A Voice in the English Wilderness

Authors: John Stonestreet and Dr. Timothy Padgett

On July 18, British Conservative Party Member Danny Kruger gave a beautiful and passionate speech before British Parliament. He called on England’s leaders to remember where they’d come from, and he warned what lies ahead if they don’t. Britain’s glory, he argued, is rooted in the riches of Christianity. Abandoning that heritage is why the nation is now struggling.  

It’s fitting that Kruger spoke to a mostly empty room. Though the speech has since gone viral, few other MPs bothered to show up for it. It’s difficult to imagine a better analogy for our cultural moment than a faithful voice warning against looming dangers, yet widely ignored. 

Kruger’s speech should be listened to in its entirety. After sharing the long history of Christianity in England, which dates back over 1000 years to when the nation first emerged from pagan Germanic tribes, he noted the unique bond between the Church of England and the nation. The very room where he spoke was, in fact, a chapel, and the government plays a role in leading the church. 

Americans differ on the idea of a state church, with good reason. And yet, we ought to share Kruger’s concern about losing our religion. Christianity made the modern world. As historian Tom Holland has noted, our ideas about justice, love, mercy, and human rights did not come from idol worshipers. These ideas came first from the ancient Hebrews and were handed to the Early Church. They result from the long meditation on Christianity’s divine truths. 

From the British context, those truths gave the world incredible cultural treasures, from the writings of Shakespeare, Milton, and Austen to the science of Newton and Faraday. From this fertile soil came Wilberforce, who liberated slaves, and Churchill, who saved the world from tyranny. All of these minds grew in a world shaped by Christian truths.

It is these very truths that are now under threat across the West, especially in Britain. Instead, Kruger pointed out, Islam is taking root in many British cities, and far-Left ideologues oppose the very ideals that built the world from which they benefit. However, it is becoming more obvious that getting rid of Christianity will not bring about a secular utopia. As Kruger put it: 

[T]o repudiate Christianity is not only to sever ourselves from our past, but to cut off the source of all the things we value now and that we need in the future, such as freedom, tolerance, individual dignity and human rights. 

A new restoration is needed now, with a revival of the faith, a recovery of a Christian politics and a re-founding of this nation on the teachings that [King] Alfred made the basis of the common law of England all those centuries ago.  

This is a mission for the Church under its next leader, whoever that is; it is a mission for this place—the old chapel that became the wellspring of western democracy—and for us, its Members; and it is a mission for our whole country. It is the route to a prosperous modernity founded on respect for human dignity, responsibility for the created world, and the worship of God. 

Here, Kruger is pointing to the heart of Truth Rising, a new project of the Colson Center and Focus on the Family. The new documentary exposes that we are living in a “civilizational moment” where so much is at stake. Co-hosted by Os Guinness and myself, Truth Rising combines the insights of experts about this moment with stories of courage, and it teaches that those who are committed to truth in this moment can make an extraordinary impact. Even as the world redefines truth, Truth Rising calls people to clarity and courage, while trusting God with our obedience. 

Scripture tells us that there’s nothing new under the sun. Times have been bad before, and things can be renewed again. The same truths and power that God used to bring blessing to the world are available to His people today.  

Go to TruthRising.com/colson for more information about Truth Rising.