| These days it is socially acceptable to be circumspect | | | | peak, before beginning its decline at the end of the |
| about religious ideas and beliefs. An individual's | | | | sixties. |
| particular deific convictions have become like his | | | | The question I wish to ask is this. Is it better to be a |
| income, a no-go area in polite conversation. It has been | | | | Christian as part of an established orthodoxy where |
| fascinating to watch this particular taboo come about. | | | | everybody must claim to be a Christian, where it is de |
| In the case of Christianity of course it harks back to | | | | rigeur to attend church, where it is anti-social to declaim |
| the very earliest days of the martyrs, when the | | | | against faith, where it is thought "heretical" to express |
| apostles of Jesus were prepared to go to their deaths | | | | doubt? Or is it better to be a Christian in a society |
| rather than deny his status as God, and in a way, this | | | | which is cynical about all faiths and in particular those |
| appears to be Christianity's rightful place, stored away | | | | which tend to support ideals not central to society? I |
| in a person's heart, locked in his soul. | | | | think most people who really understand their faith, |
| For almost two thousand years Christianity was an | | | | would agree that it is more fervent, more real, more |
| overt and unchallenged faith in the western world. The | | | | honest, when it is under hostile fire. |
| emperor Constantine established it as the Roman | | | | I say this both to encourage Christians (I can only |
| Empire's favoured theology, abandoning polytheism; the | | | | speak about Christianity) and to point out that the |
| Crusaders promoted it in the Levant, battling against | | | | present unfolding of the social order is all part of God's |
| Muslim to defend it; the Inquisition carried out brutal | | | | will. There must come a point in our history when |
| interrogations and punishments against heretics; the | | | | Christians will be forced to decide against all odds, |
| Victorians introduced it to the sub continent and to all | | | | against possible persecution, just as the early martyrs |
| four corners of the globe. Being a Christian became as | | | | did, whether to follow their Lord or not. This is the true |
| much a necessity in life as putting on shoes. In the | | | | test of faith. |
| fifties church-going on a Sunday in the UK reached its | | | | |