Society still needs religion, says Archbishop
by Daniel Blake
Posted: Friday, April 18, 2008, 9:05 (BST)
Interest in spirituality may be on the rise, but traditional religions still have a crucial role to play in a genuinely plural society, the Archbishop of Canterbury said in a lecture at Westminster Cathedral last night.
In his lecture entitled "The Spiritual and the Religious: is the territory changing?", Dr Rowan Williams pointed to the likes of Bono who epitomise the growing trend across Britain and large parts of Europe of individuals choosing to identify themselves as 'spiritual but not religious'.
"While the spiritual may be a resource for health, even for 'capital' ... the 'religious' is seen as ambivalent at best, dangerous at worst," the Archbishop conceded, adding that for some it was the fear of compromising individual liberty in favour of a collective mentality that made them shun religion.
He argued, however, that traditional religious commitment goes beyond an experience of the spiritual and is able to furnish society with the resources it needs to be just.
"When the great German philosopher Jurgen Habermas acknowledged some years ago in debate with the then Cardinal Ratzinger that traditional religion offered necessary resources to the construction of social reason and just practice, he was paving the way for some such approach on the part of secular government," he said.
"There is an implicit acknowledgement, it seems, that what religious affiliation of a classical kind offers is not to be reduced just to an enhanced sense of the transcendent or of the interconnection of all things."
Dr Williams argued that although increased spiritual awareness has a place in social and corporate life, it lacks the depth to be able to address aspects of today's global system.
Religion, the Archbishop said, is "one of the most potent allies possible for genuine pluralism - that is, for a social and political culture that is consistently against coercion and institutionalised inequality and is committed to serious public debate about common good".
"Spiritual capital alone, in the sense of a heightened acknowledgement especially among politicians, businessmen and administrators of dimensions to human flourishing beyond profit and material security, is helpful but is not well equipped to ask the most basic questions about the legitimacy of various aspects of the prevailing global system," he continued.
"The traditional forms of religious affiliations, in proposing an 'imagined society', realised in some fashion in the practices of faith, are better resourced for such questions."
Dr Williams said that the challenge for members of religious communities was not only "an assault by principled secularists on all religious belief", but to "learn how to make ourselves look credible and attractive, marketable".
The Archbishop's lecture was the third in the "Faith and Life in Britain" series being held at Westminster Cathedral and organised by the head of the Roman Catholic Church in England and Wales, Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor.
Copyright © 2008 Christian Today. All rights reserved.
This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Have your say on this article
The comments below are readers' personal opinions and are in no way intended to reflect the editorial opinion of Christian Today.
Added: Monday, April 21, 2008, 13:28 (BST)
Come on! The LAST thing we need is this country is religion. We do not need the ordinances of man we need to return to the faith once delivered.
We need an active, vibrant, fiery faith in Jesus Christ. Jesus did not come to back up the Scribes and Pharisees, he condemned them. Faith in God through Jesus Christ and Him ALONE who is the way the truth and the life.
Religion is nothing but reliance on ordinances and rights of the church. Religion is what man has done with the things of God and made them a mystery when there is no mystery.
Faith requires guts, it requires the individual staking their all on an individual.
I would sooner stake my eternal future on what Jesus Christ has done for me than anything the church might tell me is needful for salvation.
David Husband, Birmingham
Added: Monday, April 21, 2008, 5:12 (BST)
Dear Sirs:
Thank you for keeping Christians informed on some of the "happenings" occuring in the world. You fulfill a unique and vital role.
Regarding Dr. Williams' remarks in this article, I would have been much more comfortable had he dealt with truth versus error, Christianity's truth claims, and knowing Jesus and true religion, instead of "traditional religions".
Sincerely in Christ,
Paul Griffin
Paul Griffin, Rocky Face, GA, USA
Added: Monday, April 21, 2008, 3:31 (BST)
society does not need religion.the society needs Jesus Christ who died and rose to save mankind from sin and to restore paradise to man. Faith in Christ made Britain great d for continued greatness we need to return to Jesus. Righteousnee exalts a nation but sin is a reproach to any people.
victoria johnson, leyton,uk
Added: Saturday, April 19, 2008, 17:35 (BST)
Once again, the Archbishop lectures on structure and religion.
How tired we all are of hearing another of our 'spiritual leaders' missing the point.
Please forgive me, but as a committed and passionate believer in Christ; I want to hear our leaders speak the Gospel of Jesus to our nation.
We want and need real discipleship,in our churches, we need committed prayer, unity and obedient love towards God.
We need the likes of Rowan Williams to be radical, and relevant. To see him provoking justice and integrity from our politicians.
Why doesn't he sell Lambeth Palace and give the money to charities that serve the poorest in our world? Then I would start listening to him.
We do not need religion, we need a change of heart. Jesus and the Apostles had to fight the religious of their day, later the followers of Jesus had to fight against the controlling power of the Roman Church. Then the Church of England carried on the role of religious dictatorship.
Then God gave England the Wesleys and Whitfield, to bring the Gospel to the people. Then Methodism became a religion instead of a radical movement for God.
Now we have innumerable denominations, most of which are dying or are spiritually dead already. Their leadership and congregations more concerned about their religion than they are about the lost.
The UK, thank God has a remnant of faithful and passionate men and women, prepared to humble themselves before God and do what He tells them to do.
Unless the Archbishop and the main stream Christian leaders
are prepared to become poor in spirit, and start again like Paul, then they should resign and get a different job.
Because as a public example of what it is to be a true Christian leader, they sadly do more harm than good. May God take the scales off their eyes, so they can see and preach the Gospel of Jesus to a dying nation.
Clive McLaren, Hoylake England
