Pippa Smith reviews ‘The Evil That Men Do’ by Marcus Paul (Sacristy Press, 2016).

This is a timely and scholarly book which reminds us of the significance and importance of our Christian heritage. In his comments, the Rt Revd Nick Baines, Bishop of Leeds, said, “It is always vital to check our assumptions about historical judgements – not least in the twenty-first-century west. Marcus Paul invites us to correct our memory and to look afresh at assumptions about religion in general and Christianity in particular. Read it and be challenged.”

As the author says, “every healthy society has needed its prophetic figures who will stand out against the prevailing corruption of the time and be prepared to pay the consequences.”

We seem to be living in such times; Christians are facing great injustices, not only around the world but here and now in our own country. This is compounded by modern life, as he so rightly says: “our opinions are formed en masse by an astonishingly small number of TV, press and internet journalists and editors.”

What Christianity Has Done for Us

It is more important than ever that we should not forget what Christianity has given us, through the education and culture bequeathed to us by monasticism, missionary work, the preaching of John Wesley (which prevented us following bloody revolution) and the more recent social campaigns of Wilberforce and others.

It is more important than ever that we should not forget what Christianity has given us.

Paul takes his narrative not only from serious historians but from poets, philosophers, novelists and others – those who were contemporary with the events which today are placed so often under a negative spotlight. He draws out where and why the Church really did fail in following the teaching of Christ and his apostles, and reminds us that there are many areas today in which there is still considerable room for improvement. These sincere calls for reflection mark the author’s commitment to an improved debate which is both honest and self-critical.

Defending the Church

How often have we heard the mantra, ‘I might consider Christianity if the Church had not done so many bad things.’ In this eloquent, historically informative and most readable of books lies the answer for Christians, to such a concern. I hope and pray it will be read widely by those of faith and none, because it lights the path to understanding. I cannot recommend it highly enough.

‘The Evil That Men Do: Faith, Injustice and the Church’ (266 pages, paperback) is available from the publisher for £10.99 + P&P.

The nation is reeling – but why, and what can we do about it?

I have had a few days up in the Austrian Tyrol, walking, praying and breathing fresh mountain air. It was a little glimpse of paradise – physically and spiritually refreshing. Coming back to Britain there was a palpable sense of heaviness and depression hanging over the nation. Even the immigration officer inspecting my passport at London airport gloomily referred to the state of the nation and commented that I would have done better not to have come back!

We reached home at 1 o’clock on Wednesday morning, which was just the time the terrible fire broke out in the Kensington tower block. The tragic news in the morning could only add to the depression hanging over the nation like the thick black cloud of smoke drifting over London.

Since then I’ve been searching for good news – something I could say in this editorial that would lift the hearts of our readers. The last thing I want to do is to add to the doom and gloom coming out of Westminster and filling our news media. Then, with the still burning Grenfell Tower in the background, the TV news showed crowds of people bringing food and clothing and toiletries and a multitude of gifts for the survivors of the inferno.

The spontaneous generosity and goodness of the ordinary people of London who immediately sprang into action on behalf of their neighbours was a wonderful reminder that love and goodness are not dead in our nation. People were coming from every part of the multi-ethnic community in Kensington, which was a powerful testimony to the latent goodness of human nature that goes beyond race, colour, class, nationality and every other human distinction.

Nation Under Judgment

This outpouring of love and generosity is a true picture of our nature created in the image of God. But we reserve this outpouring for special occasions; we do not carry it over into our everyday lives, where we display our fallen human nature marred by selfishness and corrupted by personal ambition.

This gives us a clue to the central problem affecting the nation. Everyone is asking why the nation is in such a mess. The plain and honest answer is that we are a nation under judgment.

The spontaneous generosity of the ordinary people of London was a wonderful reminder that love and goodness are not dead in our nation.

No-one really wants to face this unpleasant truth because Christians who firmly hold to biblical values are scorned and labelled, ‘right-wing’, ‘homophobic’, ‘Islamophobic’ and all the other clichés and invectives invented by secular humanists to try to discredit those who stand firm against the liberalisation of the nation and the rejection of our Judeo-Christian heritage. Sadly, some who call themselves Christians have adopted this language to abuse those who remain true to the Bible.

God’s Ultimate Authority

Just look at the facts: our Prime Minister had a perfectly workable majority in the Commons which she gambled and lost through putting her trust in the polls. It is probable that she also trusted advisers who elevated her to ‘celebrity’ status, basing the election campaign around her rather than the ‘strong and stable’ government we were promised. So the hoped-for landslide fell into the valley of disaster.

This is where Scripture comes to our aid in understanding what has happened in the political sphere. Paul’s teaching is very clear: “There is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God” (Rom 13:1).

Then in Deuteronomy 28:20 we read what God does when a nation deliberately turns their backs upon biblical truth: “The Lord will send on you curses, confusion and rebuke in everything you put your hand to, until you are destroyed and come to sudden ruin because of the evil you have done in forsaking him.”

But this harsh statement is tempered by the solemn promise of God in Jeremiah 18:7: “If at any time I announce that a nation or kingdom is to be uprooted, torn down and destroyed, and if that nation I warned repents of its evil, then I will relent and not inflict on it the disaster I had planned.”

Call to Remain Faithful

We should always be careful not to apply biblical statements literally to our contemporary situation, but look at the situation when they were written. The Deuteronomy quote was specifically to Israel, a nation in a covenant relationship with God. The promise given in Jeremiah was to all nations at any time. Paul’s teaching was designed to re-assure the Roman authorities that the small company of Christian believers had no political ambitions or desire to challenge the authority of the Emperor.

We are a nation under judgment – but nobody wants to face this unpleasant truth.

Again, look at the facts: Britain is a self-declared Christian nation in which our monarch pledged on behalf of us all to be faithful to the Protestant religion and to uphold the word of the Lord. So long as we, as a nation, remain faithful to uphold biblical values and the Lord’s name, we can be sure of his protection and blessing. When we forsake the Truth, we put ourselves outside God’s protection. That is judgment.

Although the Conservatives have the most seats in the new Parliament, the only way they can form a Government is by co-operating with the DUP, whose distinctive feature is their commitment to upholding biblical beliefs and values. Surely we have to conclude that God is speaking to our nation through this situation.

Time for Christians to Rise Up

Disasters will continue to happen unless we acknowledge that as a nation we have departed from the ways of truth and earnestly seek God’s forgiveness and blessing, which he is more than eager to bestow upon us. We cannot expect the whole nation to understand this situation and to respond rightly: but surely Christians can understand the ways of God! Now is the time for us to steady the nation with the word of the Lord. God’s love has not been withdrawn and never will be, but we have brought this situation upon ourselves.

It is time for Christians to steady the nation with the word of the Lord.

The greatest need today is for the mobilisation of Christians to intercede on behalf of the nation. God does not wait until there is a democratic majority before responding – he’s looking for the faithful remnant of believers to break their silence, to ask for the power of his Holy Spirit in making our witness in the nation and to re-affirm our love for him and for Britain. The fruit of judgment will quickly be removed if we are faithful and blessings will flow.

Parliament’s Christian witness will prevail.

As if London hasn’t seen enough tragedy of late, her weary eight million residents woke up to a veritable picture of Dante’s inferno on Wednesday morning. The sight of a West London tower block burning away all night was truly terrible, with all the loss of life, home and family that resulted. Our hearts go out to all the victims.

In truth, we are all reeling in shock, perhaps wondering why things just seem to have gone from bad to worse in the wake of the recent terrorist attacks. And though the Grenfell Tower fire did not fall into the latter category, the cause is as yet unknown.

Nevertheless, we need to take stock, and continue to pray for God’s mercy on our battered nation, now further rocked by the resignation as leader of the Liberal Democrat Party of Christian politician Tim Farron. More of that later…

Biblical Voice in Parliament Maintained

In fact, not everything is gloom and doom; there are real signs of hope, despite a General Election that left confusion and chaos as politicians jostled for power, the Conservatives winning most seats but with no overall majority, and thus in a seemingly weak place for negotiating our exit from the European Union.

The Bible says: “When a country is rebellious, it has many rulers, but a ruler with discernment and knowledge maintains order” (Prov 28:2).

Christians had been dismayed as they found themselves having to choose between main parties who had all agreed that sexual ethics – and in particular same-sex marriage – was not an issue. So it seemed that the way was left open to continue running the country on secular humanist lines, with no thought for the biblical laws that have underpinned our civilisation for centuries.

We need to take stock, and continue to pray for God’s mercy on our battered nation.

But who would have thought the Conservatives would be forced to ‘get into bed’ with the strongly Christian Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) of Northern Ireland, in order to secure a still wafer-thin overall majority for carrying out planned legislation? The DUP’s ten seats add up to a coalition fractionally more than all the other parties put together. So they will clearly be beholden to their friends from across the Irish Sea, a fact provoking hysteria from many quarters – not least the Scottish Tory leader Ruth Davidson, who is a lesbian.

It could certainly make for a rough passage for any new un-Christian laws. The DUP is thoroughly opposed to same-sex marriage and, in line with their Bible-believing basis, is also unreservedly pro-Israel.

So, for all the humanistic attempts to rid Parliament of its Christian witness, God has ensured that it remains – and that biblical thinking cannot be ignored. God will not be mocked.

The psalmist asks: “Why do the nations conspire and the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth rise up and the rulers band together against the Lord and against his anointed, saying, ‘Let us break their chains and throw off their shackles.’ The One enthroned in heaven laughs; the Lord scoffs at them…” (Ps 2:1-4).

The fiercely Protestant DUP was founded in 1971 by the Rev Ian Paisley who, when he launched the Northern Ireland Friends of Israel group in March 2009, drew a parallel between his own country’s struggles against terrorism and that of Israel’s. And he also prayed for peace in Jerusalem!¹

Time to Plead with God

Last Sunday evening, as my wife and I contemplated the ongoing political turbulence, we suddenly noticed a worrying crack in the ceiling, with water dripping through. Our hot water tank was leaking and on the blink, and we have since had it replaced (at no small cost). Thankfully, disaster was averted by an emergency plumber.

It was very much a picture of the state of the nation with the drip, drip, drip feed of secularism (and in particular the LGBT+ agenda) on the point of bringing the house down. We are in serious hot water, and poison is leaking into the ship of state, which is on the verge of sinking.

For all the humanistic attempts to rid Parliament of its Christian witness, God has ensured that it remains.

I am sickened by the BBC’s continual obsession with depicting the ‘virtues’ of left-wing propaganda. As the country rocks with uncertainty, and in danger of collapse, a great show is made of a ‘gay pride’ march in York, described as a symbol of unity and love. Of course, I realise this is nothing compared to the 200,000 who marched through Tel Aviv, Israel’s major city, in celebration of the homosexual lifestyle. And that in what is universally known as the ‘Holy Land’! However, this only goes to prove that both Jews and Gentiles are prodigals whom the Father longs to welcome back.

And since we are talking numbers, it’s worth noting that a recent prayer meeting of Christians in South Africa drew a massive 1.7 million people (equal to Tel Aviv’s total population) to a farm outside the central city of Bloemfontein, where they pleaded God’s mercy for their beloved nation. We too, in Britain, need to pray – and how! Surely it’s time Christians got together, as they have done in South Africa, to plead God’s mercy for our land?

Truth Turned Upside-Down

Tim Farron. See Photo Credits.

Tragically, much of the West has not only rejected God and his laws, but has gone further by turning millennia-old precepts completely upside-down. The Prophet Isaiah, writing 2,700 years ago, said: “Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter. Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes and clever in their own sight. Woe to those who are heroes at drinking wine and champions at mixing drinks…” (Isa 5:20-22). Ring any bells?

To put it another way, it would be like Monty Don reporting from the Chelsea Flower Show that weeds are the new flowers and rubbishing anachronistic gardeners who insist on showing their beautiful roses and lilies amidst finely-cut lawns and water features.

Exaggerating? Hardly – for one of the most disturbing aspects of the election campaign was the blatant anti-Christian prejudice promoted in much of the media, claiming that Christian candidates were unfit to hold public office because of their biblical views.² Even the Prime Minister was condemned by a major national newspaper for visiting one of the UK’s largest black churches – because the church opposes abortion and same-sex marriage.³

One of the most disturbing aspects of the election campaign was the blatant anti-Christian prejudice promoted in much of the media.

And now Tim Farron is the latest victim. After an insufferable media campaign directed at his Christian faith, in the words of Evangelical Alliance spokesman David Landrum, “he has found himself torn between living as a faithful Christian and serving as a political leader – and so he has resigned. And who could blame him? Politics has always been a tough business and general elections have always been rough rides. Tim was surely prepared for that. What he wasn’t prepared for, and what nobody really expected, was a vicious and sustained assault on his faith. And he wasn’t alone in this.”⁴

The Fields are Ripe for Harvest

Finally, on a more positive note: Rosaria Butterfield, a former lesbian and LGBT advocate, converted to Christ after reading large sections of the Bible as part of research into why the so-called religious right ‘hated’ people like her. Her first book, The Secret Thoughts of an Unlikely Convert, details her conversion and the cataclysmic fallout which followed – in which she lost “everything but the dog”, yet gained eternal life in Christ.

We are the people of the Book, which holds the key to life and leads us to the ‘pearl of great price’ which can often cost us everything (Matt 13:46). Pearls are shaped through rough times, and we need to speak up for Christ in the face of the storm.

References

1 Teller, N. The UK balance of power – weighted towards Israel. Jerusalem Post, 12 June 2017.

2 E.g. The Daily Mirror, 4 May 2017, The Spectator, 18 May 2017, Buzz Feed, 27 May 2017. See here.

3 Robertson, D. The Independent, 30 May 2017.

4 Landrum, D. Farron’s fall – neither liberal nor democratic. Christian Today, 15 June 2017.

Journalist hits out at ‘irresponsible madness’ of Al-Quds march.

A shocking case of double standards has come to light in London. A pro-Israel rally set for next Thursday, 22 June, has been postponed indefinitely for ‘security reasons’ while a pro-Palestinian march is scheduled to go ahead on Sunday 18 June.

A Night to Honour Israel was to have been held in Westminster, central London, and would have been Britain’s largest pro-Israel event – though the venue had been kept under wraps for obvious reasons, especially as similar meetings have been disrupted by violent demonstrators in recent times.

Speakers were to have included American pastor John Hagee, journalist Melanie Phillips and former British Army leader Col Richard Kemp. It had been advertised as an “opportunity to unite with Christians and Jews in showing your support for Israel during this significant Balfour Centenary year, an important time in the history of our two nations”.

Al-Quds Day March Going Ahead

The organisers, Christians United for Israel (CUFI), said it was postponed for the protection of the 1,000 people who had already bought tickets, with a statement explaining: “Islamist extremists have called for specific targeting of Christians and Jews during Ramadan, when our event was due to take place.”¹

A shocking case of double standards has come to light in London.

And yet the Al-Quds Day march through the capital has been allowed to go ahead. Ostensibly in support of Palestinians, demonstrators at this event last year waved Hezbollah and Hamas flags. Al-Quds Day is always held on the date chosen by the late Ayatollah Khomeini calling for Israel to be destroyed. Naturally, London’s Jewish community is alarmed and the capital’s Muslim Mayor, Sadiq Khan, is being called to account.²

Daily Mail columnist Richard Littlejohn writes: “It’s irresponsible madness to hold such a polarising, provocative march in the wake of a bloody attack by Islamist terrorists. But the authorities can always be relied upon to prostrate themselves before militant Islam. Pity they’re not so obliging when it comes to others, especially supporters of the Jewish state.”³

Who Are the Targets?

There is, I perceive, some perverse logic to the reasoning behind this, in that while Christians and Jews are particularly vulnerable to attack from Muslim fundamentalists, supporters of the Palestinian cause are not at risk because Christians are called to ‘love their enemies’ (Matt 5:44). As Littlejohn says, “no-one is calling for the specific targeting of Muslims or Palestinians, are they? Only Jews and Christians.”

But whatever happened to the ‘diversity and equality’ we hear so much about these days? Should not both events have at least been treated in the same way? A huge amount of police resources will no doubt be garnered for the Al-Quds march. Couldn’t such resources also have been afforded to protect the freedom of those who support Israel?

When things go wrong, and we are attacked by murderous followers of the Qur’an, left-wing luvvies blame the Tories for cuts in the police budget.

Al-Quds Day is always held on the date chosen by the late Ayatollah Khomeini calling for Israel to be destroyed.

But the reality is that the economy is overstretched by the social disintegration of a society bedevilled and over-burdened by the break-up of family life. Our police do a great job, but extra officers only succeed in putting a plaster over a gaping wound. We need to tackle the cause of our ills, not just the symptoms.

Just the other day I watched a documentary partly focused on how the police were forced to deal with an anarchist rally in London. Huge resources were committed to this ugly event, allowing those who want to destroy our society to ‘have their say’. But Christians and Jews who love the nation of Israel are prevented from doing so.

References

1 See here.

2 See CUFI's response, here.

3 The Daily Mail, 9 June 2017. 

Monica Hill concludes her studies on the ministry gifts of Ephesians 4.

This article is part of a series. Click here to read other instalments. 

“It was Christ who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, to prepare God’s people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ” (Eph 4:11-13, emphasis added).

Teacher, Pastor, Teacher/Pastor?

Although the ministry gift of ‘teacher’ is often combined with that of ‘pastor’ (which we introduced last week), in today’s modern society there are of course many differences. Some commentators are not certain whether teacher/pastor should be regarded as one or two ministries as there is no definite article before the word 'teacher' in the Ephesians 4 passage. Because of where they are placed in the passage, some regard them as more ordinary ministries, for those employed in a lower and narrower sphere than apostles, prophets and evangelists.

Some take these two names to signify one office or role, implying the duties of ruling and teaching belonging to one person. Still others think they designate two distinct offices, both ordinary, and currently being used in the church. If pastoring involves caring for God's people, teaching involves instructing them in the truths of God's word.

Building Up the Body

One thing that is obvious is that of all the five ministries in Ephesians 4, the role of ‘teaching’ is the one most needed to build the Body up spiritually. Of course the Apostles taught; this is stressed in Acts 2:42 where we learn that the fellowship of the believers “devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching”. Both the prophets and the evangelists also taught, but with respect to their different roles and duties.

Teachers have always been needed beyond these roles, therefore, because there needs to be a consistent follow-up and growth to maturity in every fellowship.

If pastoring involves caring for God's people, teaching involves instructing them in the truths of God's word.

The writer of the letter to the Hebrews emphasises the need to grow beyond the “elementary teachings of Christ” and on to maturity. The believers should have been passing on their knowledge to others, but they still needed to be taught the “elementary truths” (Heb 5:12-6:1).

What is Teaching?

The ministry of teaching is the ability to explain clearly the truths of God's word and to ensure that this is understood and followed by those placed in the care of the teacher. It involves the need for teachers not only to understand the in-depth meaning of God’s word for themselves, and for it to be operating in their own lives, but also to have the ability to help people of all ages and circumstances to see, hear, grasp and learn what God is saying to each of them.

Although preaching is often referred to as teaching, too often it is exercised like a lecture to a large number of people from a pulpit and so is considered to be ‘six feet above contradiction’. To interrupt the preacher even to get clarification is rarely permitted. But unless most sermons or messages are followed by a time when the subject can be discussed and questions asked, it is often of little value and the main points can easily be forgotten.

In Victorian times, the morning sermon was the natural subject for conversation at Sunday lunch-time. Today few families discuss the sermon – or even meet together for lunch - while even fewer have regular family Bible studies. It is left to the Church to organise these. Indeed, the strength of a Church can often be judged by the attendance at and content and liveliness of its Bible study groups.

Why Teach?

The Jewish faith has survived because each generation accepted their responsibility to not only teach the next generation God’s truths but also “show them the way they are to live and how they are to behave” (Ex 18:20). Moses’ instruction to the people of Israel was:

These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the door-frames of your houses and on your gates (Deut 6:6-9)

This is repeated later in Deuteronomy: “Teach them to your children, talking about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up” (Deut 11:19).

It is not sufficient for the word to be preached from pulpits. It needs to be discussed, so that people can understand it.

There needs to be a consistent follow-up and growth to maturity in every fellowship.

Laws can be made and rules can be enforced. The rabbis, who were called ‘teachers’ in Jesus’ time, were good at enforcing every jot and tittle with little regard for ensuring that the underlying principles and reasoning were understood too. As one modern rabbi rather enviously observed to a friend who was a Christian pastor, “we are only seen as kitchen inspectors”.

But Jesus, in his famous outburst to the Pharisees and teachers of the law in his time (Matt 23:13-33), condemned them - not just for hypocrisy in not living by the rules they imposed on others, but for their high opinion of themselves, for limiting their teaching, for not allowing others to experience anything they were not advocating, etc, etc. There are many lessons here for those with a teaching ministry to understand what not to do!

How to Teach

• Learning by rote may have gone out of fashion but the older generation are still able to remember and quote Bible passages - especially from the Authorised Version! It became more difficult as the number of versions grew, but then, this allowed the serious scholar’s understanding also to grow. Modern Bible studies benefit when there are two or three versions studied alongside each other, giving different perspectives and insights to stimulate discussion.
  
• Teaching in small groups where people can ask questions has many advantages. The teacher can discover what people have really heard them say and he or she can answer the questions they are asking. It is very much about starting where people are, not where we might like, or expect, them to be! In fact, it can sometimes be a salutary lesson to discover that they already knew what was being taught and an opportunity had been lost to help them go deeper. If you teach them what they do not already know, this can stretch them so that they can move on to maturity.
  
• The best teachers are often the best story-tellers. Jesus often used parables to teach in-depth truths that could not only be remembered but also be understood at different levels – they were often described as everyday stories with a Heavenly meaning especially for those who had a deeper understanding.
  
• A good teacher is thrilled when students pass comments on what they hear and get involved – even more so when the students start to think for themselves and ask questions. I personally believe that a better interpretation of Galatians 6:6 (“Nevertheless, the one who receives instruction in the word should share all good things with their instructor”), rather than being applied financially, can apply to the spiritual insights the students have, which can stimulate a fresh understanding of the Word.
  
• One of Jesus’s methods of teaching was to answer a question with another question, to find out where his listeners were and to draw out of them what they knew already. This is a very Jewish way of teaching.
  
• But Matthew also told us that the impact of Jesus’ teaching was great as “He taught as one who had authority, and not as their teachers of the law” (Matt 7:29). Jesus did not just make pronouncements - even to his disciples when he spent more time with them. Instead, he encouraged them to discuss so that they would learn more about the Kingdom and God’s truths. When someone speaks with authority they inspire confidence that they have knowledge and understanding and that they are able to address and answer their concerns and allay their doubts.
  
• Yeshiva-style Jewish teaching also highlights that Jesus sat down to teach! (Luke 4:20; 5:3; Matt 5:1; 15:29). The reader stood to read or declare the word of God but the teacher or expositor sat down to teach, which not only would relax the students and encourage them to ask questions and to discuss issues so that they went deeper into the word, but could last as long as was needed.
  

Conclusion

So today Christ continues his work as apostle, prophet, evangelist, pastor and teacher through the ministries he gives to men and women whom he has appointed to build his Church. He wants them “to prepare God’s people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ”.

Catharine Pakington reviews ‘The New Civic Religion’ by Patrick Sookhdeo (2016, Isaac Publishing)

In the aftermath of the election I would recommend this book as a valuable aid to evaluating the agendas and culture of our main political parties.

In a recent Prophecy Today editorial, Clifford Hill highlighted how humanist beliefs are driving party policies and defining so-called ‘British values’. In this book, author and speaker Patrick Sookhdeo uses straightforward, clear language to introduce humanism as the religion of our age, particularly in the USA and UK.

Historical Context

He outlines historical influences from ancient philosophies through to the scientific and social changes of the Renaissance, the Enlightenment and the ‘Long 19th Century’ (1789-1914), all of which have culminated in a rejection of traditional Christianity.

The book is structured into 12 chapters, which take the reader through from the origins and content of humanism towards a Christian response. Bible studies and discussion questions on each chapter are provided, for individual or group use.

First, the core beliefs of humanists are presented along with their agenda to replace Christian morality. It is interesting to read the arguments for recognising humanism as a religion – something humanists themselves deny, since they oppose the teaching of religion in schools! How many Christians are aware of Tolerance, Equality, Reversal of Norms and then Aggressive Action as stages in a deliberate campaign to introduce humanistic values to education, the media, popular culture, government and law?

Sookhdeo uses straightforward, clear language to introduce humanism as the religion of our age.

The impact on education is particularly widespread. A time-line of the development of ‘hate speech’ law in the UK illustrates the growth of humanist influence up to now, and shows how biblical norms have been overturned.

Religion vs Science?

Turning to the relationship between Christianity and science, Sookhdeo demonstrates that though humanists would like to present faith and science as being incompatible, Christianity itself counters this with the Church’s history of promoting science. He highlights that far more scientists in the USA consider themselves to be Christian than humanist, atheist or agnostic. This is because Christians are encouraged to reason and think logically, whilst also being brought into the spiritual realm by a personal relationship with the triune God.

However, it is worth noting that in a related chapter on origins, there are times when the author does not uphold the authority of Scripture as consistently as on other issues.

Upholding Christian Identity

As the author compares humanist and Christian beliefs about God, Jesus and the Bible, we are challenged to review our own beliefs and then consider the identity and role of the Church in today’s culture.

A declaration of faith is suggested with the simplicity of the Jewish shema contrasted with historical creeds. All believers are urged to challenge today’s culture, just as the early Church stood against the Roman Empire (whose society shared many characteristics with our own).

Stirred to Respond

We are not left with a sense of helplessness after being presented with the extent of humanist influence today but are stirred to respond in our own areas of influence. If all of life is seen as worship, we can further the Kingdom of God wherever we are.

We are challenged to review our own beliefs and consider the role of the Church in today’s culture.

In addition to the helpful Bible study notes for each chapter, chapter 14 provides a useful summary of teaching about the authority of the Bible. As Christian creeds are quoted earlier in the book, two are given here in full and there is also a glossary, a list of references and sources including some key humanist documents.

Altogether this is a book that can be read quickly to introduce people to the extent of the influence of humanism in Britain (and possible responses to it), or it can be used as a more in-depth handbook for study, prayer and discussion. It is well worth reading as a primer, before other books that deal with related issues in greater depth, such as ‘What are They Teaching the Children?’ (ed. Lynda Rose), reviewed here.

‘The New Civic Religion: Humanism and the Future of Christianity’ (208 pages, paperback) is available from the Barnabas Fund for £10.05 (inc. P&P).
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Patrick Sookhdeo has doctorates from London University’s School of Oriental and African Studies, Western Seminary and Nashotah House Episcopal Seminary. He is an author, lecturer and consultant.