Mr Dreher, who advocates the second of these two responses, disapproves of the Church of England’s frequent accommodations with secular society. I do not. Like many atheists, agnostics and searchers, I find myself rather drawn to a church that, however fitfully, seems to be trying to stay open to ideas, differences and influences outside.
Connecting a religion and the culture within which it lives, the metaphor of a length of elastic is illuminating. The two may diverge, but each exerts a pull on the other. In its long, turbulent history, the church has sometimes run ahead of secular culture, sometimes lagged behind. It has a proud record in questions such as the abolition of slavery; in education, welfare and prison reform it has sometimes lit the way. On overseas aid and concern for the homeless, the church has led where secular society first looked away.
On the other hand, the church has had a chronically difficult relationship with the advancement of science, and, in recent centuries, has had to be dragged reluctantly to a recognition that religion is not the seat of learning about the material world. Wherever sex or gender are involved, the church has tended to lag a good few paces behind the rest of society. Mr Dreher might disagree, but I think that — pulled by secular society and with the elastic often stretched very tight — the church’s agonised progress towards the recognition of divorce and the acceptance of contraception (with of course powerful pockets of resistance among Roman Catholics) has been good for the world. Though I’m not myself opposed to abortion, I think Christianity’s anxiety about careless disregard for human life has also been good for the world.
When I read this today, I had one thought: Does Matthew Parris (a former Member of Parliament, BTW) actually SUPPORT the Church that he admires so much? Does he donate money regularly? Volunteer his time and talents? Support it with advocacy? We should be told. After all, he admires it so surely he wants to support it?
I read or hear this kind of thing that he writes again and again. I suspect that it comes from people who do nothing to support the Church that they allegedly admire and seem not to realise that without their support it is in danger of fading away. As always, it is the faithful band in the pews who keep the thing going.
If you do nothing to help, but avail yourself occasionally, while opining your support, your opinion is of little value.