The Death of Christian Britain
The Death of Christian Britain
The Death of Christian Britain
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— <strong>The</strong> <strong>Death</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Christian</strong> <strong>Britain</strong> —<br />
Biblical qualities: ‘From his boyhood, David was a brave and daring soldier,<br />
just like our Commandoes to-day. He realised he was a sinner and needed<br />
to be cleansed. Your earthly father is far away, on Active Service for his<br />
King and Country. You, his son or daughter, want to be the very best you<br />
can be for your Daddy’s sake.’ 93 <strong>Christian</strong> virtues were found in the most<br />
unlikely places in wartime. An evangelical book <strong>of</strong> 1944 entitled Men <strong>of</strong><br />
Destiny: <strong>Christian</strong> Messages from Modern Leaders, identified Stalin and<br />
Chiang Kai-shek as not just ‘great men’, but inspirational examples for the<br />
<strong>Christian</strong>. 94 Equally, though, war brought challenge to the relationship<br />
between masculine sacrifice and piety. In 1917, a story by Annie Swan cast<br />
doubt on the war and the loss <strong>of</strong> men’s lives: ‘“Sometimes one wonders<br />
whether it is all worth while,” said Gifford, sitting forward, when he was<br />
alone with his host in the library [<strong>of</strong> the manse]. “This tremendous sacrifice,<br />
I mean.”’ [His elderly clerical host replies:] “We have been taught here<br />
[from the pulpit] that it is worthwhile; that God has accepted and sealed<br />
our sacrifice.”’ 95<br />
World War I introduced considerable reflection on male piety and man’s<br />
culpability in sin. At the outset, war seemed to <strong>of</strong>fer clear-cut guides to gender<br />
roles: ‘We do not want manly women and we do not want womanly<br />
men. True religion tends to make each the best <strong>of</strong> its kind. ... <strong>The</strong> primary<br />
duty <strong>of</strong> your young <strong>Christian</strong> manhood to-day is to <strong>of</strong>fer yourself for<br />
active service’. 96 Later in the war, more reflective views emerged from<br />
massive church inquiries into God and the soldier. Whilst the Dean <strong>of</strong><br />
Durham Cathedral felt that ‘organised <strong>Christian</strong>ity does not come well<br />
out <strong>of</strong> the world crisis’, 97 it was the nature <strong>of</strong> male piety that was perceived<br />
as changed by the war, with a ‘trench religion’ <strong>of</strong> instinctual superstition<br />
towards a greater being deciding men’s fate. 98 ‘<strong>The</strong> soldier has got religion,<br />
I am not so sure that he has got <strong>Christian</strong>ity’ 99 was a common observation.<br />
But there was conscious self-reflection by many clergy on ‘misrepresentations<br />
<strong>of</strong> the <strong>Christian</strong> ideal’ during the Victorian period, previously falsely<br />
regarded as ‘the apex <strong>of</strong> human goodness’. <strong>The</strong> ‘good man’ was reassessed<br />
in the light <strong>of</strong> the Great War: ‘A standard was set up, which, it was alleged,<br />
was too negative, too bloodless, too safe. Respectability in its narrower<br />
aspects was over-worshipped.’ As a result, the <strong>Christian</strong> life became too<br />
narrowly associated with feminine qualities, and the churches lost the men<br />
during the war. As two churchmen wrote in 1917: ‘One began to understand<br />
why, apart from scriptural grounds, the Church is described as<br />
“she”.’ 100 Yet, the largest interdenominational study <strong>of</strong> the impact <strong>of</strong> war<br />
upon the religiosity <strong>of</strong> male soldiers, published in 1919, brought new<br />
hope. <strong>The</strong>re was a ‘trench religion’, an elemental religious experience, which<br />
introduced ‘fine qualities’. One <strong>of</strong>ficer reported: ‘<strong>The</strong> war has created a new<br />
tenderness between man and man, a new sense <strong>of</strong> fellowship and social<br />
sympathy, i.e. within a circle embracing the nation and friendly aliens.’ 101<br />
But with this humanity, a new ‘real man’ was anticipated from the war,<br />
104