Some of the most influential people in the world were told this week that to rebuild and renew our societies, faith in Christ is essential.
The importance of genuine Christian belief to the urgent task of rebuilding Western civilisation was a central theme at the Alliance for Responsible Citizenship conference, a venture begun by psychologist Jordan Peterson, and a rival to the controversial globalist and liberal World Economic Forum.
The conference held in London brought together a coalition of thinkers, entrepreneurs, politicians and other influencers on the right wing of the political spectrum along with more than 4,000 influential delegates from all over the world.
There was a broad agreement of the importance of Judeo-Christian principles to the transformation of society, though not all speakers were Christians. The overall theme was encouragement in working towards rebuilding our declining civilisation and its values and freedoms. Speakers included Muslim-to-atheist-to-Christian convert Ayaan Hirsi Ali, who criticised multiculturalism and said the "nation state needs Christian morality," while evangelical apologist Amy Orr-Ewing spoke on the importance of redemption and forgiveness.
Many Christian speakers emphasised the importance of genuine faith to rebuilding our nations.
"There's been a lot of talk and there will be more talk at this conference about economic development, political development and so on," US Bishop Robert Barron told the conference. "I'm here as a bishop of the Catholic Church to speak to you about God, because my deep conviction is there can be no real political and economic development without some reference to the 'summum bonum,' to the highest good.
"You can't tell the story of Western civilization without reference to God. My thesis is when God is bracketed, God is set aside or forgotten, societies tend to collapse in on themselves and they implode. If we
want real progress and not just a superficial one we have to have reference to God."
There was a range of more secular speakers, on topics as wide-ranging as artificial intelligence, the care of young children, and the potential harm of smartphones, to a number of current political and economic debates. But an underlying theme was the decline in morality that was to blame for the woes of the West.
Bishop Barron added that "everything in this world, all of our accomplishments, are under God's judgement, they're under the criterion established by God", and warned about the dangers of idolatry.
"Don't believe the modern lie that somehow belief in God chains the spirit," the Bishop said, to applause. "The opposite is true. It's belief in God ... that unleashes the spirit."
Christian thinker Os Guinness also gave a rousing speech, reflecting on events since the first ARC, which took place just days after the horrors of the October 7 attacks on Israel: "Since then we've seen the incredible
convergence between radical Islamism long planned by Hitler and the grand Mufti of Jerusalem back in 1941 and radical Marxism in its cultural Marxist form and the product of the 1967 call for a long march through the institutions, and what we've seen since 2023 is that fateful convergence of these two radicalisms."
He was referencing the documented 1941 meeting between Muslim leader Haj Amin al-Husseini and the Nazi leader, where the former said they shared the same enemies - "the English, the Jews, and the Communists".
These forces are uniting in their hatred of the West, said Guinness. Recent years have shown that secular humanism and the "enlightenment" that was supposed to sideline faith and usher in an era of reason has been shown to be "absolutely inadequate" as it has led to intolerance, Marxism, postmodernism and extremism.
"This is a challenging moment, and we can't rely on clichés and warm ourselves with truisms," said Guinness. "We're at the showdown moment in Western civilization.
"The Christian faith will not do anything for civilization if it's viewed as useful. It will do nothing for civilization if we turn it into a psychological version of whatever. It will only be true and effective if it's understood to be true, and you have enough people who are citizens who have an ultimate loyalty to what they see is ultimate reality."
Orr-Ewing focused on the importance of Christian beliefs: "Forgiveness and redemption are one of the richest traditions in Western culture. They are being lost to cancel culture in a manner reminiscent of totalitarian regimes. Redemption is one of the great themes of the literature and art of civilization that has so mattered to us as human beings."
The overall tone was positive, inspirational and encouraging towards action. Baroness Philippa Stroud, one of the founders, closed the conference by saying: "Many have said we live in an 'era of decline'. But we have an urgent message for Western leaders: decline is not inevitable, but we must act to renew our societies. I hope that this year's conference marks an important step in the vital work of building this brighter future."
Some on the left wing of politics were up in arms about the conference and speakers they consider to be controversial, from Reform Party leader Nigel Farage and Conservative Party rival Kemi Badenoch to Triggernometry podcast host Konstantin Kisin, whose interview with former Spectator editor Fraser Nelson about what makes a person British caused controversy this week, too.
The speeches given at the conference advocating a return to free-market capitalism and warning of the harms of 'net zero' on the economy were perceived negatively on the left.
But the conference had a broader spectrum of opinion than just these ideas, which can be seen in the range of panels and talks mostly available online via YouTube. Some speakers, such as Labour peer Lord Maurice Glasman, architect of "Blue Labour", or former MP Miriam Cates, are more economically and socially conservative.
There has been much talk about a "vibe shift" of a turning back towards more conservative and/or Christian values in the culture in general. There was no doubt that many in the crowd were relishing the changes that Donald Trump is bringing in – a critic of the new President on the speaker list was even booed by the crowd. But this was a rare moment of discord.
"I joined 4,500 conservatives, mainly from Europe, at the @arc_forum in London," wrote Rev Johnnie Moore on X. "Really amazing watching this movement sweep the globe, a return to our founding principles."
Heather Tomlinson is a freelance Christian writer. Find more of her work at https://heathertomlinson.substack.com or via X (twitter) @heathertomli
