2.1.1.1 Meaning of Terms
It is doubtful that Britain was ever a truly Christian country, if by this it is meant that the majority of the Britons were committed believers in Jesus Christ. But in earlier ages Britain’s cohesiveness as a nation owed much to a public framework of Protestant Christianity that shaped its laws, moulded its constitution, governed its moral life and underlay national identity. Christianity was in a virtual monopoly position, and those who dissented from it were seen as political, social or intellectual deviants. This overarching consensus has now dissipated, challenged by an increasing diversity of worldviews and faiths fuelled by a process of globalisation.
Globalisation denotes “a economic process in which the global system has become the reference point for transactions”. In this context, categories such as nation, state and region tend to become relatively less significant in comparison with a worldwide consumer culture driven by mass media advertising, multi-national corporations and transnational electronic commerce.[1]
Unable to negotiate their way through the abundance of choice in order to decide on the most valid belief system, some people opt, at least nominally, for their family’s traditional religion. Others simply avoid making a choice altogether.
Pluralism is the term now widely used to describe this proliferation of philosophies and faith-positions. In Britain, it is particularly evident in the sphere of religion. Here, people are no longer confronted by a single interpretation of God and the world, but by a profusion of choices and claims. The growth of non-Christian faith communities in the United Kingdom since the 1950s has played a key role in making pluralism a reality. Pluralism obliges government and media to represent fairly the multitude of interests now prevalent the population. However, this obligation has led some to treat pluralism no longer simply as a fact, but also as an ideology - a positive commitment to difference and multiplicity, with a concomitant suspicion of absolute or universal truth-claims. Ideological pluralists thus typically exalt choice as a self-evident social virtue while questioning certainty and rejecting religious particularism as harmfully ‘dogmatic’ or ‘fundamentalist’.
This emerging pluralist context presents a number of challenges to British Christians.
2.1.1.2 Benefits of Pluralism
Despite the theological problems inherent in pluralism, most of those who submitted material to the Commission seemed happier to accept that Britain was a plural society than they were to endorse other designations such as ‘secular’ (see 2.1.3). The majority welcomed the fact of pluralism and believed not only that it was fostering a more open society, but that it was also providing Christians with new opportunities for witness and dialogue. In a context where all faiths and none can be promoted and adopted, the consensus was that the Christian gospel could be advocated without hindrance, though whether this state of affairs will continue in the future remains open.
2.1.1.3 Reservations Concerning Pluralism
A minority of contributors was less convinced of the benefits of pluralism. Several fears were expressed. First, some worried that ideological pluralism is being used to marginalise the Christian faith and remove it from its position of historic influence. They spoke of pluralism as ‘a mask’ to disguise secularism (see 2.1.3). One went as far as to call it a ‘recent fabrication’. Secondly, some thought that pluralism inevitably advances relativism, both in terms of belief and morality (see 2.1.2 below). Thirdly, one contributor feared that a pluralist mindset had entered the church, and had led to a lessening of confidence in the gospel. Several expressed concerns that pluralism undermines belief in Jesus Christ as the only way of salvation, and makes such an exclusivist position ‘politically incorrect’.
[1] David Lyon, “Religion and Globalization” in Christopher Partridge (ed.), Dictionary of Contemporary Religion in the Western World (Leicester: IVP, 2002), 86.
