What makes this country an amazing place

Songs of Praise: St George's Day – broadcast 22/04/07

Archbishop of York Interview with Pam Rhodes

Interview starts with a statement from the Archbishop:

For England to have this patron saint whose loyalty to Jesus cost him his life, you say to yourself, hey this is what actually what makes this country an amazing place.

Pam Question:
He was defending Christianity; today do you think Christianity needs defending? I mean what are the dragons threatening it today?

Archbishop:
I think the Dragons that challenge any sense of belief, in fact I'll call them Demons, adultery the worship of things instead of God, materialism where today I've said to people that in the enlightenment the word was 'cogito ergo sum' - 'I think therefore I am.' Today people turn this around. 'Tesco ergo sum' – 'I shop, therefore I am.' And the third is what I call race-ism. You know the kind of belief that because I come from a totally different ethnic background, I am different from the likes of Pam Rhodes. And the truth is, both of us belong to the one Human race. And so those dragons or those demons need to be dealt with.

Pam Question:
When we think of England today how important has Christianity been in the development of English culture?

Archbishop:
Well, St Bede writes, that the Christian Gospel gave nationhood to England.

So the things that have come out of a fairly strong Christian tradition, have shaped these traditions, our schools, our hospitals, the rule of law, and the worry that I've got is that these very strong Christian traditions on which this society was built, slowly people are actually undermining them.

But I think what I think about the English, having lost an empire; they haven't yet re-discovered a big enough vision to sustain this great nation.

And I think the bigger vision has got to be those wonderful virtues of decency, of truth, honesty of fair play, and clearly believing in God, because if you don't believe in God I think they're going to find the place is still empty.

And I think if people did reconnect with Jesus, reconnected with each other, loved their country, loved their neighbour, chances are this would be a great nation.

Pam Question:
Is it possible in the society that we live in today that is multi-cultural, multi-faith, to have a national identity that has Christianity at it heart?

Archbishop:
As long as the main dominant culture is safe in its traditions, it is possible for other cultures to thrive.

But as long as it is insecure, doesn't know what it believes doesn't know what its goals are, there will be such confusion, and there will be even some people who say, English culture doesn't matter anymore after all we are multi-cultural, but what are you going to integrate into?

I have a vision that we should all build a tent. I have a gift, you have a gift, everybody has got a gift, let us together bring our respective gifts and pitch a tent together. Because it's that wonderful word in John's Gospel "The word became flesh and pitched his tent among us"