Brexit and the death of New Athiesm
When people ask me about my take on Brexit my reply is, "Isn't it strange that the four horsemen of the apocalypse are a bit quiet recently?" Dawkins, Harris, Dennett, and Hitchens called themselves this because they were in their minds the upcoming death nell of religion, the unstoppable charge of reason, the virus that would kill of faith, etc., etc, bla, bla. Okay, Christopher Hitchens is dead and Richard Dawkins had a stroke, but even so, their supposed tidal wave of New Atheism seems a bit well...flat of recent. I'm almost disappointed. What has demise of New Atheism to do with Brexit? I would argue quite a lot actually and here is why.
This is more of a gut feeling and I have little in the way of empirical evidence. I sense that what I am saying is also more than wishful thinking on my part as a religious practitioner. Watching the Cumberbatch Brexit movie I was struck at how the Vote Leave strategist Dominic Cummings had similar "gut" feelings about the political mood in 2016. He spoke of his father, an oil worker, being able to feel the ground underneath moving and Cummings had similar sensitivities on a political level that seemed to haunt and possess him. Like those who have synethesia and say red smells like this or that Cummings could claim "Britain sounds this..."New Atheism was bound to have its day. Of course, there will be more annoying movements and in some ways I had a certain sympathy for them. Compared to the cultural Marxist postmodernists they are at least claiming reason and reasonableness.
New Atheism always felt like a quasi Christian heresy. Perhaps that's why I had a secret soft spot for it and its leading men. Their wonderful simplistic plain moralism had a quirky mix of Stoicism and religious fervour. They were the Alpha Course of non-believers, well presented, clipped and bubbling with enthusiasm. Some even formed humanist churches...until the humanist churches got angry with each other and experienced.. schism.. oh dear. I loved the idea of righteous atheist parents marching their teenage kids to atheist church and singing songs and giving them atheist word searches to do while mum and dad sing 'Imagine'. There is something comforting to know that these kids were bored rigid just like many church kids. But, when the new postmodernists starting pushing their weight around they were done for. How can New Atheists compete with the protagonists of identity politics.?How could they cope with those who say a person can be whatever biology they want to as long as it sits rights with them - IRRESPECTIVE of biological facts. In the world of zealousness New Atheism now looks a little pallid.
So where do the spiritual homeless go in the West once the mirage of New Atheism has faded? The answer is the old old story - the greatest story ever told. The alternative is a pointless life on Snapchat or Instagram, perhaps sit in a bedsit staring at a blank wall. The only avenue left is Christianity. I mean what else is there? But, who is presenting this afresh? Prelates in this country are too busy with the worldly business of Brexit or the internal machinations of the Church of England to see it. This is for me a cause of great frustration. Here is this wonderful opportunity to take Christianity to the masses but the churches are too caught up in their own thing to mobilise. One individual stands out and he is not even a practising (you know... Sunday worshipping) Christian. His name is Jordan Peterson.
Peterson, a Canadian a professor of psychology came to prominence in 2016 after he said that he would disobey the new Canadian law which enforced transgender pronouns. His lectures soon became a worldwide hit along with his '12 Rules of Life' bestseller. His numerous video series explore at great depth Biblical of symbolism and life lessons. He is a sell out. Stadiums are being booked out. It's somewhat Jungian if you like that sort of thing. I don't totally buy into it. But, it does tell us that there is a vast vast constituency of post-Dawkins folks who are lapping this stuff up. He is basically telling them that even if they do not ontologically believe in God.. the Bible is the code book, the cipher to the whole Western Judeo-Christian civilisation and also your own wellbeing. It's a case of "Take that dammed cross of yours up the hill to calvary and find beyond it the City of God Mount Zion." Men and in particular young men are finding his style and message life changing. It's the antithesis of the snowflake woe-unto-me-I'm-oppressed movement. What is refreshing is that he is looking over to the churches not as competition but rather egging us on.
Peterson is like a prospector who having unearthed treasure runs back to the village and wildly screams "GOLD". Sadly many in the British churches are like villagers who would respond with "Oh, but we can't come out because it drizzling or it's a health and safety risk. "
As a humble vicar.. I find myself sympathetic with the Alien poster. "In space no one can hear you scream."
Peterson is saying that what lies before us at this juncture of the 21st century is a mass of people looking for our message, the Gospel of Jesus of Nazareth, the Son of God. They are even willing to pay $$$$ to hear it from a non-Christian psychologist in a theatre. This guy is booked out!
So switch on your radio and what do you get for Thought for the Day.... Brexit. What do you get from bishops in the House of Lords... Brexit. When a bishop goes on Newsnight what do you get... Brexit.
C S Lewis said that we had to gaze heavenward as Christians to see our path on earth. He acknowledged that this was a paradox. However, postmodern progressive theology does not buy into this. C S Lewis has no feast day in their lectionaries. Your more likely to have Che Gevera canonised. Rather, the world is divided into the oppressed and the oppressors. Gone are the subtleties of a scholastic theology of evil which would get us to look at ourselves first rather than point the finger outwith. Wormwood and Screwtape had better join the dole queue because the inner life is humbug now. Like the revolutionaries in Les Miserables many postmodernists are too busy building barricades and waving red flags to notice basic humanity.. good manners, proper conduct, kindness and in particular the courage to love enemies.
Apparently we are days from a no deal 'cliff edge' according to the current Archbishop of Canterbury. Now his grace could be right. He does after all have a qualification in economics. But, for Jo Bloggs with no belief even in atheism or Fred Smith smoking himself stupid on weed, or George Average wondering if he will ever have a life, this is just another is long succession of cliff edges. What he wants to see (and I think it predominately 'he') is a transcendent realm, another horizon. Not an opiate for the masses (Marx) and not an escape. He aches for an alternative to Netflix and watching another box set. Rather what is sought is a guiding star to another world that will let him find a better version of himself in this life. To see this he needs to interpret this world as a world soaked in meaning and covered with the Divine fingerprints.
Brexit will sort itself out. One day there will be no EU. There will be no UK. Even the NHS may cease to be. Coronation Street will one day finish. Sorry! Countries and nations last a thousand years or so and then eventually merge into something else. It's all temporary. Christ promised that only His Church is guaranteed survival. I think we could do with talking this up more - don't you?
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