Dr John Hayward reports

Dr John Hayward

Civil liberties and human rights which we have taken for granted for a generation are at risk from the increasing regulatory reach of the state and the rise of secularism.

In two recent reports, a Christian social reform charity, the Jubilee Centre, has revealed how a new legal absolutism and the dominance of 'the religion of secularism' in the public sphere threatens the prospects for future freedom and equality of expression.

The first of these, our Cambridge Paper 'Three principles for Christian citizens' by Bristol University's Professor of Jurisprudence, Julian Rivers, argues that a considerable body of Christians now find themselves in a moral minority, at odds with increasing aspects of law and public policy. The second, 'Sustaining Democracy' by family court advisor and research fellow Dr Philip Sampson warns that 'Democracies cannot shake off their Christian past without shaking off the liberties which flowed from it.'

Three principles for Christian citizens argued that 'equality' is gaining a life of its own, overriding other human rights and stifling discussion about what is morally good, while 'public reason' is being wielded to silence religious voices in public.

Historically, Christians have often sought to engage with problems of social and political morality on the basis that human law is intrinsically good. At other times, Protestants particularly have stressed the independence of individual, family and church against potentially tyrannical civil government. Radical denominations of Reformed Christianity have emphasised conscientious witness as a third distinctive Christian political stance. However, all three are being stifled by a new legal absolutism in the name of 'equality and human rights'.

This is ironic, because equality and human rights are a contemporary expression of the same Christian political tradition. Indeed, these three principles really belong together and were brought together in the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other human rights statements in the second half of the 20th century. However, at the heart of several recent political and legal changes lies a tendency to undermine each of the three principles. Roman Catholic adoption agencies, for example, which refuse to consider same-sex couples for fostering and adoption, were forced either to abandon their moral position, or to forfeit their right to provide the service after Government refusal to allow an exemption under the 2006 Equality Act.

There is a growing sense that there is no common good in the areas of sexual ethics, family life, medical and bioethics. Institutional independence is under threat, with freedom of religion being ever more narrowly construed as protecting effectively freedom of thought alone. Thus, human rights standards, which represent an ethic for governments, are being applied to individuals, families and churches without regard to the morally significant differences between them. The same goes for the principle of conscientious witness, with questions being asked whether those upholding traditional Christian beliefs can occupy certain offices.

If we are heading for a society characterised by ever greater moral and religious diversity, it concludes, then more than ever we need a political programme which seeks the common good, divides authority and respects conscience.

Sustaining Democracy argues that 'secularism' itself has become 'religious', claiming the privileges of religious judgement for itself to the exclusion of other religions. 'If a view differs from the secular consensus, it is "ill-considered" and "prejudiced", and should not be entertained,' the author reflects. 'Where would this have left the abolitionists or the civil rights movement?'

Faced with the perceived vulnerability of democracy to global forces, secularism has responded with two principal strategies, both of which appear to have failed - namely, the traditional moral impulse to identify 'evil' and eliminate it, which resulted in the 'War on Terror', and the reassertion of secular liberalism, sometimes associated with an aggressive New Atheism.

'If the secular world continues to ignore Christian scholarship,' cautions Dr Sampson, 'then Western democratic institutions will be further denied access to the resources necessary for renewal. We will be left merely with modernist materialism, what Europe's most distinguished living philosopher (Jurgen Habermas) calls 'postmodern chatter', or moralistic fundamentalism (whether Liberal, Christian or Islamic).'

Dr Sampson concludes by arguing for the disestablishment of a 'secular' religion and the opening of the public sphere to a prophetic Christian understanding of tolerance towards all religions, including that of 'secularism'.

Perhaps now more than ever, it seems the world around us needs the 'salt' and 'light' of Christians engaged in society. The question is, how will the Church respond? It may be that the future for Western democracy will lie in the hands of our Southern and Eastern sisters and brothers.

The two reports, along with a range of books presenting a biblical vision for society and a wide selection of other free resources, including Bible studies, videos and a weekly blog, can be found on the charity's website.