Beyond Belief
Barriers and Bridges to Faith today
Nick Spencer
The London Institute for Contemporary Christianity
Reflections written by Ted Hutchin
The basic concept of this book was to interview a selected group of people who were neither strong Christians or at the other end of the spectrum. This is supposed to be the middle ground, where there will be honest opinion, some scepticism, some reflection, some thought about the questions being asked.
There are two questions that lie at the heart of the research study, the first being “What are the barriers to faith?” and the second, “What are the bridges to faith?”
These might seem fairly straightforward questions, but the answers are very revealing, but perhaps not in the way expected.
In order to help the people responding the questions cover four distinct elements. There are, in turn, Cultural, Personal, Ecclesiastical and Intellectual. I suppose it was thought that this would help with both data collection and also understanding on the behalf of the respondents.
Taking the first part, barriers to faith, what comes across is an appalling indictment of our educational system. The responses, which appear to be raw data with no attempt to try to dig behind the statements made, are in the most case bizarre. People make comments on the basis of no knowledge whatsoever, and feel that any comment is valid if they have said it! As far as research goes this makes the results, if such they can be described, almost meaningless. This in turn robs of the book of the primary focus. What can be learned from this catalogue of conflicting and incoherent statements is that our schools have badly let down our nation, if this is a reasonable cross-section of former pupils!
If this is the educational level that the majority of our nation aspires to then it is not difficult to understand why we are having so much difficulty with many developments which are supposed to be creating a better future for our grandchildren. Not only does this confirm that we are truly living in a post-Christian society, we are also living in a fairly uneducated one as well.
One thing does stand out though – the church is not getting the message across – the message of the risen Christ across – the message that God Loves – the message that in the Christian faith there is a place for all mankind. (a cynic might be tempted to add that even it were the level of understanding that the population is capable of taking on board is well below that necessary to even go this far)
Both aspects of this book are therefore flawed. If the barriers to belief are as convoluted as those portrayed, then the bridges are not much better. The same level of faulty thinking that dominated the first section is carried forward to the second. So on the basis of the material presented where do we go from here.
I am tempted to suggest that if wanted to get to there, I wouldn’t start here, and in some part that is a valid observation. This study does not offer an meaningful insight to the way forward for the church.
It does offer a few challenges however. If the average member of the public has this level of understanding about life and belief, then we have to start again from scratch. The whole message has to begin, as it did two thousand years ago, with a programme of teaching and preaching that carries with it none of the assumptions that could reasonably have been made even twenty years ago.
The message of this report is crystal clear – we have to think again about what it is we are saying to the world, and why.
The many courses that we offer to people such as Alpha and Emmaus must assume this level of understanding and comprehension. We can always be pleasantly surprised, but if we do not have this starting assumption then the message will never be captured by the listener.
As with the early Christians, the message must be based on actual experiences and not a simple retelling of stories that appear to have no meaning, or a faulty meaning to many people today. This gives a concrete base for our on-going discussions which must inevitably follow. We, as Christians, must also recognise that we are part of the problem. We have allowed the message to be watered down, to be explained away, rather than keep to the simplicity that Jesus used. We must also address the many myths that have grown up around Christian belief, not the daft ones such as the immense wealth that the church is supposed to have – this will never be a task within our ability. But we should make sure that the basic financial position of every church in the parish is know through local press, publications, etc. We may not be able to address the nationwide view but we can do something about what the local people think.
The report ends with a number of thoughts many of which make sense. Yes there is a need to address many of the issues raised in these recommendations, if that is what they are. Certainly we need to equip the ordinary Christian to face the modern world, with all of the faulty logic is takes so much pride in and shatter the illusions about what we stand for. Erroneous assumptions must be shown as such, we must make it clear what we believe in, and why. Above we must live the life that Jesus expects of us – our works must be a demonstration of our faith – why else do we follow Christ. Perhaps then, in a few years time, there can be another research study which might just show that the church has won back the debate, taken the high ground, and through faith and works, shows to the world what being a Christian is all about.
One final thought, there is one challenge that we must rise to now – the children in our schools. If we allow the current standards of education to continue then we are not going to be able to have the debate we need so much. The church must go back into the schools of our nation and teach, teach children how to think, how to use the knowledge that is around them, be able to analyses that is being presented to them, and how to assess that knowledge and not just jump to any old conclusion. We have a message for the young people of our nation, of our world. The church has a duty to respond to the need for that message by speaking out, in a loud voice, to those who must at least hear with clarity the message we have to give to the world.
