If the challenge of radical ideology, secularist or Islamist, is to be met there must be a strong emphasis on integration not only in the practical sphere involving the use of a lingua franca, policies for mixed housing and schooling and social mobility. These are all very important but the integration must also take place around a common awareness of history and of a moral and spiritual tradition. Those who have come or will come here are to be welcomed to a society which acknowledges and makes its policy and legislative decisions on the basis of this tradition. Others should, of course, be welcome to make their specific contribution in the development of this tradition but it should be clear that there is no real or imagined tabula rasa from which we proceed to construct society in the image of a so-called progressive constructivism and its exponents. At the moment things are still topsyturvy: while it is thought desirable that Muslims and people of other faiths should be involved in policy-making at the highest levels, there is no commensurate involvement of Christians who can clearly articulate a vision for society and an awareness of the importance of its own traditions in this area of life. Such an awareness of a moral and spiritual tradition will lead to a strong affirmation of the natural family as a proper basis for society and the normative context for that social learning which is vital for the wider social interaction which we all need.  It will lead to public policies that support marriage not only through the tax system but in the generous provision for marriage preparation and for assistance in difficult times. The primacy of parents in the nurture and education of their children will be recognised and all apparatus of the state would be strictly ancillary to that. The authorities would not attempt to coerce or to seduce parents back into the workplace, if one of them wishes to give priority to the upbringing of children. Rather, such a role would be welcomed and supported.

Awareness of this tradition would lead also to a balancing of autonomy with interdependence. Personal freedom of expression, of belief, in the manifestation of belief and, in many other areas, is hugely important but the tradition also teaches us that we are relational beings and that even the development of personhood is inescapably relational. This means that the implications of our actions for our near and dear ones and for wider society will have to be taken into account. The decision to end one's life, for example, is not just about the person involved but also family and friends and, more widely still, society itself and how it values human life. The termination of a pregnancy, similarly, cannot just be about a woman's right to choose but must be balanced by a consideration for the unborn, for the woman's partner and the view that society has for the value of human life. We have seen already that the leading values of our nation, derived from the Judaeo-Christian worldview, uphold the uniqueness of human persons, their dignity and freedom. This is not really "speciesism" but signals the special way in which humans are related to the rest of creation: they belong to it but can also alter it, for better or for worse. That is why a proper understanding of the mandate to stewardship in the Bible is so important today. Respect for the rest of creation is necessary not because the earth is a kind of goddess, as in pagan times, nor just for selfish reasons for our survival or that of our descendents, but because creation is itself oriented to purpose, direction and destiny.