Wednesday, April 3, 2024

The New Theists

 




"New Theism" is a thing, apparently. What the author is describing seems to be largely an "elite" phenomenon, whereby more or less public intellectuals turn towards (or back to) a fairly moderate form of Christianity. It´s interesting, but hardly a revival...yet. Note the mysterious events experienced by Tom Holland!

But note also the following passages: 

>>>But Christianity is not just a useful lifeboat for stranded intellectuals. If it isn’t literally true, it isn’t valuable. Whether Jesus Christ actually rose from the dead matters. It mattered to St Paul. ‘If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins.’ And it should matter to us.  

>>>If conservative-leaning intellectuals only ‘cosplay’ at Christianity (Tom Holland’s phrase) without really believing it, then this ‘New Theist’ movement will inevitably fade away. Co-opting Christianity in the cause of an anti-woke agenda or in order to fend off radical Islam turns it into a useful political tool, but drains it of any life-giving power. A Christian nationalism of the right will become as pallid and pointless as the Christianity of the progressive left that parrots the latest politically correct talking points.

This simply isn´t true. I can *easily* imagine a right-wing political movement "cosplay" Christianity quite fervently and get away with it. I can just as easily imagine a "Christianity of the progressive left" that isn´t pallid and pointless. Here, the author of the article is pitching his own form of Christianity.

In general, I believe that as the crisis deepens, people will become more religious, but unfortunately, many won´t join the eminently reasonable Broad Church party (which apparently imagines "Christianity" to be centrist liberalism with smells and bells). 

Who knows, one day, we might even miss the New Atheists...

A Christian revival is under way in Britain

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