A Good Week

It’s been a good week for the church, and a bad week for the secularists.

On Saturday, the Guardian published an article by John Gray, the philosopher, which tore into our current bunch of angry atheists for their “simple-minded reasoning”. His argument, which is elaborated further in his Black Mass, is that secular humanism cannot and will not deliver the utopian fantasies to which it aspires. In fact, the reality, despite the protests of Dawkins and Hitchens, is that atheism has been responsible for some of the worst atrocities of the 20th century. What makes Gray’s argument important is that he is not an apologist for religion, but is simply looking objectively at the current state of affairs, and is not optimistic about where secularism is taking us.

The following day, the BBC Sunday Programme reported the results of the Theos survey into beliefs about the resurrection. Surprisingly, for me at least, 30% believe that Jesus rose bodily from the dead, with another 27% believing in a ‘spiritual’ resurrection. Once again, these numbers challenge the secular notion that Christianity is fast disappearing from our country. There remains a very large residue of Christian belief that just will not go away. At the same time, the numbers also challenge us to ask why there are so many people who clearly believe, but who don’t want to attend our services.

Perhaps, an opportunity to explore this question with them will arise from The Passion, the BBC production,which also started last Sunday. There may be aspects of the drama which some of us would take issue with. However, we must not lose sight of the broader picture that millions of people will be watching the series and asking themselves what they make of Jesus’ life, death and resurrection. It is up to us to be ready with answers.

Then on Tuesday, a number of media outlets reported the results of a study which had shown that religious people were happier than non-religious. In particular, it highlighted the fact that religious people seemed better able to cope with problems in life such as divorce or losing a job. There have, of course, been numerous studies in the past demonstrating the link between religious practice, happiness and wellbeing, including one by the Evangelical Alliance in April 2006. So this latest study simply confirms a picture that is now well established. And it makes sense that if we have been designed for relationship with God, then to embrace that relationship will have positive outcomes.

And finally, today, the BBC reported the efforts of a number of bishops who want to re-enact Jesus’ foot-washing scene by cleaning the shoes of passers-by in a variety of cities. This would be just a publicity stunt were it not for the fact that, as we reported last week, the church has an incredibly strong record of community service. What the bishops are doing is simply reminding people that this is what the church is about – serving the community to the tune of 1.6 million hours each week (see last week’s FNT for details). And that can’t be a bad thing.

Have a blessed Easter.

Justin Thacker, Head of Theology

Open the PDF (Text Only) Version