And now the brilliant scientist who is also an atheist, Richard Dawkins, has just published the findings of a survey he commissioned. In the 2001 national census, 72% put themselves down as Christian. In 2011 this was estimated (official figures not yet available) at 54%. But in Prof.Dawkins’ study, not very many any of those 54% actually believe what the Christian faith teaches, nor do they appear to practice the things you’d expect of Christians like church attendance or Bible reading. Therefore, he says, arguments for (example) the place of church schools, or bishops, are unfounded because this isn’t the Christian country it’s claimed to be (despite David Cameron’s comments about the central place of the Christian faith, a couple of months ago).

On the radio this morning, Rev.Dr.Giles Fraser offered (as a criticism of the survey) that there are many expressions of the Christian faith, and that if people self-identify as Christians then Prof.Dawkins has no right to tell them they’re not. Which seemed a bit lame to me.

Now then; is any of this a problem? Are we a Christian country? Were we ever? Has there ever been a Christian country, anywhere?

We might call a country by its religion, if that religion assumes all its citizens are de facto members of that religion by birth or culture or heredity, and grants them no choice to convert away from that religion. Whereas the Christian faith is one of personal choice; and since it’s a matter of grace and not law or culture, we can’t definitely rule anyone in or out of the faith on the basis of what we can observe. Therefore those who claim the UK as a Christian country on the basis of boxes ticked in 2001, and those who claim the opposite on the basis of Prof.Dawkins’ research, run into the same problem.

A country might be called “Muslim” because Islam is a total system in which personal faith, organised religion and all levels of government are meant to be one synchronised whole. It could be argued that Islam doesn’t quite know what to do when it doesn’t have governmental power; whereas I reckon history shows that Christians don’t know what to do when they ARE in power, sometimes with tragic consequences. That’s not just because we’re fallen, but because the Christian faith isn’t a system for national government. It doesn’t even offer much of a blueprint for church government. Therefore I don’t think the phrase “Christian country” makes much sense.

Compare the origins of Islam and the Christian faith… Islam was intended to rule from its outset. But the following-of-Jesus was a persecuted, illegal, minority activity for its first three hundred years. Many believe the conversion of the Roman Emperor Constantine was when the rot set in, rather than a wonderful liberation for the church. When you look at what happened to the church in China in the second half of the 20th century – and what’s still happening there today – I wonder about all this fear that the Christian faith is being marginalised. Maybe margins are what we do best.

By that, I don’t mean “it doesn’t matter if there are fewer Christians”. I mean that I want to see as many people in the UK becoming Christians as possible, and in the long run it doesn’t really matter if that happens ‘under the radar’ while the country’s institutions appear less Christian.

It’s obvious that a huge amount of our culture and legal system is shaped by the Christian faith. Including, as is rarely acknowledged, the assumption of religious freedom, which was first proclaimed by one of the first British Baptists 400 years ago this year. For that, he was locked up the Tower until he died; locked up by, paradoxically, the King James who gave us the King James Bible. I’m not saying this isn’t a complicated issue.

It’s great when loads of Christians seek to take a role in government and business and the arts. It’s great that the Queen is increasingly emphasising her own, personal faith in Jesus. It’s great when the local church enjoys favour and cooperation from the local council. I’m just saying, we could lose all that and still live in confidence that God’s purposes are being worked out.

It might be a good thing for those who ticked the Christian box in the last census to stop and ask if they’re kidding themselves. It might be a good thing for the local council to make a separate room available for Christian prayer 30 minutes before the council meeting starts (and interesting to see who then actually turns up early for that). It would definitely be good for the individuals concerned to look into their own hearts and be clear about what they actually believe. Because I am less concerned about the label we put on a country, and more concerned about where its citizens go when they die.

What do you think?

cheers

Andrew