What our suicide problem says about our society.

Why are young men in Britain killing themselves at the rate of 17 every day? It is a national scandal that has rattled the Government, hence the announcement this week of the appointment of a Minister for Suicide Prevention.

Prime Minister Theresa May said the appointment of Health Minister Jackie Doyle-Price to the new role will help tackle the stigma surrounding suicide. She was speaking on what has been designated World Mental Health Day, and she also announced increased funding for the Samaritans and for schools’ mental health work among children.

Mental health is a worldwide issue of immense proportions, especially in Western nations. In the USA nearly 45,000 people killed themselves in 2016 – more than double the homicide rate. In Britain severe mental illness has been rising steadily since the beginning of the 1990s and has become the biggest problem area for the NHS. Women are now more prone to severe mental disorder than men, but men under the age of 49 are more likely to take their own lives.

It is this particular problem of suicide among young men that is troubling mental health experts. The train I was due to take to London last week was cancelled due to “an incident on the line”. Yet another young man had jumped from a railway bridge in front of a train. I did not know this one but I did know a young man who did the same thing recently. I knew his wife and two young children. He had become unemployed and introverted so no one could communicate with him. He was just 36.

The particular problem of suicide among young men is troubling mental health experts.

We probably all know similar tragedies that are happening in families throughout the land, creating untold misery, hardship and poverty. It is, of course, those left behind who suffer most – regret and self-recrimination are hard to live with when tragedy has hit a family. The first suicide funeral I had to conduct is still a vivid memory when I too suffered personal blame. She was a beautiful young woman in my church congregation and I had deep regret that I had not been aware of her problems. But is there something as a society that we can do?

Understanding the Symptoms

We all need to become more aware of the symptoms of mental health problems – stress, anxiety and depression are all signs that should alert us to the difficulties that someone is facing. It’s when we ignore these signs that we blame ourselves later on. Being more alert and more caring for others would undoubtedly save lives. But we are all too busy, too self-centred on our own little world to bother with other people.

The number of young people you see today walking the streets with their eyes glued to their smartphone and unaware of what is going on around them is a vivid expression of the level of individualism and unreality that now afflicts a whole generation. Many young people live in a virtual world where they have hundreds of contacts but very little personal interaction – a situation exacerbated by social media, which has been linked to numerous mental health problems.

Many social studies show that loneliness is suffered by millions in the population, even when they are living in densely populated cities. Of course, much of this is due to the breakdown of family life: once, large families cared for each other and interacted with other similar families, providing plentiful opportunity for friendships to flourish. Today, we lack community and live in a virtual world.

Individualism and unreality now afflicts a whole generation, with many people living in a virtual world.

Another big culture change that has particularly hit young men is a loss of masculine identity in a world where women demand equality and sameness. Men were once proud to be the breadwinners and take care of their young wives while they were nursing children. Today, career women employ nannies and childminders so that they can become the breadwinner, pursuing their ambitions to make it to the top in their professions.

Lack of Peace with God

Human beings have immense adaptability and no doubt men will adjust to their new status in society, but we are clearly in a transition period which places extra strains, anxieties and insecurities upon individuals. The social changes we have been experiencing in the past two generations have coincided with the loss of faith in God and the abandonment of our Judeo-Christian heritage that provided fundamental security in the lives of individuals and whole communities.

It is the lack of this sense of being at peace with the God of Creation who made us in his own image that is the most serious absence in our modern culture. If we really want to understand the problems in our society we need to read the first chapter of Romans, where the Apostle Paul offers a penetrating analysis of social change. He says that once we suppress truth, we are driven by the powers of darkness that lead from one degree of corruption to the next.

Jesus taught his disciples the cure for anxiety. He said “If you love me, you will obey what I command. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counsellor to be with you forever – the Spirit of truth.” He also said “My command is this: love each other as I have loved you” (John 14:15 and 15:12).

The combination of family breakdown, bringing the loss of fatherhood to millions, together with the loss of the Fatherhood of God, is the devastating product of our postmodern, atheistic, humanistic world.

If we really want to understand the problems in our society, we need to read the first chapter of Romans.

The only cure for all the ailments in society, especially the anxieties and insecurities that lead to black despair and suicide, is the rediscovery of the Gospel, biblical truth and the Fatherly love of God for each of us his children. The Bible tells us that “The fruit of righteousness will be peace; the effect of righteousness will be quietness and confidence for ever” (Isa 32:17). In the New Testament Paul tells us that “The peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus” (Phil 4:7).

It is being at peace with God that transforms our whole worldview and our interaction with other human beings. Paul urged the Christians in Rome “Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind” (Rom 12:2). This is the message that the new Minister for Suicide Prevention needs to understand if she is to make any real progress in her work of transforming society.

Post-war pop culture and the Church.

We continue our serialisation of ‘Blessing the Church?’, previous instalments of which can now be found here. After last week’s outline of the dramatic social and cultural changes in the West that followed the end of World War II, Dr Clifford Hill now looks at key characteristics of these changes and the impact these had on the Church.

CHARACTERISTICS OF POP CULTURE

Youth-Dominated

Pop culture was essentially a youth culture which rejected the old, the outworn and the outdated. The emphasis was upon a search for new things and the discarding of the old. It was a culture from which, in the early days, the elderly felt shut out and devalued. Even in such things as clothing, the elderly felt disadvantaged as the consumer-driven market sought to satisfy the demands of the young.

The development of new technology in the brave new world emerging after the devastation of World War II reinforced the adulation of new things and led to the development of what was seen as 'the throwaway society'.

On the positive side, the period of reconstruction after the war needed the vitality and creativity of youth. It needed fresh energy, new ideas, unhindered by the failed policies of the past which had dragged the world into two devastating wars in the first half of the century. But the adoption of new ideas needed to be guided by firmly-rooted principles, if confusion and chaos were to be avoided.

Anti-Tradition

Any new movement contains an element of protest and rejection of the past. Pop culture was seeking to develop its own ideology and was therefore challenging traditional values. Inevitably the collected wisdom of the past was questioned as a whole new set of social mores applicable to the present day was sought.

Young people were quick to embrace new ideas and to say that the policies pursued by their fathers had only led the world into the horrors of war, culminating in the nuclear bomb devastation of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The anti-nuclear campaigns of CND linked with the more positive campaigns of the peace movement which produced the 'flower people' and slogans such as 'Make love not war'.

The period of post-war reconstruction needed the vitality and creativity of youth, but this also needed to be guided by firmly-rooted principles if chaos was to be avoided.

On the negative side, it increased awareness of racial differences and stirred passions. The campaign for racial justice had both a negative and a positive side. Positively it affirmed the equality of all peoples regardless of race or colour while at the same time protesting against those traditions and institutions which debarred people on grounds of race, religion or ethnic origin.

The anti-traditionalism of pop culture led to a despising of traditional institutions and even, in extreme cases, to the rejection of professionalism and scholarship. An extreme example was the Cultural Revolution in Communist China which persecuted and degraded teachers, university lecturers and scholars, often parading them through the streets as an act of public humiliation.

In Britain there were not these extremes, but public attitudes towards the professions changed radically. Teachers were no longer held in high esteem, neither were the clergy or any of those who served the public.

Individualism

The worldwide liberation movement of the post-war era spilled over into pop culture, not only in politically-orientated protest movements but also in positive campaigns to alleviate suffering and to serve the world's poor and hungry.

The 'Freedom from Hunger' campaign of the 1960s, the Oxford Campaign for Famine Relief (which became Oxfam) and numerous others all reflected the growing concern of the new generation for freedom, equality and justice. These social values were part of the growing recognition of the worth of each individual and the sanctity of human life. In emphasising these values, pop culture reacted against the wanton sacrifice of life in two world wars. It was also a reaction against what was seen as the oppression the ruling classes exercised over the world's poor and powerless peoples.

This recognition of the worth of each individual had its down side. What began as the pursuit of justice rapidly became a demand for rights. It was rights, not privileges, that changed attitudes towards the Welfare State in Britain. Instead of enjoying the privilege of living in a society where the needs of each individual were cared for by the whole community, these benefits were soon taken for granted.

The younger generation knew nothing of the privations endured by former generations. Instead of thankfulness for the peace and security now enjoyed, the prevailing mood became a determination to obtain the maximum benefits available to each individual. Inner-city areas saw the rise of campaigns for community rights. 'Claimants Unions' sprang up in the 1970s to ensure that individuals were able to claim all their rights and entitlements from the State.

The anti-traditionalism of pop culture led to a despising of traditional values, social mores and institutions.

The campaigns for racial justice and justice for women soon produced minority group rights: feminist campaigns, the gay rights movement and the pro-abortion lobby with the campaign slogan 'A woman's right to choose'. These movements were fundamentally anti-social, in that they contributed towards the breakdown of traditional family life and the downgrading of marriage. They were driven by a destructive spirit in which the only thing that mattered was the philosophy of individualism, in which personal morality and personal relationships are largely determined by the rights, desires and demands of the individual.

The same determinants have played a creative role in the social values emerging from pop culture. They are essentially anti-social and dysfunctional rather than creative of a healthy society. Their end product is the dissolution of society. The underlying lesson is that ethical nihilism leads to social nihilism. Moral anarchy leads to social anarchy.

Personal Involvement

The post-war era of reconstruction that gave rise to pop culture was an age of activity. Pop culture reflected this with all the dynamism of youth. They wanted to get involved personally in the radical changes that were already beginning to move from theory to practical reality by the beginning of the 1960s. Pop culture encouraged young people to get involved in their community, to take to the streets and demonstrate, to take their protests to the town hall or to turn the student union debate into days of action for better grants and living conditions.

The negative anti-professionalism of pop culture also included a strong positive element of personal involvement in every kind of activity. It was the age of DIY. Do-it-yourself in home improvement resulted in an enormous industry of tools and provision for the amateur builder. DIY extended to every kind of activity, from making your own music to arranging your own house conveyancing. DIY in education gave rise to the Open University, while DIY in sport and entertainment resulted in a boom in a wide variety of sporting activity, from athletics and field sports to aerobics and keep fit, to climbing and hang-gliding.

Pop culture initiated what was essentially the day of the amateur. Personal involvement plus lots of help from commercial products enabled the amateur to produce results every bit as good as the professional.

Sensuousness

Pop culture rapidly swept away the old Victorian taboos on sex and the expression of emotions. It became a new age of freedom where the emphasis upon individual rights and personal involvement encouraged the exhibition rather than the suppression of the emotions. This was considered psychologically healthy.

The ‘Dr Spock’ generation of demand-fed babies and undisciplined children became the pop culture teenagers: the teeny-boppers who screamed wildly at their pop idols and lost themselves in waves of emotion at rock concerts and gigs. These activities paved the way for the drug-related rave parties of the 1990s.

Pop culture gave rise to a new age of sexual freedom aided by birth control and abortion. Sex education in schools followed the repeal of censorship in the entertainments industry, allowing explicit sexual scenes on TV, film and video, as well as in books and magazines.

As the moral mores of the nations fell apart, so the media's reporting of scandals, details of violence and explicit sex became more lurid, both stimulating and feeding the appetite for the sensuous. Inevitably, intimate media accounts of the lifestyles of pop stars encouraged young people to follow the activities of their idols and imitate their behaviour.

The lesson of post-war pop culture is that ethical nihilism leads to social nihilism. Moral anarchy leads to social anarchy.

Lawlessness

The radical change in the philosophy of education in the post-war era taught children not only to discover things for themselves, but also to question traditional values, leading to the questioning of authority, social norms and religious beliefs. The latter was aided and abetted by the popularisation of liberal theology through books such as Honest to God by John Robinson, the bishop who had defended the publication of Lady Chatterley's Lover, which broke new ground in explicitly sexual literature.

The old norms, moral precepts and social values, together with their foundational religious beliefs rooted in the Judeo-Christian faith, were rapidly crumbling. By the middle of the 1960s pop culture had become an unstoppable band-waggon rolling the nation into a social revolution, the end product of which only the exceptionally far-sighted could see.

The breakdown of moral absolutes left the field wide open for 'situation ethics' in which the rights and wrongs of every action for each individual would have to be sought within the prevailing situation and circumstances. This paved the way for increasing lawlessness, for the lowering of standards of professional conduct, and for radical changes in business ethics and the practices of corporate institutions. Thus the way was open for corruption in politics, industry and commerce leading inevitably to the increase of crime, drugs, family breakdown, child abuse, street violence and terrorism.

Pop culture was a child of revolt. It was born out of a spirit of rebellion, essentially a destructive rather than a creative spirit. Its anti-traditionalism was essentially the rejection of morality, of fundamental belief and of law. It was DIY in the rules of behaviour with a self-centred individualism that was essentially destructive of community. It was social anarchy and the inevitable result of anarchy is the destruction of society.

Power

The 20^th Century ushered in an age of powerlessness. Two world wars in the first half of the century swept millions of men and women from many nations into the horror of modern armed conflict. They had no option but to fight and even those who remained at home were mercilessly bombed in cities throughout Europe, powerless to defend themselves.

The post-war period of reconstruction saw thousands of inner-city communities destroyed as their homes were bulldozed and replaced by tower blocks. Others saw their homes destroyed to make way for motorways which they were powerless to resist.

As radical social changes were enforced by law, foundational social values began to crumble, moral principles were neglected, marriage breakdown increased, the stability of family life was undermined, crime rates soared and a general sense of powerlessness to withstand the onslaught of the forces of social change became widespread. The genie was out of the bottle and no-one had the power to put it back.

Pop culture was a child of revolt. It was born out of a spirit of rebellion, essentially a destructive rather than a creative spirit.

The economic boom years gave way to recession. Powerful commercial enterprises collapsed, bankruptcies increased, mortgage lenders foreclosed on the homes of defaulting house owners. The Englishman's castle was built on sand. People were powerless even to defend their homes.

The sense of powerlessness was increased by Europeanisation. Europe was swallowing up the little island which had fiercely maintained its freedom and independence against all invaders for a thousand years. Norman Tebbit summed it up when he said that the day would come when the 'Chancellor's budget speech would be faxed from Frankfurt'. The politicians, the Government, the Cabinet and the Prime Minister all began to share the sense of powerlessness to withstand the forces of change which were sweeping across the nation. Even the Queen had her 'annus horribilis', being powerless to defend her family from the adulterous and rebellious spirits of the age.

The Charismatic Movement

In the midst of these traumatic social changes and upheaval, a new phenomenon appeared within the Church: the charismatic movement. It did not arise in the immediate post-World War II period - in fact, it had no clear beginnings. There was no mighty outpouring of the Spirit of God as on the Day of Pentecost, no fresh outpouring of the Holy Spirit as at the beginning of the Pentecostal movement at Azusa Street in 1906; there was no great revival, no clear move of God resulting in the conversion of multitudes of unbelievers.

Most charismatic leaders today trace the beginnings of the movement to the middle or late 1960s. But the first really recognisable signs of a movement did not occur until the early 1970s, when home-based fellowships or 'house churches' began to proliferate.

Whatever date we assign to the beginnings of the charismatic movement, it has to be acknowledged that pop culture was already a firmly established part of the social scene. The destructive effects of the spirit of rebellion could clearly be seen, biblical belief was under attack, traditional morality was in rapid decline, so too was church attendance. The Church, especially in inner-city areas, was in the full flight of retreat with a high closure rate of redundant church buildings, especially in areas of immigrant settlement.

It was against the background of spiritual atrophy and moribund institutionalism in the mainline churches that the charismatic movement emerged. It was born out of the womb of frustration with the status quo, rather than through a notable move of the Spirit of God.

A Genuine Move of God?

The charismatic movement came to birth at a time when the spirit of moral and social rebellion was triumphing in the battle with traditionalism in the secular world. This was the time when the most socially destructive Acts of Parliament were put on the Statute Book. It was a time when it seemed as though the whole nation was intent upon overturning past tradition and rejecting the social values and moral precepts of their forefathers. This was the spirit of the age in which the charismatic movement emerged and there is good evidence for the contention that many of the social characteristics of that period were birthed into it, the significance of which we are only now beginning to see.

We may go farther and ask the question, 'Was the charismatic movement a move of God? Was it actually initiated by the Lord Jesus, the Head of the Church?' It is not easy to give an unequivocal affirmative to that question due to its lack of a clear beginning and the fact that it was not rooted in the conviction of sin, repentance and revival.

The charismatic movement was born out of the womb of frustration with the status quo, rather than through a notable move of the Spirit of God.

There was not even a great wave of renewal sweeping through the Church or a 'holiness' movement characterised by self-denial, humility and self-sacrificial suffering with the major emphasis upon the cross. These are the characteristics of the present-day Church in China which has arisen out of the flames of persecution and martyrdom of the saints. In China there was no spectacular outpouring of the Spirit in any one place to mark the beginning of the period of great spiritual awakening now sweeping through that nation, but there were all the marks of authentic New Testament spirituality, including a willingness to die for the faith.

The charismatic movement, by contrast, had none of these marks and it is for this reason that we may fairly ask whether it was the creation of God or man. In fact, it bore many of the social characteristics of the Western nations in which it arose. It developed in an environment of easy affluence and it offered a form of spirituality which appealed strongly to the rising new middle classes seeking quick self-advancement and status in the new post-war social order.

Before offering an answer to the question of origins, we will look at the characteristics of the charismatic movement under the same headings as we used when looking at pop culture.

Next week: The charismatic movement as a child of pop culture.

First published in 1995, as part of chapter 2 of ‘Blessing the Church?’ (Eagle Publishing, pp10-39). Revised November 2017.