This is massive. Hirst is well known for having rejected Islam and for being an outspoken atheist, she has now written an essay for Unherd explaining the reasons why she is now a professing Christian and attending church. Her reasons boil down to the need to resist evil, coercive forces (essentially jihadism and communism) that are set to take over the de-Christianised West, and the lack of spiritual fulfilment in atheism.
SO, I am not the only one who believes that it will take more than a secular humanist consensus to resist the newly awakened global jihad. I hope that Hirst will grow in faith, love and grace. C S Lewis wrote (I forget where) that we should embrace Christianity, or rather embrace Christ, because Christianity is true and God is good, and that we should beware of embracing Christianity as a means to various ends, even good ends. And yes it is true that societies where there is a high level of authentic Christian belief and people acting on it are better societies. But we must not prostitute faith in order to get things.
Read this on Unherd.
My own feeling is that it is probably too late for the West. People who want the benefits of Christianity without repentance and faith are likely to be disappointed. But these last few weeks in England I have never heard so many people express real anxiety about the future and ask ‘How did it come to this?’
I am hearing people say ‘Glad I’m old, but I fear for my grandchildren/glad I don’t have grandchildren’ I’m 67 with a good memory, and I have never heard people say that kind of thing before.
I think our society ifs failing because we have abandoned Christian morals, faith and shared belief. More to it than that of course, but if you just consider that since 1967 we have done over 10 million abortions and imported 10 million immigrants to do jobs we didn’t have people to do…it rather looks as if we set out to abolish ourselves as a nation, and that’s just the bare logistics.
More on this theme later.
Old Hampshire C S Lewis Society 