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The first edition of this book was driven by four factors. First, the
low esteem in which politicians are held and the general alienation
from, or at least indifference to, the democratic political process in
this country.
Secondly, a conviction that this was very unhealthy, and that
the political system under which we live could and should be
robustly defended, and we should all be encouraged to make
it work. Because of those two factors the book was entitled
Faith in Politics? with a question mark at the end, one
which was sometimes overlooked when people referred to the
book. In short, given the low reputation of politicians and the
general disenchantment with the political process, can we still
have confidence in the system?
The third factor was a belief that the fundamental values and
understanding of life on which our democracy is based have their
roots in the Christian faith.That is why the second part of the title
read Rediscovering the Christian roots of our political values. This
reference to Christian values was not meant in an exclusive sense,
for clearly our system is also in part the result of Enlightenment
philosophers and nineteenth-century Utilitarian reformers.
The fourth factor was the recognition by some of our most
respected thinkers that the combination of market and social
liberalism which has driven Western society for the last thirty years
has revealed a gaping void in our public life, and that something is
seriously wrong with the way we live now.
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did this collapse trigger the biggest recession in 80 years, but what
has become apparent is that its effects have been devastating in
many other ways. Adding to this, a further series of near criminal
policies by the banks continues to be revealed. The average citizen
has been seized with a mixture of disbelief and outrage at this
behaviour. The distinguished columnist Sir Simon Jenkins, a
notable champion of the free market even in areas which are the
moment are protected, ended one column by stating that all those
bankers and financiers involved in the near collapse of the system
should be taken out at dawn and shot.Yet bankers remain shameless. Profits can go down, and still vast bonuses are paid.Thousands
can be made redundant, yet it seems that money can always be
found for such undeserved sums.
The banking crisis was not an accident waiting to happen. It was
brought about by human beings acting with criminal irresponsibility. In one way we are all involved. As a society we have been
living with far too high levels of debt for too long. Governments
too are to blame both for the extent of deregulation in the first
place and a failure to have strong enough financial watchdogs in
place. But the key players are the bankers whose ratio of debt to
real assets was far too high, and who thought they could control
the future by eliminating risk with ever more complicated financial packaging.
Since then we have seen huge fines, sometimes running into the
billions, for financial wrong doing. By March 2013 major banks in
America had received penalties of $100 billion for wrongdoing
with an estimated $151 billion still to come.Yet as was reported by
one insider, many treat even such massive fines as the cost of doing
business which can be absorbed and which will have no real
influence in changing behaviour.4 In the UK amongst other
scandals there have been fines for fixing the Libor rate and the
foreign currency rate as well as for misselling insurance and
pensions on a massive scale. A world ruthlessly driven to maximising profit at any price has been exposed. When the film TheWolf of
Wall Street was shown in the Wall Street area of New York in
December 2013 the outrageous immoral behaviour of the predaIntroduction
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tory financial wolf of the film was cheered by many of those who
were watching those who were not from the financial world
who were watching found it a very disturbing experience, not
least because of all the talk about Wall Street having changed since
the crisis.
A very simple story sums up the fundamental change of ethos
that has taken place in our times. At a party I found myself talking
to a man who had retired from his bank surprisingly early. When I
enquired why, he said it was at the time of the big bang in 1986,
when the combination of financial deregulation and big banks
taking over many smaller institutions resulted in a huge surge in
financial activity. He said he had prepared a financial specification
for a particular client on the basis of what he judged to be in the
best interests of the client.The new owners examined this and told
him to scrap it and shape up another deal which would gain more
profit for the bank. He decided it was time to leave. There had
been a fundamental change of outlook from what was in the
interest of the client to what would maximise profit for the bank.
Profit is not a dirty word. But the mission statement of Dayton
Hudson the America retailing group sets this in its proper place.
This says:
The business of business is serving society, not just making
money. Profit is our reward for serving society well. Indeed,
profit is the means and measure of our service not an end
in itself.
That, I think gets it right. Profit is the means and measure of the
service. But the purpose is the service of society, whether it is
through manufacture, retailing or financial services. In so much of
our life, that is what has been lost or was never there in the first
place.5
Even apart from that however, it was argued by Adam Smith and
has been repeated by insiders in the financial world many times
since, that a good ethical environment is fundamental to the
success of the whole market economy.6 One aspect of this is a
concern for the broader social context in which the market
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years, but it does not mean there is no relationship. That relationship remains vital for all areas of our political life.
The integral nature of this relationship between law and morality has recently been championed by one of the most distinguished
legal philosophers of our time, Ronald Dworkin. In Justice for
Hedgehogs he argues for a value holism in which fundamental
values, our understanding of law and our approach to politics are
seen as an integral whole.10 Beginning with the values of integrity
and personal responsibility he argues that a state must treat all its
citizens with equal respect and concern. He then shows the
outworking of this in both law and politics. Dworkin believes that
the realm of value and what follows from it politically and legally
constitutes a self-enclosed circle of reasoning which cannot be
undermined by science or justified by any religious or metaphysical point of view. It is valid in its own right. In a further book,
Religion Without God11, he argues that values such as beauty and
goodness constitute an objective realm existing in its own right.
Dworkin does not believe in God, but for him this realm of value
and beauty is what religion is all about, and it is in relation to this
that a persons life has meaning and significance.
Dworkins argument is an important one in combating both
ethical relativism and legal positivism. As indicated above, he is an
example of how you do not need to have a conventional religious
faith to see that law must be grounded in, and integrally related to,
fundamental moral values.12
The third chapter on What makes us think God wants Democracy? has a deliberately sceptical title because it is so easy to claim
that a particular political system has religious backing, as was done
for so long by advocates of the divine right of kings. But, aware of
this, it is nevertheless maintained that Democracy is the worst
system in the world except for all the others.13 At the same time
it is argued that it is above all a Christian understanding of what it
is to be a human being in society that enables us to see importance
of democracy in its totality, both as an expression of a desire to live
well together, and as a check on our tendency to pursue our own
interests at the expense of others.
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The fourth chapter on Liberty, Equality and Life in Community looks at the three political values enshrined in the slogan of
the French Revolution and argues that all three are absolutely
fundamental to the Christian faith. Although they may be championed by a whole range of political philosophers, the Christian
faith offers a sure grounding for them; one which others may not
be able to share, but which they can recognise as undergirding
values that have a Christian basis as well as a secular justification.
The case is even stronger than may have been apparent at the time
of the first edition of my book as a result of Larry Siedentops
Inventing the Individual. In this book he sets out to change our
whole, taken for granted, understanding of the origins of liberal
egalitarianism.14 He argues that Renaissance scholars and those
who have followed them fundamentally misunderstood the nature
of the classical world. For him it is St Paul who is the key figure in
affirming the worth of the individual as such, and in a detailed
intellectual history tracing this through the Christian Middle Ages
shows how the value of the individual was continually reaffirmed
in different ways. One respected academic reviewing the book in a
secular journal wrote:
In the course of this journey, he explodes many (perhaps
even most) of the preconceptions that run through the
public culture of our day and that I took for granted
before reading this book.15
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that they be read in the Cathedral, when everyone had been seated
and welcomed but before the actual Christian service began. It
was a brilliant decision that made the Muslim High Sheriff feel, as
she said, embraced, but did not alienate the core congregation or
indeed Muslims, by any blurring of boundaries.
I believe that starting where we are, but seeing how this can
evolve in an ever more inclusive way, is the one best suited to our
nation, and the one most likely to achieve the goal we desire. The
difficulty with starting again from scratch is illustrated in a tiny way
by the prayers that are said in the House of Lords every day, prayers
which are voluntary but which are in fact attended by believers
from all the main faiths.These are highly traditional prayers for the
Queen, the Royal Family and the work of parliament not prayers
anyone would say in their personal life. From time to time the call
has come to update them, or to include other subjects, or to let
people other than Bishops in the Church of England say them.
Every time this happens, the Procedure Committee of the Lords,
before whom such requests comes, resists them.Tiny changes have
been agreed, a greater choice of psalms and Prayer Book collects,
but nothing fundamental because as the committee knows, it
really would be a Pandoras Box, and nothing would be agreed.
That is a situation of stasis, but there are other contexts where
greater development and latitude is I believe possible.
It has been argued that being British is one of the most
successful examples of inclusive civic nationalism in the world.22
This is borne out by opinion polls in which people are asked about
the importance of different aspects of being British. The replies
indicate that to speak English, being a British citizen and respect
for law and institutions associated with it are key, all scoring over
80 per cent. Sharing customs and traditions rated only 52 per cent
and being Christian a mere 31 per cent.23 This suggests that being
British is indeed primarily a civic identity, and that people are very
happy for this to co-exist with a variety of religions, customs and
traditions. In so far as being British involves more than this, it
means fleshing out those values of fair mindedness, tolerance and
openness, which are implicit in our institutions and common life
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with a multi-faith undergirding. It also means identifying, affirming and developing the unifying symbols connected with our
national institutions in a multi-faith direction. Beyond this, what it
means to be British is a matter of organic growth, and this cannot
be forced. I believe that the Church of England (but not only the
Church of England) is helping to facilitate that evolution in an
inclusive way.
At the moment in England we have an established Church,
which as many leaders of other faiths have said, is a help to them in
taking their place in public life. Perhaps we should see the Church
of England as a gnarled old oak, maybe no longer with the strength
and vigour of its youth, but still standing and able to support the
rambling roses growing up all over its leaves and branches. Cut the
oak down, and what do you have?Vigorous growth perhaps, but a
scramble for the light, and nothing to hold on to. Like all analogies
this one is not exact. But my point is that a broadly tolerant
religious body like the Church of England can play a significant
role in shaping an evolving narrative for our society that is more
inclusive of other faiths. My vision for our society from this point
of view is of a society at ease with itself. A society in which
individuals and communities:
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fundamental public values but his thesis that religion still has an
indispensable role to play.
There is a profound underlying anxiety in Habermas which is
expressed in the title of his book An Awareness of What is Missing.
For all its achievements, he argues, the modern secular state cannot
of itself arouse in people a sense of solidarity with all humanity,
motivate people to act for the common good, or even give
undergirding reasons why a people should feel loyalty to a political
community. Here, clearly, faith communities have a role to play,
not least because, he suggests, they encourage community action,
whereas secular morality is primarily directed towards the individual as such.
All this, however welcome, might seem obvious enough. But
Habermas wants more from religion, as expressed by his reference
to the unexhausted force (das Unabgegoltene) of religious traditions. By this he does not just mean the contribution of faith
communities to the tasks indicated in the above paragraph, but the
possibility of secular reason assimilating, in its own terms, more of
what was once thought of in exclusively religious ways.
Habermas readily affirms that concepts like person, freedom,
community and solidarity are infused with experiences and connotations which stem from the biblical teaching and tradition.38
He then argues that this process needs to continue, because
something crucial is now missing in secular discourse. There is of
course a qualification. What counts is the persuasiveness which
translations of religious concepts have for the secular environment.
Does this understanding of religion put forward by Habermas
imply that its future is to be fully assimilated in secular terms until
it is totally attenuated? In short, is it being treated in purely
instrumental terms? Habermas strongly denies this, for he maintains that despite the process of assimilation, the basic truth claims
of religion will quite properly remain strange and other to secular
reasoning. Faith remains opaque for knowledge in a way which
may neither be denied nor simply accepted.39
More recently Robert Skidelsky and William Skidelsky have
offered another powerful critique of the assumptions underlying
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and virtues which reflect this belonging together; a societal solidarity giving rise to non-market norms. These are norms and
values that need to be struggled for in a world increasingly
dominated by a market trying to crowd them out. Faith communities are rooted in these values. We need to stand by them, and we
can do so not only with one another, but with serious-minded
secular thinkers.
If those outside the church too often have a false view of
religion as something that is only to do with the individual, there
are those within faith communities who fail to understand that
being religious is not just about going back to the source documents, usually in a highly selective manner, but is about inhabiting
a tradition, to use a phrase of Rowan Williams. It is out of their
respective traditions of shared habit and wisdom that religious
communities have the resources to contribute to an ongoing
debate about the common good. From these traditions they will
make their contribution in an argumentative democracy.
Richard Harries
Kings College, London
October 2014
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