Britain: Repairing a Broken Society
A commentary by John Ross Schroeder
Good News magazine senior writer, United Kingdom
On July 24 a by-election took place in Glasgow East, Scotland to
replace a member of the British parliament whose seat became vacant
between parliamentary national elections—usually held every
five years. Previously on July 7, Conservative party leader David
Cameron spoke in Glasgow on behalf of his party's candidate
there.
What he said about morality makes a lot of sense. He stated: "We
have seen a decades-long erosion of responsibility, of social virtue,
of self-discipline, respect for others...Instead we prefer
moral neutrality, a refusal to make judgments about what is good
and bad behaviour, right and wrong behaviour.
"Bad.
Good. Right. Wrong. These are words that our political system and
our public sector scarcely use anymore...Refusing to use
these words—right and wrong—means a denial of personal
responsibility and the concept of moral choice...There
is a danger of becoming quite literally a de-moralized society,
where nobody will tell the truth anymore about what is good and
bad, right and wrong.
"That is why children are growing
up without boundaries, thinking they can do as they please, and
why no adult will intervene to stop them—including,
often, their parents. The values we need to repair our broken society and
to build a strong society are values that should be taught in the home, in the
family. I want a mandate for restoring responsibility to our society. A
mandate to call time on the twisted values that have eaten away at our social
fabric" (excerpts from text of East Glasgow speech, emphasis added
throughout).
During his speech Mr. Cameron said nothing directly about God,
Jesus Christ, the Bible, the Christian religion or any other religion
for that matter. But his actual words about morality were generally
based on the Judeo-Christian ethic. They ring true, not applying
just to the United Kingdom but to the entire Western world and especially
the English-speaking peoples around the globe.
Afterwards David
Cameron suffered some caustic verbal punishment from members of
the liberal press and the intelligentsia behind it. His words did
not fit in with their pragmatic, amoral stance on basic issues governing
morality. But regardless of whether his political party can or would
successfully carry out a program designed to repair British society
if and when it ever becomes the ruling government again, what he
said in Glasgow remains fundamentally true.
Mr. Cameron also stated
in that same speech: "Imagine if there was a government
that understood, really understood, that encouraging personal and
social responsibility must be the cornerstone of everything it did
and that every move it took reinforced that view."
Just such
a divine government is coming to this earth.
The Bible promises that "the God of heaven will set up
a kingdom that
will never be destroyed; no one will ever conquer it. It will shatter
all these kingdoms [that are tolerant of ungodly values] into nothingness,
but it [the Kingdom of God] shall stand forever, indestructible" (Daniel
2:44, The Living Bible).
Its Head of State will be Jesus Christ.
Its policies will be based on the Ten Commandments and the true
gospel as Christ preached it. In "the time of
universal restoration that God announced long ago through his holy
prophets" (Acts
3:21, NRSV) it will repair what is broken in today's
valueless society.
Why not learn more about that coming Kingdom
and the godly values and laws it will teach and enforce?
  An excellent
way to begin is to request, download or read online our informative
free booklets: The Gospel of the Kingdom and The Ten Commandments.
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