Are we all doomed? Is the moral and spritual decline in the UK and other western nations so entrenched as to be irrevocable? I write this in the wake of New Zealand becoming the latest developed nation to legalise same-sex marriage and in the anticipation that in spite of the valiant rearguard action by the Coaltion for Marriage and their supporters in the House of Lords, we are going to follow suit in this country. Is there any chance that the "Roy Jenkins agenda" of the late 1960s which de-criminalised abortion and homosexuality will ever be reversed?
At the moment, it requires a lot of faith to believe that it can, but history, both political and spiritual, provides examples of catastrophic wrong turnings that were eventually reversed. In the 4th Century, a clergyman called Arius stated that Jesus was not God - or rather a sort of "secondary God", and that He was a created being. This teaching was regarded as erroneous by most church leaders at the time, and condemned by the Council of Nicaea in 325AD. However during the reign of Constantius (337-361) a number of influential bishops adopted the Arian view, gaining the support of the Emperor and persecuting or pressurising their opponents. Such was their influence and deceit that it was said that after the Council Of Rimini in 359AD that "The whole world groaned, and was astonished to find Arian."
One notable man had consistently refused to budge - St. Athanasius, Bishop of Alexandria. He could see that if Jesus was not divine and only a created being, the Christian message of salvation was null and void. Five times he was forced into exile for his loyalty to the truth. At times he had so little support among the powerful figures in the church or the government that it was said of him, "Athanaisus contra mumdum et mundum contra Athanasium" - Athanasius against the world and the world against Athanasius. Incredibly however, thanks to his inflexibility on this essential Christian doctrine, within 20 years of Constantius' death, Arianism within the Roman Empire had completely collapsed - a disastrous wrong turning was reversed, even though Athanasius himself died in 373AD and did not live to see the formal vindiciation of the truths for which he stood at the Council of Constantinople in 381AD.
Fast forward to 1956 and the appearance of Anthony Crosland's book The Future of Socialism - a book which anticipated the changes implemented by Roy Jenkins. Crosland claimed at the time that "the national shift to the Left, with all the implications for the balance of power, may be accepted as permanent." He dismissed the writings of F.A. Hayek as irrelevant. Thirty years later, another Labour politician, Roy Hattersley, recognised that Crosland had been mistaken. In Choose Freedom (1987), he wrote, "many of the irreversible changes which Crosland observed have been reversed by Margaret Thatcher’s government."
Two very different wrong turnings seemingly regarded as irrevocable at the time have proved not to be the case. True, the Jehovah's Witnesses believe in a sort of recycled, garbled Arianism and a few Trade Union leaders still support the classic Marxist call for the nationalisation of the means of production, but neither opinion is held any more by the powerful or influential in our country.
It will require the same sort courage and conviction shown by Athanasius and Lady Thatcher against heresy and classic socialism respectively if the battles against abortion, euthanasia and homosexuality are to be won. It will require well-thought out arguments, well-researched evidence of the damage being done to our society and above all. a willingness to put up with the hostility of the left-wing media and their allies, but for the very survival of our nation, these battles must be fought. We may find ourselves "contra mundum" and most of the "mundum" contra us, but with God on our side and history to inspire us, no evil need be regarded as irrevocable.
At the moment, it requires a lot of faith to believe that it can, but history, both political and spiritual, provides examples of catastrophic wrong turnings that were eventually reversed. In the 4th Century, a clergyman called Arius stated that Jesus was not God - or rather a sort of "secondary God", and that He was a created being. This teaching was regarded as erroneous by most church leaders at the time, and condemned by the Council of Nicaea in 325AD. However during the reign of Constantius (337-361) a number of influential bishops adopted the Arian view, gaining the support of the Emperor and persecuting or pressurising their opponents. Such was their influence and deceit that it was said that after the Council Of Rimini in 359AD that "The whole world groaned, and was astonished to find Arian."
One notable man had consistently refused to budge - St. Athanasius, Bishop of Alexandria. He could see that if Jesus was not divine and only a created being, the Christian message of salvation was null and void. Five times he was forced into exile for his loyalty to the truth. At times he had so little support among the powerful figures in the church or the government that it was said of him, "Athanaisus contra mumdum et mundum contra Athanasium" - Athanasius against the world and the world against Athanasius. Incredibly however, thanks to his inflexibility on this essential Christian doctrine, within 20 years of Constantius' death, Arianism within the Roman Empire had completely collapsed - a disastrous wrong turning was reversed, even though Athanasius himself died in 373AD and did not live to see the formal vindiciation of the truths for which he stood at the Council of Constantinople in 381AD.
Fast forward to 1956 and the appearance of Anthony Crosland's book The Future of Socialism - a book which anticipated the changes implemented by Roy Jenkins. Crosland claimed at the time that "the national shift to the Left, with all the implications for the balance of power, may be accepted as permanent." He dismissed the writings of F.A. Hayek as irrelevant. Thirty years later, another Labour politician, Roy Hattersley, recognised that Crosland had been mistaken. In Choose Freedom (1987), he wrote, "many of the irreversible changes which Crosland observed have been reversed by Margaret Thatcher’s government."
Two very different wrong turnings seemingly regarded as irrevocable at the time have proved not to be the case. True, the Jehovah's Witnesses believe in a sort of recycled, garbled Arianism and a few Trade Union leaders still support the classic Marxist call for the nationalisation of the means of production, but neither opinion is held any more by the powerful or influential in our country.
It will require the same sort courage and conviction shown by Athanasius and Lady Thatcher against heresy and classic socialism respectively if the battles against abortion, euthanasia and homosexuality are to be won. It will require well-thought out arguments, well-researched evidence of the damage being done to our society and above all. a willingness to put up with the hostility of the left-wing media and their allies, but for the very survival of our nation, these battles must be fought. We may find ourselves "contra mundum" and most of the "mundum" contra us, but with God on our side and history to inspire us, no evil need be regarded as irrevocable.