Going Godless? Christianity and Secularism

In this blog, which is based on a talk I’ve given a couple of times recently, I want to challenge the perception that Christians should be worried about secularisation and secularism. I want to argue that the 'secularism is winning/Christianity is declining' narrative is not necessarily true and, that even if we do become a secular state, that may actually be a good thing for Christians. First, we need to understand the case for secularism.

1. The Evidence of secularisation – a case for secularism

The term secularisation is used to make the point that society is changing its views and values and is becoming less religious.

Secularism is the idea that (partly because of the above) religious beliefs and institutions should not play a role in the running of the state.

The UK (unlike France for example) is unusual in having an established ‘official’ religion. The King is the official head of the Church of England. He is ‘the defender of the faith.’ As the established church, the church of England is allowed to have 26 bishops who sit in the house of Lords. No other faiths, or indeed branches of Christianity, are given this privilege. The Christian church is heavily involved in education. 7,000 of the 20,000 schools in the UK are faith schools. 68% of these are Church of England and around 30% Roman Catholic. Less than 2% of religious schools in Britain are non-Christian.

It is argued that the church has privileges that seem out of step with contemporary society. The percentage of the population identifying as non-religious has risen steadily from 30% in 1980 to around 50% in recent years. One recent survey (British Social Attitudes survey) suggested that 52% of the population identified as ‘nones.’ The 2021 census is more cautious putting the figure at 37%.

Certainly, the census seems to show a decline in Christianity with 46% identifying as Christian (down from 59% in 2011). This is probably too high; ticking of Christian on a form does not necessarily indicate genuine belief. A different measure of Christian engagement might be church attendance. Regular church attendance is under 10% of the population; and, despite 20% of the population considering themselves to be part of the church of England – only 1.4% of the population regularly attend its services.

In addition, Christianity is no longer the only faith that is widely represented in society. Around 10% of the population identify as having a different faith to Christianity. So it is argued that it is absurd for Christianity, and particularly the Church of England, to retain the privileges it currently enjoys.

Those who argue for secularism tend to divide into two camps: those who think that religious faith is a private matter that believers should keep to themselves, and those who think that all religious belief is dangerous and harmful. Those in the second camp tend to draw on thinkers such as Sigmund Freud and Richard Dawkins in arguing that religion is infantile (treats us like children) As adults we should not do this– we need to grow up and get over our ‘need’ for God. Religion can also be oppressive, cause conflict, and push views that are unscientific such as creationism or anti-vaccine theories. (Of course it may be that some of these arguments may be ‘straw men’)

2. Is Rapid Secularisation happening?

There are 4 reasons why Christians might challenge the idea that an irreversible trend of secularisation is happening

i) The Cultural Legacy

French Philosopher Maurice Merleau-Ponty (1908-1961) argues that cultures absorb ideas and that these ideas then permeate everything within that culture. This process is known as ‘sedimentation’ in the same way that layers of rock lie beneath the ground (see J Baggini ‘how the world thinks’). The architecture, traditions, customs, and thought of each generation of that society arise out of this structure. A western society that has Christianity in the layers of its history is different in so many ways to China or Japan for example.

In his historical survey ‘Dominion’ Tom Holland argues that western society cannot easily untangle from its Christian roots. The architecture, language, art and political ideas of Western society have Christian origins even if these are no longer clearly visible. Ideas such as ‘rights’ are born from Christianity (‘there is neither slave nor free’ says Paul in Galatians); the notion of care for the weak arises because western society has grown in ‘Christian soil’ (William Wilberforce was a Christian!) even if most people no longer identify with the faith. Ironically, many issues that some Christians complain of as ‘woke’ arise from Christian influences within society.  Even Richard Dawkins has admitted his fondness for church bells and choral music despite his atheism!

Of course this comes with a note of caution. A number of the thinkers attracted to this argument are socially conservative and there is a worry that Christianity is being adopted for political ends in some cases; it also risks focusing on the negative driven by what some Christians are against, (abortion, same sex relationships, other faiths) rather than a positive statement of their faith.

ii) The Social and Ethical Benefits

 ‘At least 15 faith communities from the immediate vicinity were involved, including Anglicans, Methodists, Catholics, people from Pentecostal, charismatic, and Free Churches, representatives of Muslim, Jewish, and Sikh groups, and local and national faith-based charities.’ (Grenfell Report)

A church leader described the scene in his church. “there was at first a trickle, then a steady flow of [local] residents and volunteers, about 70 residents and 15 volunteers by 4.30am. People were bringing supplies of tea, breakfast, fruit, biscuits, and blankets. By 5.30am it was a full-scale operation.”

The response to Grenfell is not an isolated example. The Church and Christian organisation (as do other faiths) take a leading role in tackling many of the big social issues of the day. The Trussell trust is the leading foodbank provider in the UK, and Christians against Poverty, is one of the leading debt counselling services. A number of key organisations working with the homeless also have Christian connections. This suggests that the accusation of thinkers such as Freud and Dawkins that Christianity is largely harmful seems to be only partially true at best. Despite increased secularisation, Christians continue to have a real impact on society.

iii) Psychology: Christians have an answer to the Meaning crisis

Whilst Freud is not completely wrong about some of the psychological downsides of religion and Christianity, it seems likely that he has overstated the case.

Justin Brierley in his recent book and podcasts argues that the ‘tide of faith’ which had gone out is slowly coming back in. Research carried out by ‘Belief in Britain’ suggests that younger generations are more open to spiritual ideas than people in their middle years. They are more likely to identify as uncertain and curious rather than dogmatically atheistic. The authors suggest that it is possible that Atheism may have peaked with Gen X. Recent data from SPCK publishers seems to support this with sales of the Bible up 87% in the last 5 years with much of this being attributed to renewed interest in spirituality from Millennials and Gen Z.

Why is this the case? It seems that Christianity may be well placed to provide answers to what is known in some circles as ‘the meaning crisis’. Poor mental health, climate anxiety, increased time doomscrolling, the legacy of Covid, have all had a negative effect. Against this backdrop, there are numerous anecdotal reports that church attendance has steadily increased, particularly amongst young men. This is interesting and may indicate that people are seeking to find meaning and answers to their bigger question. The world continues to be in a delicate state and this may be leading more people to consider what Christianity has to offer.

iv) The arguments for faith stand up

Of course, the 3 arguments given so far don't really say anything about the truth or otherwise of Christianity. It could well be that Christian faith is a pleasant placebo, a kind of medicine that makes some people feel better despite being completely untrue. Here again, there seems to be some push back on the claims that atheism has made. As recently as 10-15 years ago, it was common for more militant atheist thinkers to be buoyant about their arguments; only the foolish could believe in God. Again there seems to have been a subtle shift here. Whilst it is not possible to prove the existence of God or some of the more supernatural claims of Christianity, the arguments do stand up better than people think when they are examined. Justin Brierley's Podcast series has a number of interesting examples of intelligent academics probing the arguments, researching the life of Jesus, or having profound religious experiences that have led them to Christian faith or something resembling it.

3. So what? Secularism could be a good thing

So, we can probably debate whether secularisation is increasing but with church attendance lower than 10% and people’s self-identification as Christians below 50%, surely Christianity should lose its privileged status as the official religion of the UK. Well possibly... but if it did, I’m not convinced that would be the bad thing that some Christians believe it to be.  

History tells us that Christianity and political power don’t always mix well. Where Christianity is part of the establishment it often becomes stagnant. The abuse of power of the Medieval Popes, the silence of mainstream churches in Nazi Germany, US evangelicals cosying up to Donald Trump come to mind. Yet Jesus said ‘My Kingdom is not of this world’ and in doing so gave us the sense that the most vibrant strands of Christianity are often countercultural: the persecuted yet growing minority in the Roman empire, the liberation theologians of Latin America, the courage of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the non-conformist Pentecostal churches that are growing worldwide, including in the UK. So a vibrant Christianity operating within a neutral secular society could be quite exciting.

Whatever happens it will be different and new: a going forward and not a revival. That might be a final plea. For those Christians who want 'revival' - I worry about the word. The 're-' implies a going back to a better former time. I don't want that, I want to go forward into whatever the future holds. The word 'revival' does not appear in the Bible but God does say in Isaiah 43 that he is 'doing a new thing.' That might require new ways of thinking and acting - one of my favourite Bible passages is Acts 17 where we see Paul creatively using Greek poets and philosophers to engage his audience - which may be interesting!

So in summary, are we becoming more godless? I'm not sure we are. Should Christians worry about this? Definitely not - in any case I seem to recall that Jesus had something to say about worrying!