Status in the New Testament Church

Frances Rabbitts reviews Samuel Burgess’ timely defence of Britain’s political heritage.

Mention the word ‘conservatism’ these days in the context of politics and many will automatically assume you are referring to the Conservative Party. The word may also trigger an adverse reaction, as it has gathered some negative connotations: unfettered greed, elitism, obstinate refusal to accept change.

In this timely, concise volume from Wilberforce Publications, Samuel Burgess pares away the vagaries and peculiarities of party politics from the much longer-standing (even ancient) political/philosophical tradition of conservatism, acknowledging where the former and the latter have coincided over the years, but also where they have parted company.

In so doing, Burgess ‘rediscovers’ conservatism as a rich heritage of principles and values with a huge amount to offer in modern-day Britain. His contention is that politics is a moral endeavour (being concerned with the bettering of individual, civic and national life) and that only conservatism is morally substantial enough to guide us in the days ahead.

A Valid Philosophy for Our Time

At 190 pages this is a relatively slim volume, but the prose is considered, eloquent and thought-provoking. Complex subjects are dealt with cogently, though it is by no means a light read.

Burgess starts by dispelling the myth that conservatism is just about preserving the status quo, unpacking its substantive principles, its historic roots in English common law and its debt to the ‘father’ of modern conservatism, Edmund Burke, who is quoted regularly thereafter. Eight subsequent chapters consider matters of civic importance in Britain today, including the idea of the nation-state, the market, freedom under law, culture, religion, the environment and even the idea of beauty, showcasing in relation to each the virtues of a truly conservative approach.

Burgess does not provide comprehensive accounts of these subjects (or the book would be far longer than it is) but offers succinct outlines in accordance with his core argument. As such, this is a book that will start conversations more than finish them. But Burgess undoubtedly achieves his overall goal: to set conservatism back on the table as a valid philosophy for our time (and, presumably, to remind those who ally themselves with the ‘Conservative’ Party what they ought to be standing for).

Burgess ‘rediscovers’ conservatism as a rich heritage of principles and values with a huge amount to offer in modern-day Britain.

Refreshingly Constructive

In unpacking the goods of conservatism it is obviously necessary to highlight how and why other approaches have failed. Burgess strikes a good balance, not indulging in excessive debunking of philosophies like liberalism and socialism but letting the virtues of conservatism speak for themselves. As such, the book is a refreshingly constructive, uplifting read.

The beauty of conservatism, according to Burgess, is that it is not so much a grand political project as a common-sense set of principles, rooted in an objective view of reality and morality (i.e. truth really exists, as do objective standards of good and evil). These principles can be applied to the specifics of any issue or circumstance. Conservatism is therefore a creative, flexible philosophy which allows for society to develop according to the uniqueness of individual places and people – provided they remain rooted in the soil of morality. Conservatism is, according to Burgess, “a political expression of a belief in moral order” (p162).

Unlike liberalism and socialism, conservatism recognises that human nature contains both good and evil and seeks to harness this complex, messy moral reality for the betterment of society. This realism gives conservatism appeal to everyone, not just to Christians. However, throughout the book we catch glimpses of conservatism’s Christian roots – for instance its understanding that true freedom is not about license and permissiveness, but about deference to legitimate authority and flourishing within good moral boundaries.

As the chapters unfold, we discover that conservatism is a friend of gradual, organic change (rather than overnight revolution) and is innately social, recognising the importance of kinship and community. Indeed, we discover that conservatism has people and their best interests at its heart.

Because each chapter is relatively brief given the depth of the subject material, it would have been good to have some further reading recommended at chapter ends. In places, Burgess could also do more to connect his comments back into his main argument about conservatism, especially for readers without a grounding in political philosophy. But these criticisms are minor and do not detract from the overall worth of the book.

Unlike liberalism and socialism, conservatism recognises that human nature contains both good and evil and seeks to harness this complex, messy moral reality for the betterment of society.

High Stakes

Today, the stakes are high. Transnational governance threatens to supersede the nation-state, libertarian individualism is leading to community disintegration and aggressive secular liberalism is stifling freedom of speech. We desperately need to recover a more reasonable, positive, common-sense approach. More than this, we need to have the confidence to put morality and belief back at the heart of politics, recognising that this is the only route to social order and true flourishing.

These are complex issues, but Burgess provides a robust, hopeful defence of why conservatism’s framework for a flourishing society is unparalleled. Today, we seem intent on throwing away its hard-won benefits, accrued over centuries, and these will not be recouped overnight. Our challenge is not to recreate the past, however, but to learn from it and look to the future. The first step is to re-envision ourselves, strengthening our confidence in values which have been much derided and ‘deconstructed’ in recent years. In this, Burgess has done us all a great service.

Whether or not we can recover what has been lost without wholesale repentance and return to belief in God, Burgess leaves unanswered. Nevertheless, the book remains an empowering reminder that Christian beliefs birthed a rich political tradition in Britain with much to commend itself to our modern age. Conservative principles are grounded in timeless truths and will still be standing when all other ideologies have crumbled.

This book is a must-read for those in government, for anyone concerned about how to blend faith with politics and for all who seek a better understanding of how Judeo-Christianity has blessed our politics in the past and could yet do so again.

‘The Moral Case for Conservatism’ (2019, Wilberforce Publications, paperback, e-book) is available online for £10 (£5.49 on Kindle).

You may also be interested in Samuel Burgess’s first book:

‘Edmund Burke’s Battle with Liberalism’ by Samuel Burgess (2017, Wilberforce Publications)

The British people benefit from an extraordinary political heritage, but few know very much about it, or about the debt we owe to the faithful individuals who went before us and helped to create it. 18^th-Century Irish statesman Edmund Burke is one such giant, on whose shoulders we now stand.

In this, Samuel Burgess’s first book, we are treated to an in-depth look at the ‘father’ of modern conservatism and his political legacy. Edmund Burke sought to uphold a biblical approach to politics at a time when the tyranny and moral anarchy of the French Revolution were threatening to spill across the Channel into Britain, ideologically and physically.

Burke’s political defence of the realm was influential at the time, but his was also a prophetic voice. Though libertarianism was rejected in the 18^th Century as too radical, it enjoyed a resurgence in the late 20^th Century and now dominates our politics, media, language and culture, paving the way once again to coercion and authoritarianism.

Burke’s political defence of the realm was influential at the time, but his was also a prophetic voice.

In seven chapters, Burgess unpacks Burke’s Christian beliefs and how they shaped his approach to politics. As he goes, Burgess shows how unique the Christian conservative tradition is in its beliefs about humanity and the world and what it offers in an era of political turbulence and confusion.

In the latter part of the book, there is some similarity with material in ‘The Moral Case for Conservatism’, but the difference in focus between the two means that both books are still worthwhile purchases. ‘Edmund Burke’s Battle with Liberalism’ lays a good historical foundation for ‘The Moral Case for Conservatism’ and the books can be seen as companion volumes.

Burgess’s first book is perhaps a little less accessible and more academic than his second, but no less important. Apart from anything else, it is a solid encouragement that the path we tread today has been trodden before: that great men of faith have gone before us, battling the same powers, learning the same lessons and shining a light on the way forward which we would do well to heed. Edmund Burke is not a well-known name outside the realm of political theory, but it ought to be. We owe him much.

‘Edmund Burke’s Battle with Liberalism’ (180pp) is available from Amazon for £9.99 (paperback) or £4.99 (Kindle). Find out more on the Wilberforce Publications website.

Has God revealed a way forward for the nation?

Editorial introduction: While at Issachar Ministries’ recent prayer conference at The Hayes Conference Centre in Derbyshire, our Editor-in-Chief received a word from the Lord about the spiritual significance of the DUP. This word has been written out in letter form and sent today to Prime Minister Theresa May. In the letter, she is asked to consider praying with the DUP MPs for a way forward for the nation.

We copy the main text below and ask for your prayers that its message will be received as the Lord intends.

***

Dear Prime Minister,

A certain man walked through a nearby field and discovered a jewel of immense value. He sold everything and raised funds to buy that field. That was a parable that Jesus told about the Kingdom of God (Matt 13:44). You, Prime Minister, have within your grasp the precious jewel that Jesus described: it is the 10 MPs in the DUP, who are all committed Christians. They represent the only province in the United Kingdom which has adhered steadfastly to biblical standards on life issues.

They are despised and rejected by many of their fellow MPs in the House of Commons. But God loves to use those who are considered of no account. He raises them up to use them for mighty miracles, as is told in many biblical accounts. Gideon, for example, said that he was the least in his tribe, itself low-ranked by all the others – yet he was used mightily to save his own nation.

In numerical terms the DUP may not have much political significance, yet they are pleasing in the sight of God for their determined stand for biblically-based values – the true ‘British values’ that once defined our entire nation. I believe that this is why they have been elevated to the position of influence within the Government that they now hold.

The DUP represent the only part of the United Kingdom that has rejected the relentless advance of secular humanism and defended family values, for instance by refusing to allow abortion to pollute the land with the blood of the innocent. Northern Ireland has seen more than its fair share of the shedding of innocent blood through the years of the Troubles that divided the community and wreaked havoc in so many families and individual lives. Maybe it is because they have seen so much bloodshed that they defend fiercely the right to life of unborn children, and resist steadfastly the pressure to conform to postmodernist standards that have become the new normal in the rest of the UK.

Prime Minister, whether or not you personally support all of their political decisions, your Christian upbringing will have given you a knowledge of the teaching of the Bible which the DUP openly and publicly try to uphold. They are the priceless jewel that is within your grasp – the values of the Kingdom of Heaven which this nation so desperately needs.

Their value may not be recognised by most of their fellow MPs, but if you were willing to invite them into your home to spend time praying with you, I believe that you would immediately find the answer to the most intractable problems that you face.

There is a way through that will enable you to deliver Brexit to the British people, to whom you are utterly devoted. The DUP – this little group of Bible-believing Christians – are your jewel in the crown, given to you at this time, I believe, to help you find a way forward. Their value to you and to the British nation is priceless.

I’m sure you know the many accounts in the Bible showing that God loves to use those deemed small and insignificant to carry out his greatest miracles. In that way he gets all the glory, as happened with Gideon’s 300 and when Jesus used five bread loaves to feed 5,000. But this has also happened more recently, as I well remember from my boyhood. Prime Minister Churchill acknowledged that in the face of certain defeat, with our troops stranded on the beaches of Dunkirk, our nation was only saved by the hundreds of little boats who responded valiantly to the call to rescue our men, accomplishing what the big ships could not.

In the current impasse, you truly need a miracle. But you have available to you a little group of Bible-believing Christians who represent the voters of Northern Ireland. I believe they hold the key to the conundrum that has defeated the finest brains in our Parliament. They bring a divine element of revelation into a situation that otherwise seems impossible.

Please allow them to sit with you, to pray with you and to seek the way of the Lord, to break through the impasse that has paralysed Parliament for far too long, as you yourself have acknowledged. Only through prayer and the power of God can our nation move forward into a new and blessed future – and in this regard, this small group of Northern Ireland MPs can help you in ways that no-one else can.

Yours sincerely,

Rev Dr Clifford Hill

Editor, Prophecy Today UK / Director, Issachar Ministries

We can’t close our eyes to the serious state of the nation.

Twice this week I’ve used the train for journeys to London and Manchester and seen at first hand the chaotic state of our railways. On Monday I went to our local station from which I can usually get a fast train to London – a half-hour journey which took nearly 4 hours and included going part of the way in a bus calling at a succession of local stations.

The ticket office said the bus was provided because they had no idea when the next train would come! My journey took about the same time as the stagecoach took in Queen Victoria’s reign - oh, what great progress we have made in 200 years!

Then I listened to the report of Yesterday in Parliament where the nation’s political leaders were discussing Brexit. Were these really responsible adults dealing with the nation’s affairs shouting abusively at each other? The words ‘chaos’ and ‘confusion’ were the only way of describing the scenes in the House of Commons as everyone was speaking at the same time and no-one was listening.

I picked up a newspaper and glanced at the headlines: High-Street Meltdown, TSB Banking Crisis – Customers’ Accounts Forged, Carillion Costs Taxpayers £1½ million, Sexually Transmitted Diseases Increase, Criminal Justice System Breaking Down, NHS Facing Funding Crisis. I could go on with a catalogue of bad news stories guaranteed to leave us all depressed. But we cannot simply close our eyes to the serious state of our nation. We can’t all take antidepressants and pretend that all is well. At some point we have got to face up to what’s gone wrong.

In this magazine our objective is to tell the truth - even when it is not politically correct to do so!!

In this issue of Prophecy Today we are publishing two significant articles – one is about our Prime Minister Theresa May and the other is about the plague of political correctness that is polluting the whole value system of the nation. These are both must-read articles which I hope our readers will recommend to their friends. In this magazine our objective is to tell the truth - even when it is not politically correct to do so!!

At the Root

At my meeting in Manchester we were talking about the problems facing young people in inner-city areas. One social worker said, “The root of all the problems with the kids is family breakdown – fatherlessness, insecurity, lack of identity, poverty, drugs, guns, knives, gang warfare – the whole cycle comes back to family breakdown”.

But family breakdown is just one result of the nationwide abandonment of our Christian faith, along with the biblical values that were part of the foundations upon which the nation was built and gave guidance and direction to our behaviour: to the way we treat each other, to the way we do business, to life in the home, in school, in the workplace, and among our friends and neighbours.

The problems in our nation are not economic, or political, or educational, or mental health, or physical health, or all the other things we blame like poverty, discrimination and injustice. At root, all these problems come back to the same cause: it is the spiritual state of the nation.

We have no absolutes anymore. Our previous absolutes – TRUTH, JUSTICE, LOVE – these were derived from the nature of God as revealed in the Bible. But when we abandon these absolute, basic values, the bottom drops out of our lives: we have no firm foundation upon which to base anything.

When we abandon the absolute, basic values revealed in Scripture, the bottom drops out of our lives: we have no firm foundation upon which to base anything.

Facing Up to Reality

There is a telling passage in the Bible found in Deuteronomy 28 that God gave to his covenant people Israel. From this we can learn some lessons for ourselves: It tells us what happens when we turn away from God’s teaching:

The Lord will send on you curses, confusion and rebuke in everything you put your hand to, until you are destroyed and come to sudden ruin because of the evil you have done in forsaking him. (Deut 28:20)

We can see all these things taking place right now in the life of our nation – and in all those nations in the Western world where our Judeo-Christian heritage of many centuries is being despised and rejected with devastating consequences.

We will never solve the problems in the economy, or in politics, in health, or in marriage and personal relationships – until we face up to the spiritual issues that are the root causes.

Transformation is Still Possible!

The Prophet Haggai back in the year 520 BC got it right when he told the people of Jerusalem, “This is what the Lord Almighty says: give careful thought to your ways. You have planted much, but have harvested little. You eat, but never have enough. You drink, but never have your fill. You put on clothes, but are not warm. You earn wages, only to put them in a purse with holes in it” (Hag 1:5-6).

He went on to say that the cause of all their problems was because the people had turned away from God – if they would get God back into the centre of their own individual lives and in the corporate life of the nation, all these things would change dramatically.

God is saying the same thing to us today – to our political leaders, to our educators, to our businessmen, to our community leaders and to each of us personally. If we truly seek to get into a right relationship with God, he will respond to us immediately; just as the father ran to greet the prodigal son when he returned home in the story that Jesus told. The transformation of the nation begins with each one of us.

What underlies the BBC's efforts to re-shape British culture?

Last week we commented on the BBC’s deliberate promotion of the transgender element of the LGBT agenda. This week, Dr Clifford Hill offers a biblical-sociological framework for understanding just why the BBC is trying to reshape society to fit these values.

*****

The Apostle Paul was way ahead of his time in teaching principles that are in accord with the modern discipline of Sociology, whose founding fathers (such as Durkheim and Weber) were early 20^th Century scholars. Paul perceptively outlined a five-stage theory of social change in his letter to the Romans, written from prison in Caesarea, around the year AD 60.

Paul had travelled widely across the Roman Empire and was a keen observer of human nature. He had lived for several years in the city of Ephesus with its fertility cults and sex symbols in full view of the public – the relics of which can still be seen by visitors today. He had experienced an incredible amount of hardship and suffering through pursuing his missionary zeal. He described some of his travel experiences:

I have worked much harder, been in prison more frequently, been flogged more severely, and been exposed to death again and again. Five times I received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one. Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked, I spent a night and a day in the open sea…I have laboured and toiled and often gone without sleep; I have known hunger and thirst and often gone without food; I have been cold and naked. (2 Cor 11:23-27)

But whilst being an intrepid traveller, Paul was also no mean scholar who ably debated with the Greek philosophers in Athen’s famous Areopagus. Paul brought his vast resources of knowledge and experience to focus upon the forces of social change that he perceived to be at work in the Roman Empire, that would inevitably lead to the decline and fall of that great empire.

He wrote about this in the opening chapter of his weighty theological treatise to the Christians in Rome. Luther, when a professor in the University of Wittenberg, declared Romans to be the greatest book in the Bible. It sets out Paul’s mature thinking about the current condition of humanity in the context of God’s eternal purposes.

Romans 1 sets out Paul’s mature thinking about the condition of humanity in the context of God’s eternal purposes.

Paul’s Analysis of the Forces of Social Change (Romans 1:18-32)

Stage 1 (verses 18-21): Paul begins with a statement that human beings in rebellion against God deliberately become involved in the leading of society astray from fundamental truth rooted in God’s principles and good design. Paul says that when people suppress the truth about Creation, they are at beginning of a slippery slope towards the degradation of hearts and minds. In other words, once you deny the central truth of the existence of the God of Creation (which can be understood clearly by all human beings), you open the way to the whole gamut of forces of social and moral corruption. Every true perspective on life becomes warped. Paul’s teaching is that once you reject the truth you automatically come under the sway of the forces of darkness.

Stage 2 (verses 22-23, 25): The second stage in the degradation of society comes when human beings pass from the denial of the God of Creation into idolatry. Paul recognises that all human beings have an innate tendency to worship something or someone. Once the basic truths of Creation are denied, people seek alternatives and find them in bits of wood and stone or anything created by human hands – which they worship.

Modern forms of this idolatry include worship of wealth and property (just consider the preponderance of TV programmes about finding the perfect house – e.g. seeking A Place in the Sun or Location, Location, Location - plus our worship of cars which we fondly clean and polish, the jewellery we wear, the fashions we parade and the wealth we own). They also include worship of people – including celebrity cults or the adoration of self. In our era, the individual is now god.

Stage 3 (verse 24): The third stage in this social change is the relaxation of personal and corporate morality, when we begin to cheat on our partners. In Romans 1 the emphasis is on sexual desire, but cheating can extend to every area of life (e.g. finances, relationships, legal responsibilities). We abandon standards of truth and integrity and we worship our bodies and our “sinful desires”.

Stage 4 (verses 26-27): The fourth stage is where human beings are no longer content with simply indulging their God-given sexual desires but “[exchange] natural relations for unnatural ones”. Paul describes this delicately: “men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another”.

Stage 5 (verses 28-32): The fifth and final stage in the corruption of society, Paul says, is God giving people over to “a depraved mind”. This is a vital stage and a tipping point – a point at which society has deliberately refused and rejected God’s efforts to rescue them to such an extent that God gives them over to their chosen course of rebellion, allowing them to become completely enslaved and deceived by it. He does not necessarily abandon them to this forever – but it is by far the more painful road for humans to walk, and many can be lost forever as a result.

Human beings in rebellion against God deliberately become involved in the leading of society astray from fundamental truth.

Brainwashing and Reversal of Truth

In national terms, this means the whole mindset of society becoming warped through being brainwashed with false teaching. This includes the deliberate injection of false values into our children – the calculated, strategic changing of society by social engineering to make everyone conform to a false ideology. This is what happened in Germany in the 1930s, when the majority of the population accepted the Nazis’ ideology of a super race, and acquiesced to the murder of 6 million Jews.

Social engineering produces human minds so corrupted that they completely abandon the whole concept of ‘truth’– in fact they reverse truth. In the words of the Prophet Isaiah:

Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter. (Isa 5:20)

Paul says that at this stage in the corruption of society, the mindset of humanity is so degraded that people can no longer recognise the truth and are no longer aware of the forces of evil that are driving them towards destruction. He says:

They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice…They invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; they are senseless, faithless, heartless, ruthless.

Paul sees this as the final degradation of humanity leading to what we would describe today as a ‘dysfunctional society’ – or the end of civilisation.

Paul’s analysis is sociologically sound, though written c.2000 years ago. It is a timeless way of understanding any society – no matter what culture, geographical location or place in history. It would be interesting to take a poll of a cross-section of the population in Britain today asking which stage in this framework of social change we have reached.

What is your assessment?

Author: Dr Clifford Hill

Photo Credits: Wikimedia Commons / CC BY 2.0

Magna Carta Unravelled (Wilberforce Publications, 2015, 217 pages, £7.99)

This book, a joint venture between Wilberforce Publications and Voice for Justice UK, is a collection of essays by eight experts in various fields (eg politics, law, the Church) largely based upon talks given at a conference held in May to commemorate the 800th anniversary of Magna Carta. Among the better known contributors are Baroness Cox, Lynda Rose, and Bishop Michael Nazir-Ali, but all those involved have distinguished reputations and are highly experienced.

Six of the original talks were expanded by the speakers into written form and to these were added two extra chapters. The overall result is a comprehensive survey covering the origins of Magna Carta, the development of its ideas throughout history, and its relevance today. The whole makes an important contribution towards the discussion on the contemporary challenges we face in our nation regarding our freedoms.

The opening chapter provides an excellent overview and sets the scene, declaring that "what we need to recognise today is that we are in the middle of a predominantly three-stranded ideological war: between Christianity, secularism, and Islam" (p29). Society is now in the grip of competing belief systems as the ruthless imposition of non-Christian values with their own ideas of 'rights' and 'freedoms' are being selectively applied. The result is a vigorous shaking of our foundations which is causing many to wonder what the eventual outcome will be.

This is an important contribution towards debating the ideological war currently gripping British society."

Other chapters cover the historical and theological background to Magna Carta, its Christian origins and legacy, the role of the State concerning freedoms, and the rise of Islam and sharia law in the UK. The final parts focus on the current challenges to individual liberty. On reflection, not all sections are of equal interest or engagement; some are more difficult to follow and rather stolid. Certainly, there are also many anecdotes and testimonies, including up-to-date personal stories, but often these have been well covered elsewhere and are over-long in the context of this particular book. There is even some overlap between speakers, which may be one of the disadvantages of a book produced from a conference. Overall it is difficult not to be disappointed at times that this is not a more enjoyable read.

However, the book clearly has a place within the current re-assessment and evaluation of Magna Carta. It is of a suitable length to fit between short introductions and fuller studies, and above all it does ask the right questions. Realising that the UK is "at a crossroads, with the soul of our nation at stake" (p17), it is very pertinent to consider the relevance of Magna Carta. Clearly it is an important historical document but what about now, eight centuries later, in our multi-cultural society? The fundamental principles and freedoms that it established have recently been attacked, dismantled and shattered. How did this happen and why? And where do we go from here?

This book asks the right questions about the present situation and future outlook in Britain, showing how Christian principles and values are not just being eroded and marginalised, but being branded as dangerous."

As the authors show, Christian principles and values are currently being marginalised, rebranded as hate speech and provocation if expressed publicly, and even portrayed as dangerous to a liberal and secular modern society. At the very least the likelihood is that there will be continuing attempts to contain Christian views and eventually eliminate them in the cause of new freedoms and ideas of tolerance. The ultimate fear is that we will lose our specifically Christian freedoms altogether.

Is this unduly alarmist or a wake-up call? You decide! Either way here is an informative and valuable resource for those seeking to think through these vital issues.

As the world responds to the attacks in Tunisia, France and Kuwait, Islam faces an internal crisis of identity. Clifford Hill asks: who are the true Muslims?

"Islam is a Religion of Peace." These were the words of Prime Minister, David Cameron, broadcast to the world immediately after he heard the news of the indiscriminate killing of 30 British tourists sunbathing on the beach in Tunisia. He said that the man who carried out this atrocity was not a true Muslim because "Islam is a religion of peace".

On the BBC News this statement was immediately followed by an interview with an expert on Islam who said that some Muslims use Ramadan as a "season of war" to further the cause of Islam against unbelievers. It was also reported that the Islamic State has been urging Muslims across the world to target Westerners and promising that Allah will reward 'martyrs' tenfold during Ramadan. Their definition of a 'martyr' is one who dies while killing non-Muslims – especially Jews and Christians.

But the Islamic State does not restrict their activities to killing Westerners. The suicide bomber who blew himself up in a mosque in Kuwait was targeting Shia Muslims whom the Sunnis regard as unbelievers: Which raises the question: who are the true Muslims?

Sisi's Call

President Sisi of Egypt has called for a "Revolution in Islam... to stop making enemies of the whole world". He said "We need a religious revolution" to reinterpret the texts that came from the time of Muhammad's warlike rise to power.

This important statement was reported in the New York Times on 1 January 2015, but as far as I am aware has been given no publicity in the British press. Why the silence? Are British journalists so afraid of offending Muslims that they dare not report a call from a prominent Muslim to sort out the problems of violence in their religion?

Jihadist Fighters

If an all-out war between Western culture and Islam is to be avoided Islamic scholars have to face fundamental questions about their faith. The jihadist fighters in the Islamic State in Syria and Northern Iraq claim to be the only true Muslims.

If an all-out war between Western culture and Islam is to be avoided, Islamic scholars have to face fundamental questions about their faith."

This is no doubt the reason why a whole family of 12, including three generations, have gone to join them. It is not only hot-blooded teenagers who are attracted to ISIS, but those who want to live in a genuine Muslim state. The jihadists say that those Muslims who oppose them have been corrupted by Western values and are not true Muslims. They claim that they are spreading Islam by force in exactly the same way as Muhammad and that he is their role model. So who are the true Muslims?

Qur'an Verses

There are plenty of verses in the Quran to support the jihadists. The man who murdered the defenceless tourists on the beach at Sousse can justify his actions by quoting, "It was not you, but Allah, who slew them. It was not you who smote them: Allah smote them so that he might richly reward the faithful. Allah hears all and knows all" (Quran 8:17).

In the same way the ISIS fighters in Iraq who are beheading their captives can justifiably claim to be doing exactly what Muhammad did in April AD 627, when he slaughtered the whole Jewish population of Banu Qurayza near Medina. This is recorded by ex-Muslim historian M A Khan who says,

The surrendered Jews offered to go into exile like the Banu Nadir tribesmen exiled two years earlier. Muhammad rejected the proposal; instead, he decided to slaughter all their adult males, some 800 to 900 of them. Their adulthood was determined by the growth of pubic hair. The women and children were captured as slaves and their homes and properties were as usual confiscated and distributed amongst the Muslims. The Islamic god gave an emphatic sanction to these barbaric atrocities by revealing: "Some ye slew and ye made captive some. And Allah caused you to inherit their land and their houses and their wealth, and land ye have not trodden. Allah is ever able to do all things" (Quran 33.26 – 27).

A trench was dug at the marketplace; and in Muhammad's presence, those 800 – 900 captives were brought to the brink of the trench with their hands tied behind and were beheaded with swords before pushing the dismembered bodies into it. Muhammad himself chopped off the heads of two Jewish leaders. The spectacle went on from morning through the day and continued by torchlight into the night. [M A Khan, Islamic Jihad, p35]

Islam in Crisis

Today, the whole of Islam is in crisis. It clings to its mediaeval roots while trying to exist in an advanced secular liberal culture that cherishes freedom of speech and respects individual choice, equality and tolerance. Islam respects none of these things- with the result that multitudes are leaving it.

Islam is suffering an internal crisis of identity, as extremists force its followers to ask who the true Muslims really are."

In Indonesia, 2 million Muslims are converting to Christianity every year. In Europe and America, millions of Muslims have settled in the West because they are looking for a better life, but their imams are repeating verses from the Quran forbidding them to make friends with Jews or Christians. These ordinary Muslims are only looking for a quiet life, to earn a living, raise their families and live at peace with their neighbours. They too are asking the question, who are the true Muslims?

Peaceful Majority

Most Muslims in the West are embarrassed by the acts of terrorism carried out in the name of Islam. But the Islamic scholars refuse to consider any revision of their Scriptures which were written for a mediaeval society and have little or no relevance in a modern urban industrial technological society. This article from the Middle East Media Research Institute gives an indication of the internal battle that is going on within Islam.

We should be calling upon Islamic scholars to examine their scriptures and give definite rulings that the historical narratives associated with the teaching of Muhammad and the early days of Islam are no longer valid today. They need to declare definitively what the valid beliefs and practices are for true Muslims today and separate them from mediaeval practices that are no longer central to Islam in the 21st century.

The future peace of the world depends, not upon stepping up the efficiency of the security services in Muslim-majority nations where Western holidaymakers go, or putting up the barriers at home, but on the willingness of Islamic scholars to give definitive answers to the question: who are the true Muslims?

Battle of Values

David Cameron is perfectly right in saying that this is a battle of values: it is an ideological clash between a mediaeval religious narrative and a modern secular narrative: emanating from Islamic State, Al Qaeda, the Taliban, Boko Haram and similar organisations that insist on following the teaching of the Quran and the example of Muhammad. They believe that they are the only true Muslims and they are prepared to fight brutal war to enforce their ideology on others.

The greatest danger facing the West is in escalating the war in the Middle East. There are strong voices in the British Government advocating all-out war upon the Islamic State – bombing them in Syria as well as Iraq. But this is entirely the wrong tactic. It is the same mistake as the Crusaders made 1000 years ago. And it will harden attitudes and drive more young men to abandon the West and fight for the jihadists.

War on the Middle East is the wrong tactic - the same mistake the Crusaders made 1000 years ago - it will only harden attitudes. We need to present a different narrative."

A Different Narrative

The only way to win this war is on the ideological front: by presenting a different narrative. It is here that the teaching of Jesus to love our enemies is the greatest weapon that we have. There is nothing in the New Testament that encourages Christians to fight and everything points to putting our trust in God.

Many Christians believe that God has allowed millions of Muslims to come into the West so that they may experience at first-hand a different ideology. Christians have to say to Muslims that Western values are not Christian values! This throws a great responsibility upon Christians to live in accordance with the teaching of Jesus, to love our new neighbours and to show the power of a living faith that transforms lives of bitterness and hatred into love and gentleness.

The teaching of Jesus to love our enemies is the greatest weapon we have. It is up to Christians to show practically its power to transform lives."

If this is God's strategy for bringing peace and harmony into a world of darkness, there has to be a renouncing of violence by Western nations as well as positive action by Christian churches to reach out to the Muslims in their neighbourhood: not only speaking about the love of God, but showing that love practically in their lives.

'On Rock or Sand? Firm Foundations for Britain’s Future', edited by Bishop John Sentamu (SPCK, 2015, 258 pages, £9.99).

This essay collection features several members of the various symposia called by the Archbishop of York over the past four years to assess the effects of the recent economic crisis and the challenges facing the nation in areas such as welfare, education, poverty, health and work.

It examines the underlying values of our society and looks for hope amidst the shock and confusion caused by the shaking of our financial and political systems. How firm are our foundations today, and what can be done to make them more stable for the future?

Some of the contributors are well known, others less so, but all are experts in their fields, both as academics and practitioners. The Archbishop’s website offers background information on the authors and their work, but the book provides more depth.

Each chapter contains plenty of analysis with an abundance of facts and figures. For some, this might be heavy going and can be skimmed over to gain the general gist, but by the end of each section there are always principles affirmed and practical approaches suggested, clearly set out and theologically based.

Judeo-Christian values have historically been the lifeblood of the nation but in recent times the body has been bleeding profusely. It is now pale and weakened. A new infusion is required. Solutions to our nation’s ills are sought within the teachings of Jesus and a Christian vision for society based upon the value and well-being of individuals. Too often this has been defined in narrow economic terms. Rather, it is argued, we need a better understanding of real wealth and what it means for everyone in society to flourish.

"Judeo-Christian values have historically been the lifeblood of the nation but in recent times the body has been bleeding profusely."

Perhaps most thought-provoking is the section on ageing. Is living longer a blessing or burden? How does society respond to a greater life expectancy and value those of extreme old age? We are encouraged to look upon the elderly in terms of our own personal futures. One day we will be them. This challenges us to also put ourselves in the shoes of others we may not usually associate with - the poor, underprivileged, those out of work or seriously ill.

Overall, the book advocates a role for the Christian faith in all aspects of the nation’s life. Politics and politicians alone cannot piece together a shattered society. The Church must have a public role. At the very least it should hold up a mirror to society and show what it has become. But before the Church can earn the right to be heard it must demonstrate a clear understanding of what is needed.

"Sentamu suggests that, like the Old Testament prophets, it is essential for religion to speak truth to power"

As Sentamu suggests, like the Old Testament prophets it is essential for religion to speak truth to power (p6). The work of the symposia as outlined in this book provides the necessary clarity to discern what is sand and what is rock, as Britain decides what kind of future it wants to build. In an election year, here is a thoughtful contribution to the democratic debate.