In the mid 2010’s, a man rose to international prominence named Jordan Peterson. Among his many fascinating public prognostications, Peterson’s view of Christianity was striking. He treated the Biblical narrative as something serious – something foundational and revealing.
While there are many questions surrounding Peterson’s exact views on God, none can doubt that he is a very spiritually minded man. This serious treatment of the Biblical corpus stood in severe contrast to virtually every other public intellectuals’ thoughts on the matter.
The years since the rise of Peterson’s prominence have seen a significant shift in the ethos of the discussion surrounding Christianity. Figures in and throughout public life, from intellectuals like Peterson and Ayaan Hirsi Ali, actors like Shia Lebouf, and even Richard Dawkins have all made startling confessions about Christianity.
The popular online figure and podcast host, Justin Brierley, who frequently interacts with Christians and atheists alike, recently wrote a book entitled The Surprising Rebirth of Belief in God: Why New Atheism Grew Old and Secular Thinkers Are Considering Christianity Again. Brierley examines the shift that has begun to take place in the conversations surrounding God, especially since the heyday of the New Atheism.
What is of particular import is the question how valuable is Christianity as a foundation for society? Richard Dawkins, in an interview, said,
“I call myself a cultural Christian. I’m not a believer, but there’s a distinction between being a believing Christian and being a cultural Christian. … I love hymns and Christmas carols, and I sort of feel at home in the Christian ethos. … We [in the U.K.] are a ‘Christian country’ in that sense.”
Dawkins’ distinction between cultural Christianity and adherence to the Christian religion is significant, He seems to suggest that Christianity has a value to U.K. society, that it is part of its “ethos”. Such a statement would have been unthinkable at the height of the New Atheism, but now it seems that the tides have shifted, at least away from their position in the early 2000s.
A recent poll by Gallop once again showed a decline in the levels of church attendance throughout the U.S. Today, only three in ten Americans attend a worship service every week. The dilemma facing the United States – and the West as a whole – is a heavy one. What are the consequences for a society which abandons its foundational principles? In other words, what effects will the decline of Christianity have on Christendom? Dawkins’ comments reveal that concern is already bubbling to the surface of even the most militant New Atheists minds.
At the very least, some of the aforementioned public figures have come to see the value of Christianity as a set of ideals – ideals worthy of building and sustaining a society. It is doubtless true that such a view is more commendable than the alternative, namely, a view in which the ideals are hated and despised. As such, we should encourage and support any person’s defense of Christianity’s influence on society, even – and especially – coming from people such as Dawkins.
Indeed, it is difficult to ascertain just how great that influence has been.
There have always been attempts to claim that morality, at least as it is understood in the West, is more or less independent of Christianity. Sam Harris, one of the “Four Horsemen” of New Atheism, is fond of such statements. Moreover, he claims that Christianity if, it has contributed to society in an indirect way, is not required for our current moral views.
Many disagree with this notion. Notably, the historian Tom Holland has written quite extensively on the pervasive influence of Christianity on nearly every aspect of our society in his notable work, Dominion. If nothing else, the rising number of those who are reconsidering, and openly supporting, Christianity for its societal value have realized the stones on which they tread have been laid by the saints.
Christianity is more than just a set of ideals, however. It claims to be the thing which is the truth itself. Moreover, it claims to be the singular way of life which can transform sinners into new creations. Is it really enough then for someone to admire its precepts without having been truly transformed by it? Is it possible to have Christianity’s effects, a transformed life which transforms societies, without there being a fundamentally renewed human heart at the center of it? Can we have the fruit without the root?
That is the question before us now.
