by the Rev Dr Alan Clifford
As the ‘church & state’ debate develops, we need some radical Christian realism. From an institutional, constitutional and cultural perspective, we began to be a ‘Christian nation’ in the days of Alfred the Great (871-901). This began seriously to unravel with the Abortion Act (1967). Since then, secular values have increasingly eroded our Christian cultural identity.
Contrary to the recent bleating of Cameron and Pickles, it is ridiculous to view ourselves as a ‘Christian nation’ any longer. Whatever check ‘state Christianity’ might have exerted on advancing secularism, what remains has become emasculated and utterly hypocritical. Promotion of perverted so-called ‘same-sex marriage’ by Her Majesty’s Government – our complicit Queen also being Supreme Governor of the Church of England – has ended the pretence that we are a ‘Christian nation’. Aggressive secularism has taken hold within a so-called Christian culture whose shameful compromise is now only worthy of mockery.
In short, we are back at the beginning. Just as early Christianity was persecuted by imperial Rome, authentic Christians dare not depend on a now-discredited and decadent culture. We have become a minority voice in a sea of cultural confusion. While secularism is sowing the seeds of its own implosive decadence, the time has returned for authentic, Bible-believing Christians to trust totally in our Living and Eternal Head, Jesus Christ. So let our discredited dependencies go! Though it might be through persecution, we could be at the beginning of an opportune final chapter of Christian and World history, on the eve of the glorious return of the Church’s true Head and Saviour, our Lord Jesus Christ.
