So Christians in the UK feel marginalised. So says the latest opinion poll conducted by ComRes on behalf of Premier Christian Media Trust. The full details of the poll can be found at BRIN here – but basically 544 Christians were asked whether they thought ‘the marginalisation of Christianity in British public life was increasing, decreasing, or staying the same in public, the media, the government and the workplace’. Some two thirds thought the process was increasing overall – with 71% believing it was increasing in the media. I’d like to make some comments.

Vagueness

First, the way the question was asked surely gives this poll limited value. No definition of ‘marginalised’ is offered the responder and no attempt at saying whether this is a good thing or bad. Neither is there a definition of what is meant by ‘Christianity’. Does it refer to the decline in church going, or general morality, or government policy, or what? But maybe the vagueness helps the poll’s commissioners make their point – which is that the Christian faith is under threat in what is supposed to be a Christian country. It further feeds into the narrative perpetuated by the conservative church about religious discrimination and intolerance against Christians. Now that the Daily Mail has had to explain that Christmas was never under threat isn’t it time the church too stopped treading this well-worn path?

A marginal manger

Second, a far more substantial point needs to be made about the church being on the margins – simply put, this is where we are meant to be. At least this is where we would be if we followed Jesus. With Christmas coming up this is a good time to remind ourselves of the circumstances of his birth. The point about the stable in Bethlehem is not to warm the cockles of our heart but to underline how far out on the margins Jesus was even in his birth. There was a god-emperor on the throne of Rome; a vassal king on the throne of Israel and yet the Son of God gets a manger in a stinking stable. And it was on the margins Jesus stayed for the rest of his life and death.

Constantine's conversion

Where Jesus leads we follow. And that’s how it was for the first 300 years or so. The church did indeed grow and spread and become influential – but it was always on the margins of society and its power structures. Then along comes Constantine and gets himself converted. As eventual sole leader of the un-free world (the Roman Empire) this could have been an amazing opportunity for the church to overturn paganism in Europe and beyond. But whether by default or design the empire plants seeds of corrosion in the church rather than the church planting seeds of anti-corrosion in the empire. (For a detailed explanation of this process see Roger Mitchell.)

Decline

The church did indeed move away from the margins and gain a central place in society and government but far from being a good thing, ultimately it was the cause of the church’s decline.

The journey to the centre is now being reversed and 66% of Christians in the UK are fully aware that it is happening. But I’m guessing that many of them don’t think this is a beneficial thing. Let me invite them to reconsider. I agree with you, we are being pushed out to the margins but this where Jesus did his greatest work. Maybe today’s church can do the same?


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