4.3.1 Why ‘Faith’ is Necessary
In recent years, the expression ‘faith communities’ has become the so-called ‘politically correct’ way of referring to both the various Christian churches and the other world religions in our society. Christians may well feel ambivalent when the term ‘faith community’ is applied to them.
On the one hand, it seems to level all religions and the beliefs to manifestations of one basic phenomenon - faith. Is there a sub-text here that all faiths are equally valid and perhaps equally ‘trivial’? Can it really make sense to lump all religious groups together in one category, in spite of huge differences in their size, their influence and their stake in society? Christians own the biblical language of ‘church’ and cannot be content with sociological descriptors such as ‘faith community’ (or even ‘denomination’). On the other hand, the expression ‘faith communities’ does seem to have something of the heart of the matter in it. Whatever their differences (and they are significant), all religions and the communities into which they are organised are fundamentally motivated by faith. At their core is a set of convictions, inherited through the tradition of the community, about the meaning and purpose of the world and of human life and death. Religious faith, wherever it is found, is not just a ‘worldview’ but a sustaining vision that sees beyond the here and now to an ultimate, transcendent source in God, or in a sacred realm beyond the mundane. Christians undoubtedly share many aspects of faith with those who belong to the other monotheistic religions, Judaism and Islam (and it is this that makes collaboration on ethical and social issues appropriate), but there are, of course, distinctive characteristics of Christian faith.
For Christians, faith is Trinitarian: it is faith in the one God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Faith is God-centred, Christ-shaped, and Spirit-empowered. Living faith is the gift of God, and is imparted by divine grace (Ephesians 2.8). Faith enables us to stretch out our hands to receive salvation through Christ alone (Acts 16.31). Faith brings us the assurance of the reality of the things we hope for from God and is the evidence in our spirits of things we cannot see (Hebrews 11.1). Faith is pleasing to God and without faith it is not possible to please God (Hebrews 11.6). It is through faith that God’s revelation of himself in his written Word, the Bible, comes alive. The sacraments of the Church, Baptism and Holy Communion, are received in the context of faith, and it is faith that makes them efficacious. Faith is required for the process of Christian initiation to be complete, and it is by faith that Christians walk with Christ day by day. Along with Christian hope and Christian love (agape; caritas), faith is one of the ‘theological virtues’. Just as every individual needs faith, so does every society and nation.
4.3.2 A Nation Without Faith?
Christians long that others in their families and neighbourhoods and in the wider community may come to share their faith and the blessings that it brings. This motivates both their prayers and their witness. Christians are saddened when they see so many people in our society who are apparently (as they themselves once were) without faith and are therefore often directionless and adrift in life, ‘without Christ ... having no hope and without God in the world’ (Ephesians 2.12).
The ultimate goal of faith is more than the making of new individual Christians and individual salvation. It also includes the pursuit of a kingdom pattern of community life that conforms to God’s purpose for humankind. God wills that all nations and societies should honour him and walk in his ways. When Christians, motivated by their faith, get involved in their community, especially through community-based projects, to work for justice, healing and human well-being, they may also be considered to be engaged in work for the kingdom of God, enlarging the sphere in which God’s reign may be willingly and gladly acknowledged. While they do this for its own sake, because it is a good and worthwhile thing in itself, community involvement, not least in the form of practical social justice and voluntary support, naturally offers valuable opportunities for witness and worship - a fundamental religious freedom that is currently enshrined in human rights legislation. Attempts to erode this freedom, along with others, for example, by raising the spectre of enforced proselytism, must continue to be strenuously resisted.[1]
It is by no means a straightforward matter to evaluate the state of faith in British society at the beginning of the 21st century. There is real diversity of belief and religious cultures in our country. But the extent of this diversity is exaggerated for ideological motives by the proponents of so-called ‘political correctness’. Christianity is almost completely erased from sections of the media. The fact that 72% of people identified themselves as Christian in the 2001 census is not reflected in public media discussion of the values and beliefs of British people today. The percentage of individuals who identify themselves as atheists is tiny, though up to 30% of the population would appear to be practically agnostic, tinged with Christian sentiment.
Many millions of the 72% of Christians appear on the face of it to live their daily lives as though Christianity made little difference. But here appearances may be deceptive. Allowance should be made for relentless secular peer pressure and a largely secular media, which impacts young people in particular, and the corresponding lack of Christian role models. Ours is not a society without faith, but one in which overt Christian faith may be hidden or undeveloped. It is often difficult to discern the submerged nine tenths of rather inchoate, inarticulate and often hazy spiritual aspiration that is often in strong sympathy with Christianity, and in fact perhaps sometimes passes as ‘invisible Christianity’. Both empirical evidence and pastoral experience suggest that the proportion of people who hold basic Christian beliefs, who pray, who have some meaningful contact with the churches and for whom the spiritual dimension of life is important is several times the proportion of people who regularly attend church (now about 8%).[2] However, notwithstanding the reality or otherwise of such a perception, caution must be exercised in identifying too closely a typically post-modern ‘pick and mix’ religiosity with authentic Christian faith.
There are, of course, many reasons why people who have basic Christian convictions and values do not translate these into active participation in church life. Apart from the apathy and inertia that committed Christians often identify in their fellow citizens, some of these are rather subtle. Certain people have had bad experiences of churches, clergy and ministers; they have been alienated by churches and their representatives (approximately 40% of the population has had some real contact with a church at various points).[3] Some wrestle with the problem of evil and suffering and wonder how a good and loving Creator could allow that on the scale that we see in the world. Others labour under various crude misapprehensions about the Bible and Christian teaching. Many have only scratched the surface of what Christianity has to offer, and have not discovered the richness of the manifold spiritual paths in its various internal traditions: a narrow, distorted and impoverished Christianity is all they know and it does not satisfy them. Yet others feel that, much as they would like to believe, they simply do not have the gift of faith. It is this area of wistful half-believing and of spiritual searching that provides one of the most challenging and fruitful arenas for sensitive and intelligent evangelism, by clergy, ministers and all committed Christians.
[1] Ann Morisy, Beyond the Good Samaritan: Community Ministry and Mission, (London: Mowbray, 1997).
[2] See Paul Avis (ed.), Public Faith? The State of Religious Belief and Practice in Britain, (London: SPCK, 2003).
[3] Philip J. Richter and Leslie J. Francis, Gone But Not Forgotten: Church Leaving and Returning, (London: Darton, Longman & Todd, 1998).
