It’s the debate of our day, the meta-debate if you like. It unites the issues of Muslim extremism, creationism, irritable atheism, faith schools, Britishness, the future of the monarchy, Sarah Palin, Ruth Kelly: all the juiciest talking points. The radio show The Moral Maze seems to return to it with increasing frequency: Michael Buerk has developed a special sort of quizzical-weary tone with which to pick at its entrails. I’m talking, of course, about the Place-of-Religion-in-Public-Life debate.
This is a debate that’s gradually turning into a culture war: over the past few years we’ve seen both sides digging deeper in, and the middle ground becoming less habitable.
How can this slide towards cultural division be halted? What public intellectual can help, even a bit? Rowan Williams maybe? Well, his thoughts on the issue will satisfy some of us, just as Dawkins’s thoughts will satisfy others. Is this inevitable? Is there no one who can take us beyond this sterile clash of religion versus secularism, and help us to see ourselves afresh?
We must seek to understand how our tradition of Christian-based liberalism arose, in order to see how it may be renewed. I think that the best guide to our ideological origins is John Milton. If only he were alive now, for he’s exactly what we need. The wonder is that we’re so slow to see it. Even though it’s his fourth centenary this year, and there’s an excuse to focus on him, his relevance has been missed. No one has quite noticed that he is the post-9/11 visionary we need.
Why him? Unlike any more recent thinker, he is able to speak to both sides of our divided soul, for he fuses two seemingly contradictory truths: we are a Christian nation, and we are the pioneers of liberty.
Comments
Join the debate for just £1 a month
Be part of the conversation with other Spectator readers by getting your first three months for £3.
UNLOCK ACCESS Just £1 a monthAlready a subscriber? Log in