The New Political Christianity
30th June 2024
Unsurprisingly, few atheists have been persuaded by these arguments. “I want to believe as many true things and as few false things as possible,” argued Matt Dillahunty in a discussion with Douglas Murray. Like Lewis, Dillahunty is interested in whether Christianity is factually true, not whether it is useful. These arguments are also unsatisfactory to many Christians, who dislike the idea that their deeply held faith could be donned like a cloak. Criticising Peterson in an article for Australia’s Gospel Coalition in 2022, Dani Trewek writes that the Gospels are “not ultimately concerned with the earthly ‘optimisation’ of created man, but the eternal glorification of the Son of Man.”
But the truth or falsity of Christianity is a separate question from its historical and social impact. The advocates of political Christianity argue that Western civilisation has Christian foundations, and returning to those Christian roots can help protect Western values today. “As Tom Holland has shown in his marvellous book Dominion, all sorts of apparently secular freedoms—of the market, of conscience, and of the press—find their roots in Christianity,” writes Ali. So, how well do these claims stack up?