Christianity, Secularisation and Islam

July 2008

In a specifically Judeo-Christian culture, such concession of a degree of authority to the public voice of religious leaderships cannot be indefinitely extended without a self-contradiction. A Judeo-Christian society is by definition not a multicultural one, athough it should make generous provision for members of other cultures always providing they are willing to become, to the extent of their ability, bicultural themselves. It is altogether reasonable, however, for generosity of provision to extend so far as providing channels through which other religious groupings can make known charateristic concerns.

In the parliamentary context, this can happen in the Lower House through members’ raising constituents’ questions. But there is also a case for a more institutional arrangement for adverting to these other voices, not least with a view to helping overcome the alienation of those who feel not only culturally different, but politically estranged. If the difficulties of obtaining representatives who really speak for acceptable traditions in Islam can be overcome, the Islamic imamate could take its place in the Upper House, once Islam has found its right place and role in England. In this essay, I have indicated what that place and role should be: the making of a distinctive contribution on condition of the “owning” of the public space by the community as a whole.

Meanwhile, for Catholic Christians there remains a charge more onerous (even) than that of reflection on the necessary and sufficient conditions of the civil good. What the faith of the Catholic Church can offer is a framework — intellectual, imaginative and moral — for the pursuit of all the good that pertains to human destiny, and its effective bestowal in the grace of conversion. The Church civilises while she evangelises. But she evangelises first.

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Lorna Salzman

February 19th, 2014
6:02 PM

This is another example of a believer mustering other believers behind the camel to promote the absurd and demonstrably false notion that morality can only exist through religion. This is not only patently false but a less than transparent expression of the growing fear of clerics at the continued progression of humanity towards secularism, the only system that can provide protection for religious minorities. This has been known since the Enlightenment as well as from the founding of the USA. Religious leaders wave the flag of moral degradation because they fear, rightly, the loss of their own church's power and control over human society. While articles like these are nuisances like gnats, they present no greater threat because the purpose behind them is quite clear. I enjoy watching religious leaders scramble to defend religion and castigate the so-called degenerate secularism that they fear. It indicates they see the handwriting on the wall and the direction of humanity as it finalizes the triumph of reason over superstition and the oppressive character of all religion.

Buchan

July 29th, 2008
11:07 AM

The author either does not know Islam or chooses to ignore some unpalatable facts about it. Islam has no intention of sharing or finding a 'space' within the framework of any non-islamic society: the goal of Islam, as defined clearly in the Koran, the supporting ahadith and the sira (life of Muhammad) is an islamic world in which Sharia is the way of life and jurisprudence for all. The Cairo Declaration of Human Rights in Islam (1990) signed by 54 Moslem countries affirms, in its Articles 24 and 25 that Sharia is to be the only determinant of crimes and punishments. This link includes both that document and the Declaration of Universal Human Rights, sponsored by the UN in 1948: http://www.faithfreedom.org/Articles/Ohmyrus30816.htm Sharia is predicated upon the three inherent inequalities in Islam: between Moslem and non-Moslem, man and woman, and free man and slave. Sharia, and Islam, are antithetical to both Judaeo-Christian and secular concepts of Western societies. Why would any person, cognizant of these and other facts about Islam, wish to 'accommodate' Islam and thereby aid in the destruction of our humanely superior civilisation?

Hugh Eveleigh

July 9th, 2008
5:07 PM

An inspiring and thought-provoking article, closely argued and humanely based. As a non-catholic on-the-edge religious individual it may seem perverse but I agree with the argument and endorse its conclusion. Thank you Fr Nichols!

Athanasius of Alexandria

June 30th, 2008
11:06 AM

A splendidly rich and involving article, just as one expects from the Nichols quill. A light critique and something of a personal engagement with it is here, offered for your consideration: http://massinformation.blogspot.com/2008/06/aidan-nichols-islam-and-futu...

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