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“I do not think that there is any hope for the world or my country unless men can come to regard themselves as members of a common brotherhood. But the brotherhood of man is philosophically meaningless and practically unattainable except in the light of the universal Fatherhood of God…. The denial of the fatherhood of God is the root from which spring quite naturally the various heresies which have afflicted the species in our time, the doctrine of race and of class, the worship of the State, the philosophy of dialectical materialism, or the more pragmatic and not less popular creeds of Get-rich-quick, or All’s-fair-in-love-and-war.”
-- Quintin Hogg, “The Case for Conservatism” (1947)
In a fairly recent post, we were discussing the ebbing of liberal Christianity, and I posed the question: ‘Why call yourself a Christian if you cannot even accept the divinity of Christ and the hope of heaven?’ The quote at the top is linked to a book review that is squarely on point. In fact, the book is titled “Why We Should Call Ourselves Christians” by Marcello Pera.
And the answer seems to be that in the teachings of Christ we have the key foundational ideas that have undergirded Western civilization: the idea of equality as suited to beings all created in the image of God. Even if one cannot believe in the supernaturally imbued creed of divinity and afterlives, it is culturally beneficial to accept the message of Christianity; more than beneficial, it is culturally necessary.
The rebuttal, of course, is that the culture was not that wonderful when it was heavily and even fundamentalist in its Christianity - slavery, inquisitions, and people could still be cruel to each other. And we know that people can lead good, noble lives without religion. As the kids say, we don’t need to believe that God is love; it is enough to know that love is love.
Besides, at this point in our history, I think the only way that Christianity can regain that much of its former identity is through state coercion, by enforcing Christianity as a state religion. And that truly runs contrary to our developed sense of freedom and equality.
-- Quintin Hogg, “The Case for Conservatism” (1947)
In a fairly recent post, we were discussing the ebbing of liberal Christianity, and I posed the question: ‘Why call yourself a Christian if you cannot even accept the divinity of Christ and the hope of heaven?’ The quote at the top is linked to a book review that is squarely on point. In fact, the book is titled “Why We Should Call Ourselves Christians” by Marcello Pera.
And the answer seems to be that in the teachings of Christ we have the key foundational ideas that have undergirded Western civilization: the idea of equality as suited to beings all created in the image of God. Even if one cannot believe in the supernaturally imbued creed of divinity and afterlives, it is culturally beneficial to accept the message of Christianity; more than beneficial, it is culturally necessary.
The rebuttal, of course, is that the culture was not that wonderful when it was heavily and even fundamentalist in its Christianity - slavery, inquisitions, and people could still be cruel to each other. And we know that people can lead good, noble lives without religion. As the kids say, we don’t need to believe that God is love; it is enough to know that love is love.
Besides, at this point in our history, I think the only way that Christianity can regain that much of its former identity is through state coercion, by enforcing Christianity as a state religion. And that truly runs contrary to our developed sense of freedom and equality.
