can and we should.
If our Christian culture with its faith and families shines like the beacon of hope that it should, the ideologies and desires that are often negative will be starved of oxygen and will fall away one by one. The new people we welcome will see our culture and maybe even want to be a part of it, too.