There have been numerous references over the last few years as the United Kingdom being a ‘Christian’ country, including from figures as diverse as Lord Carey (the former Archbishop of Canterbury) to Nick Griffin (the leader of the far right political party, the British National Party).
The term has cropped up, for example, when the issue of Shari’a courts were prominent in the national newspapers (following speeches from leading churchmen and members of the judiciary) as well in the noticeable court cases of the Bulls (over a Bed and Breakfast hotel not allowing a same-sex couple to stay) and the Johns (where there was an application for a Judicial Review as to whether foster carers could state that same-sex relationships were wrong). Indeed, in the latter case, Justices Munby and Beatson asserted that, although England has an Established Church, ‘the laws and usages of the realm do not include Christianity, in whatever form.’
In support of the assertion that we live in a ‘Christian’ country, in December 2010, a ComRes poll of 1,000 people for Christian Concern (released for the Not Ashamed campaign, aimed at bringing Christianity to the fore of the nation’s thinking) revealed that 50 per cent of the respondents stated that Britain could be described as ‘a Christian country.’
However, when there is an influx of other religions and beliefs into these Isles, together with apathy towards any concept of faith or philosophy, it is hard to see how the term can still be applied to this country in any meaningful way.
The key element of this article is that whether the term ‘Christian’ can ever be applied to a nation, even one with a heritage such as the United Kingdom. Within this article, it will be argued that it would be incorrect and inaccurate to apply the term to this country or any other nation on the two counts: ecclesiological and missiological.
Ecclesiological
Within the United Kingdom, there is the national pride of following our flags bearing the symbols of our patron saints: St George, St Patrick, St Andrew and St David. The boasting in this national inheritance as our sports teams again fail to live up to expectations is not the same as living by the standards and the teachings that these ancient figures espoused. (Interestingly, though, there are still more people in church on a Sunday morning than there are in the football grounds over the weekend.)
It is true that a person can admire the heritage that Christianity has indelibly left on the British Isles. There is the sense of awe and wonder, peace and tranquillity in our parish churches and in our cathedrals (especially those that do not require an entrance fee). In the midst of this structural admiration, it is a common feature that churches and chapels in the United Kingdom are ‘decommissioned,’ with dwindling and elderly congregations being unable to maintain them. The buildings are subsequently utilised as residential or business premises.
The term ‘Christian country’ as referred to many people is often used as shorthand as having Christian values, such as in the area of morality and ethics. However, there are many issues (such as respect for life) that Christians share with adherents of other religions and with those of no religious belief. As the Bible clearly demonstrates, Christianity is more than a moral code but is about a relationship with Jesus.
There is the false assumption that, if you put the word ‘Christian’ before any nation or land, it will become more special. This was the mistake of the Crusades during the Norman period of history in that they assumed that the physical land mass of the Middle East was especially significant. They missed the reality that God is not interested in a location as a priority, but in people. It would have changed history considerably if the crusaders had brought the message of peace and reconciliation to the Turks in the manner that Jesus would have wanted rather than with the edge of a sword.
If we become re-occupied with the physical land, we risk falling into the traps of other religions, such as Islam. In Islam – the challenge to the church (Isaac Publishing, 2006), Patrick Sookhdeo informs that: ‘Religious territoriality is an essential part of Islam, and Muslims are very conscious of whether or not they “control” any particular piece of land.’ Sufi Muslims “control” the land by chanting: ‘This chanting not only purifies their hearts and souls, but also sacralises and ‘Islamises’ the very earth, the buildings, the streets and neighbourhoods through which they march’ (Pnina Werbner, in Making Muslim Space in North America and Europe, University Of California Press, 1996, page 167).
It is also evident in secular beliefs such as Communism. The evidence is observed by the rigorous expansionism of the USSR, before glasnost and perestroika ended that era.
By definition, as the crusaders implied, it means we can (in our false superiority) determine that other countries are not ‘Christian,’ which presupposes that there are no Christians in that nation. It demeans their calling to salt and light in their societies, whereas we then make the mistake of not fulfilling the Lord’s Commission to our own people.
It needs to be recognised that the ‘earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it’ (Psalm 24: 1). As Paul reminded the Athenians: ‘From one man he made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and He determined the times set for them set for them and the exact places where they should live’ (Acts 17: 26). In an earlier time, Job spoke how God ‘makes nations great, and destroys them; He enlarges nations, and disperses them’ (Job 12: 24).
If it is the fact that the whole world belongs to God, it is obvious that what matters most to Him is the people, not the places. As Jesus reminded Pilate: ‘My kingdom is not of this world…my kingdom is from another place’ (John 18: 36).
When the believers were first called ‘Christians’ (Acts 11: 26) as they moved from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of light, it was the reference to the people and not the place. It is not a matter of earthly citizenship, but it is a matter of the heart which transcends border controls.
It cannot be said that, at any time, within the history of the United Kingdom that the population as a whole gave its heart to God. There was cultural adherence, with people going to church as it was the accepted activity to do rather than an act of commitment.
In the light of this fact, it would be wrong to refer to our period of history as ‘post-Christendom’ as it implies that God cannot work or is inhibited in modern society, albeit that it is a more honest society in its antipathy and apathy towards God. There has never nor will there ever be a nation or empire that can be said to epitomise the Christian ideal, whether it be the Holy Roman Empire and Charlemagne’s successors in the Middle Ages or the British Empire in more recent times. Since it has an emphasis on the temporal, we cannot speak properly of such an incorrect concept.
There is the obvious reality that even those within the ‘Church’ may not be in relationship with the Lord of that body. Jesus gave the clear warning: ‘Not everyone who says to me, “Lord, Lord,” will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven’ (Matthew 7: 21).
William Wilberforce, in Real Christianity: Discerning True and False Faith, wrote: ‘With Christianity, professing Christians are little acquainted. Their views of Christianity have been so cursory and superficial that they have little more than perceived those exterior circumstances which distinguish it from other religions. These circumstances are some few facts and perhaps some leading doctrines and principles, of which they cannot be wholly ignorant. But of these consequences, relations and practical uses of these principles they have few ideas.’
It is with this salutary warning that the missiological implication within this country is to be addressed.
Missiological
The British Social Attitudes (BSA) survey of 2010 demonstrated that 51 per cent of its respondents responded by stating that they had ‘no religion.’ It was the first year that the BSA had recorded that the majority of the United Kingdom had no religious affiliation or commitment. It showed that 41 per cent of respondents had recorded that Christianity was their religion. (It has been often asserted that the number of active and committed Christians probably is in the region of 5 – 10 per cent.)
When the question was first asked in the 1985 BSA survey, in contrast, 63 per cent of the respondents said that that their religious affiliation was to Christianity, whilst 34 per cent had no religious affiliation.
The situation was confirmed by the Office for National Statistics study in 2011 of more than 40,000 people. In it, 23.2 per cent of respondents described themselves as non-religious compared to 20.5 per cent in 2010.
The same organisation found that affiliation to Christianity fell from 71.3 per cent in 2010 to 68.5 per cent by March 2011, in response to the question: ‘What is your religion, even if you are not practicing?’ (‘ONS: A quarter of Britons have ‘no religion at all’,’ The Daily Telegraph, 28 September 2011). The survey suggested that 14 million out of the population of 60 million had no religious belief at all. The age group of 25 – 34 years was the one that turned away from faith with one-third of them having ‘no religion,’ whilst those people aged 65 years and over were the most devout.
Christianity has become little more than a ‘folk religion’ for many within the United Kingdom with the rites of christenings, marriages and funerals (the ‘hatch, match and despatch’). There is no attempt to find out about the Person, let alone the doctrines, of the Church. When I was growing up, I had a friend who worshipped at a local Anglican church and bemoaned the fact that couples used the building for weddings and never darkened the doors for the rest of their lives.
There is a reliance that being born in a country with a Christian heritage would guarantee a place in heaven (like an assurance policy), but it is overlooked that a birth on a particular land mass does not mean that you are a Christian. As Billy Graham used to state, being born in a garage does not make you a car.
When I was growing up, I was often told by my pastor that this nation was one generation away from being pagan – such was the necessity and urgency in reaching out to people with the love of Jesus. The situation has now changed in that people in our generation are more likely to affiliate themselves with another religion of belief (philosophical or otherwise), become a New Atheist, or simply not be bothered. The need for reaching out has never become more urgent as we have seen particularly in the ministries of Lance Lambert and Tim Cross. We may be rebuffed by those who do not want to know the Good News, but we are only responsible for giving the message in truth and love not for ‘dragging’ people into a relationship with Jesus.
The well-known Great Commission given by Jesus (in Matthew 28: 18 – 20) is as follows: ‘All authority in heaven and earth has been given to me. Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations [my emphasis], baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.’ It is relevant to this country as it is to any other, for the word used by Jesus literally means ‘as you are going’ which could mean as easily as walking down the local street as much as going to the furthest ends of the earth.
There is the heritage, both in the architecture and in the fast vanishing signs of morality, that we can admire, but this country needs revival not regulations. It is not the laws of the land that needs to be changed, but the hearts of its citizens.
There is an analogy with the nation of Israel, who were God’s chosen people and were the instrument through which the Messiah would be revealed. However, they did not escape God’s condemnation when they rejected His message (e.g. 1 Samuel 8: 19; Zechariah 7: 11; Acts 7: 51). Being favoured by God did not mean that they were exempted from His wrath.
In the Georgian period, there was laxity of morality and a lack of regard for God, which can be seen depicted in the Gin Alley print by William Hogarth. It took a mighty work of the Lord through the Great Awakening (using people like the Wesley brothers and George Whitfield) to bring us back to Him and avoid (as many historians assert) the bloody revolutions experienced elsewhere in Europe.
There is no guarantee that the same will happen today, as we have already seen in the recession, the riots and the social deprivation within our country. It is a wake-up call that, without Jesus and His call on our lives, we will slide further down the path of our own making.
The ultimate call is for people of this country as well as others to stand together in heaven at the end of time to worship the King of the whole earth, for Jesus has died for everyone, not with special emphasis on any one nation (Revelation 9: 9; 7: 9).
Conclusion
The term ‘Christian’ country is misleading as it implies a special blessing apart from other nations which is not evident.
It also inevitably causes complacency and so the Great Commission is not applied within these Isles.
Now is the time for the Church to repent of reliance on past blessings and to pray that the Holy Spirit would work in the hearts of all in the United Kingdom, and throughout the world.
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