meant to say Tom Paine said those word in 1894 in the Age of Reason.

Not to place that at the end. Yipes!

–W

As a Brit, it IS interesting YOUR take on these “religion is bad for society, secularism is a path to peace and social stability” type mantras. It is fascinating to dig into further real context and history.

As far as the United States, the history here is being “reset” or recalibrated to suit the memories. Some call this revisionism. Now to be sure the Founders had their true deists among them as well as outright Christians but would agree that the underpinning of a moral society was Christian morals. One notable standout who ALWAYS makes the rounds in agnostic and athiest blogsites is of course Thomas Paine who is supposed to have said:

Whenever we read the obscene stories, the voluptuous debaucheries, the cruel and torturous executions, the unrelenting vindictiveness, with which more than half the Bible is filled, it would be more consistent that we called it the word of a demon than the Word of God. It is a history of wickedness that has served to corrupt and brutalize
mankind; and for my own part, I sincerely detest it, as I detest everything that is cruel. “

Generally a precis of what Euro secularists say today and have for a while, in that the history of the Bible is one of torment and violence and then later long after written it continued in the tortures of various chambers and whatnot. Of course as you pointed out, kings and kingdoms who feigned God’s work had no small part in this. Though there was the Crusades and the Inquisition and witch burnings. So to the modern sensibility in Europe and America no doubt even beyond THESE true horrors there is some consernation about the fact that the Bible merely MENTIONS horrors it does not approve of (it logs items, to be sure) though to be certain God certainly God rid of the Amelekites, et al. I have tried to explain that there is a difference in detailing something as opposed to advocacy by God.

To which I get the bumper sticker reply: Gods don’t really kill people–people with gods kill people.

Thus the connection made between truly horrific crimes found among some Islamist and past Christian purges and political goals today, it would seem.

The Age of Reason (1794)

Similarly, M.L. Wilson, the director of extension work, of the US department of agriculture, stated that when it came to state planning boards, he didn’t know one which didn’t need philosopher or religious teacher on it as much as the scientific and technical personnel, because they were aware of the limits of knowledge and the nature of humanity, what was good or bad in human society in a way that the scientiests and technologists weren’t. He considered that ‘the science of culture’ stopped in a twilight zone because it didn’t distinguish between good and bad cultures, or what direction cultural change should take. In his view, philosophy and religion were vital because they dealt precisely with the ultimate ends of humanity and moral values, and so deserved an equal place with the human sciences.

Douglas Bush, a literature professor at Harvard at the same symposium strongly recommended the Christian humanism of Milton, who believed in freedom of speech and conscience, and whose faith was supported by a wide reading in the science of his day and the Classics. When he saw his dreams of political liberty destroyed during the British Civil War, Milton turned away from politics. For Bush, Milton thus saw clearly that only personal reformation and regeneration in Christ could supply the personal basis for the reform of the wider world. He states that during the 19th century western writers had become aware that scientific progress had created a spiritual vacuum, but unlike Milton, they did not fall back on religious faith. The result was, in Bush’s view, a profound spiritual crisis in the West that expressed in literature through descriptions of the squalid and degrading. It pretty much describes much of post-War literature as well. His solution was to return to teaching the Graeco-Roman classics and the Bible as part of the tradition of Christian Humanists like Milton and the Elizabethan English Humanist Roger Ascham.

As for secularism providing the answer to war, undoubtedly European society became far more tolerant with the establishment of freedom of conscience and belief in some European states, like Britain, during the 17th century. However, in my opinion to build a lasting, peaceful society requires the creation of a common set of moral and political views amongst its citizens. The Communists and Fascists who utterly rejected democratic society and its institutions were clearly a violent threat to peace and order in Europe despite the secular nature of their beliefs. One can similarly argue that, despite the immense horrors of Civil War, America has succeeded as a state and society because it’s citizens have a common morality and belief in essential political institutions.

Often demographics is key more than philosophy and other forces. It was not without irony, but still prescient, that some have remarked that only the knuckle-dragging redneck country church going folks of the South in the US are reproducing at rates similar to the majority of the world of Islam. Secularism does not bolster its own defense often. It was a Dutch parlimentarian who reportedly said, in his hip way of being an athiest secularist and leftist (the trifecta of cool in the Continent?), who said he’s glad for his rights but is not likely to ever be in the mood to fight for them with arms or laws.

Imagine that. Wow. If that’s not a confession of impotence of the political and spiritual kind–or just a spiritual deadness one might think happens more in Eastern Europe, I don’t know what could be.

–W

Great stuff as ever.

Yeah while Robert is correct about Christianity declining slightly in western Europe, this hasn’t reflected a rise in atheism , but as you say many folk concentrating on reaping the rewards of this world while remaining relatively indifferent to both atheism and religion.

If anything its atheism thats not only declined but almost collapsed in the later half of the 20th century – this is certainly true globally and largely true for Europe especially if you’re including the Eastern states.

By the late 19th early 20th century atheism had achieved a commanding cultural position with advocated like Feuerbach, Nietzsche, Bertrand Russell & George Bernard Shaw. As for political power, by the 1950s almost half of the world’s population had the misfortune to be governed by an atheist regime. As you know the typical experience of these poor souls was far from the liberating one atheist propaganda had promised. The brutally oppressive Pol Pot, Stalin and Mao are only three of more than 50 atheist tyrants.

Happily most of those regimes were either overthrown or abandoned militant atheism, and culturally atheists are now far less credible when they attempt to pontificate about religion and its important role in public life.

As we’ve discussed before Global Christianity is once again increasing even in percentage terms and the best available analyses suggests the long decline in Europe is bottoming out and will soon reverse.

There was some very encouraging news in this Sat’s FT – the CoE and two other Christian charities are set to double their number of academies due to favourable changes to government rules. Apparently a Christian education is very much in demand even from totally secular parents thanks its high standards!

Its good to know the various destabilising influences on the horizon are likely to be at least partly counterbalanced by resurgent Christianity with its positive effect on peace!