Rich
Alldritt
WHY CHRISTIAN EXTREMISM IS GOOD
Let’s get one thing absolutely clear. As those taught to love
neighbour, and repay evil with good, Christians will want
to support the government in its attempts to tackle the
religious advocacy of terrorism from mosque or pulpit. All
forms of violence must be denounced in the strongest
possible terms.
That said, thinking Christians will want to exercise caution
in endorsing every element of the government’s ‘CounterExtremism Strategy’ publicised last October. The need to
counter terrorism is a given, but there are serious concerns
about how government proposals will affect Christians. I
have no desire to scare-monger, neither do I think
Christians should campaign for special legal privilege or
entitlement – that wasn’t part of Jesus’ mission and nor
should it be part of ours – at the same time, it is hard not
to be troubled by some of the proposed measures.
A state-regulated gospel?
One immediate concern is the threat posed to our children’s
work and youth ministry; under current plans, Sunday schools may become subject to inspections by education regulator
Ofsted. How would we feel (say) about the state regulating what is taught to the Scramblers or Climbers on the upcoming
Church Day Away? Moreover, whole churches and Christian organisations could very quickly be caught up under the
government’s definition of ‘extremism’. How would we feel about being labelled an ‘extremist’ church? Or how would I
feel as a preacher about being the subject of an extremism order?
To begin with let’s take a look at what counts as ‘extremism’. According to the literature, ‘extremism’ is defined as follows:
‘vocal or active opposition to fundamental British values, including democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty and
mutual respect and tolerance of different faiths and beliefs.’ The big concern here is the way the measure is framed: an
‘extremist’ is someone who vocalises beliefs that are contrary to ‘British values’. But what are ‘British values’? What we
have here is an inclusive list rather than an exhaustive one (note the little word ‘including’). And who gets to decide what
constitutes a ‘British va lue’? The fear is that this rather ill-defined thing called ‘British values’ might be used to curtail
traditional Christian teaching on (say) the uniqueness of Christ, sex and marriage, and as such the current proposals
could be used to restrict gospel freedom in our country.
Of course it is worth pointing out that no society permits an absolute and ultimate right of free speech – an obvious point
but one often overlooked. It is plain that all societies place some limit on the freedom of expression. Take Article 10 of
the 1998 Human Rights Act. The first part of the legislation gives everyone the right
to freedom of expression; the second part qualifies or limits the right so as to prevent
harm or offence. In many countries, for example, it is illegal to deny the holocaust.
“
,
As such, the key question in the debate concerns not so much the principle of free
speech in-and-of-itself; after all every society censors freedom of expression in some
way. The key question concerns which groups and opinions are to be protected. How
does one decide which speech ought to be restricted? What sensibilities are to be
privileged? To put it another way, is there a danger that the language of ‘British values’
is simply used as a cloak under which prevailing cultural values and secular moralities
are enshrined and made absolute, and all views to the contrary shut down?
”
Moreover with God’s revelation in hand, we might want to argue that religious extremism can actually be a good thing.
Surely it is a good thing to be extremely loving, extremely generous, extremely altruistic, and so on. The problem is not
extremism per se, but the things we are extreme about - are they good things or bad things? After all didn’t Jesus call us
to love God with all our heart, all our mind, all our soul, and all our strength, and to love neighbour as self? That is pretty
extreme, I think you’ll agree. Would it not be in the national interest to promote such extremism? Would restricting it in
fact be detrimental to the common good?
Finally, it is worth noting that our right to proclaim the gospel is not ultimately dependent on the state, but on a higher
authority – the command and commission of the Lord Jesus. Recall the time when the apostles themselves had their
freedom of speech removed:
-2-