Wednesday, June 07, 2006

The Church of England in terminal decline


Church pews are empty. Church leaders are embroiled in endless internal battles about issues which are controversial at best, and unresolvable at worst. Furthermore, the Archbishop of Canterbury goes around the world apologizing for the hymns sung in church services, and now, the former Archbishop of Canterbury, Lord Carey, comes out with advice about the future coronation of Prince Charles, stating that the coronation service should be multi-culti and inclusive of other faiths. The Church of England, the keystone of the British establishment, is under attack from within as well as from without.

Each organization has a raison d’être. The raison d’être of a commercial organization is profit. The raison d’être of a charitable organization is the amount of money it can collect for the needy cause it represents. The raison d’être of the Church is to fill the pews and evangelize – to bring the Gospel to all they possibly can, and to point out the errant ways of the fallen, and the benighted ways of the people who follow other faiths.

In this light, one must look upon the Church as a wholly unsuccessful organization, because it neither manages to fill the pews on a Sunday, nor does it bring the Gospel to save the fallen, and nor does it direct non-Christians to the ‘right path’.

Presumably, and I think it’s a reasonable presumption on my part, the Church believes that theirs is the true faith, and that only by following the Gospel of Jesus Christ can man find Salvation. After all, to be a Christian is to believe that there is only one way to God; and that is through His Son, the Christians’ Saviour and Redeemer.

So what has gone wrong in the Church of England? Why doesn’t its head see the need to fill the pews and preach the Gospel?

Simon Heffer has been quoted on June 7, 2006 in The Telegraph as saying the following: "We are not a multicultural society. We are a monocultural one tolerant of other cultures, and whose clear identity is understood by the people, if not by their leaders. We are an old country with a strong sense of continuity. And anyone who trifles with such manifestations of our antiquity and stability does so at his peril."

I would concur with this statement.

Don’t our Church leaders realize that our way of life is under attack? Don’t they realize that the free world is actually at war with radical Islam? Don’t they realize, further, that radical Islam is out to destroy our civilization? And don’t they realize that they are trying, through the jihad, or holy war, to drive Westerners into a state of Dhimmitude?

Is this balderdash the best that the Church leaders can come out with?

Ibn Khaldun, a famous fourteenth century historian, described Islam’s ideological drive to dhimmitude thus:

”In the Muslim community, the holy war is a religious duty, because of the universalism of the mission and convert everybody to Islam either by persuasion or force. Therefore, caliphate and royal authority [religion and politics] are united , so that the person in charge can devote the available strength to both of them at the same time.” - (Source: Bat Ye’or’s The Decline of Eastern Christianity under Islam: From Jihad to Dhimmitude)

Moreover, Bat Ye’or, a great scholar on this subject, tells us that the Jihad is unique. She says:
”It is, in fact, the only war of an everlasting and universal offensive nature attached to a religious system.”

…“All those strategies which constitute the jihad represent the means to compel by force the targeted populations to enter into dhimmitude. Despite analogies with other political regimes, dhimmitude remains an irreducible and specific structure, linked to a particular ideological and political order. It can only be compared with other systems by a superficial amalgamation. In fact, dhimmitude emanates from the jihad and the shari’a.”
Our leaders are taking us down the primrose path to dhimmitude, which will mean second class status to YOU and ME. That our politicians are doing so is bad enough; that our Church leaders are also engaging in this, is deplorable.

In the light of this fact, one can but ask oneself some simple questions: What are our Church leaders hoping to achieve by giving away our Christian heritage? Who has given them the right to do so? Why are they selling out their Christian principles? Have they forgotten the message of the Gospel? Don’t they believe anymore that there is only one path that leads to God – the Christian path?

It seems to me that successive Archbishops of Canterbury have reneged on their responsibilities to revivify the Church in periods of steep decline. In this regard, these Church elders can hardly be considered leaders at all. What do organizations do with managing directors who fail to make a healthy profit for the company of which they are head? What does society do with prime ministers and presidents who fail to lead?

So what is different about our Church leaders? Do they really deserve to remain in lead positions if they fail to fill the pews, if they fail to preach the Gospel?

Islam happens to be knocking on the West’s door; indeed, millions of its adherents have already been let in to the West. They are just biding their time to increase their numbers to bring their population to critical mass before they make a bid for power. Time is on their side, not ours.

Have our Church leaders not noticed one thing: Mosques throughout the country are full to bursting. Can they not imagine why this is so? Have they not yet figured out that leaders in the Islamic faith are convinced of the righteousness of their own faith, convinced of their ultimate destiny to take over our country and its institutions, convinced of their destiny to become the establishment?

Why do people follow such a backward faith so readily? Well, although this is a complex question, and there are many reasons, one thing stands out, possibly above all other reasons: Muslim leaders preach one message, an unchangeable message, and do not cast doubt into the hearts of the faithful. This is actually the essence of true leadership. To lead, one has to be confident and sure of one’s mission, confident and sure of one’s purpose, confident and sure of one’s destiny.

In matters of leadership, it helps not one jot to be riven by self-doubt. No person can make an effective leader when plagued by self-doubt. Self-doubt, however, is what characterizes our Church leaders. It is this self-doubt that is leading the Church into terminal decline. Without a turn around in the Church’s fortunes, this terminal decline will impact greatly on the fabric of British society. The nature of British society will be changed forever.

To reverse this terminal decline, the leaders of the Church need to remember one thing: Nothing succeeds like success! At this late stage, the Church’s fortunes can only be reversed one step at a time. It is high time that this first step be taken.

The multicultural claptrap needs to stop; positive steps to reverse the decline of the Church still further need to be put in place. Dr Williams: Time is not on the Church’s side.

©Mark Alexander

15 comments:

Always On Watch said...

Mark,
I started to pull out some excerpts to discuss here, but found myself excerpting nearly the whole piece.

What the church has been playing around with--multiculturalism, moral relativism, and all the rest of the 60's fallacies--is bringing her down. The spiritual vacuum is being filled with Islam or other ideologies.

As Oriana Fallaci, a secularist, has pointed out, Western civilization is Christian civilization. I believe that one doesn't have to be a dedicated Christian to love Western civilization and its advocacy of a particular ethos (which might well be summed up in the Golden Rule), but one does have to subscribe to the same values. Islam does not!

You know what amazes me? The very people who criticize and deny the legalism of church doctrines embrace leftism and demand that we "understand" Islam.

Well, I understand Islam only too well. It is incompatible with Western civilization.

Great essay, Mark! I'll be emailing a link to some of my students and friends.

Mark said...

Always:

I'm glad you liked the essay. I always value your opinion.

The Church makes me feel sick in my stomach. It's giving our civilization away. Their politically correct ideas will be the death of the finest civilization this world has ever known.

These people are not leaders; they're timid little people who do not deserve the positions they hold.

Imagine going to Saks of 5th Avenue and speaking to the Managing Director there. Then he tells you, I wouldn't buy any clothes with us if I were you, they are of dubious quality. The shop across the road sells better clothes than we do. Go there and do your shopping! Or even if he said, the shop across the road has clothes every bit as good as ours.

What would you think of his leadership of the company? Would you be inspired ever to go to that shop again? I know I wouldn't be.

That's how stupid these Church leaders come across to me. If they can't 'sell' their faith, then they'll soon be out of the business of preaching. Period!

Always On Watch said...

This article isn't directly related to your excellent article, Mark, but I thought you might like to see it.

Excerpt:

Canadian law enforcement officials should be proud of busting a reputed Islamic terrorist network that may span seven nations. Instead, our northern neighbors are trying their damnedest to whitewash the jihadi ties that bind the accused plotters and their murder-minded peers around the world.

We live on a doomed continent of ostriches....

Many clueless North Americans remain shocked, shocked, that jihadis live among them -- despite the open secret of our northern neighbor's reputation as an Islamic terrorist safe haven. A cloud of befuddlement looms. The Toronto Star reports, with jaw-dropping dim-wittedness, that "it is difficult to find a common denominator" among those who would kill us.

Pass me a clue-by-four: It's the jihad, stupid. It's been going on since before the Crusades. And it continues under our noses....

Mark said...

Yes, Always, and the jihad will continue until the West is no more!

And who can we find to do something about it in this PC world? Nobody!

What a sad state we find ourselves in!

Always On Watch said...

Mark,
I just posted a link to your essay, in the comments section here.

ZMalfoy said...

Mark,
I've never been to your blog before, but found thins through my watchlist on technorati. This is an excellent piece, well worth the reading. I would like to invite you to submit it for the next Carnival Against Islamofacism (there's a link on my blog)-- I think this piece would be perfect.

Also, I'm impressed by your commentors--very smart, well-read people. Does my heart good to see.

Always On Watch said...

This, from today's Washington Post will make your head spin. Excerpt:

In the official speeches, no one mentioned Haditha. But as the Islamic Prayer Center was dedicated yesterday at the Marine Corps Base in Quantico, recent violence in Iraq, including the killing of 24 civilians in the western Iraqi town, allegedly by Marines, was on the mind of some.

Aisha Greenleaf Abdul-Mateen sat in a folding chair behind rows of other folding chairs, listening as Deputy Secretary of Defense Gordon England and Gen. Michael W. Hagee, commandant of the Marine Corps, spoke about the significance of the day -- the first Muslim prayer center for the Marines. She sat there as they pointed to the small white building behind them as a symbol of America's religious tolerance. And she remained there after they finished their speeches, took off their shoes and walked inside the center with a gaggle of journalists in tow....

Yesterday's ceremony marked the dedication of the building that has been in use by the base's Muslim community since the end of last year. The plan is to build a larger facility by 2009 to serve as a religious activities and family support center. Several who attended the ceremony described it as a positive step in relations with the Muslim community in the United States after a series of reported missteps recently in Iraq, such as the alleged atrocity in Haditha....

4,000 Muslim Americans are serving in all branches of the U.S. military. He said the center will be not only a space for them but also a place to educate people about Islam. Inside the center, which is mostly a large, empty room, the walls are decorated with educational posters topped with such questions as "Who is Allah?" and "What do Muslims believe?"

"At the end of the day, we are all brothers and sisters,"...


Quantico is a large Marine base outside of D.C.

Always On Watch said...

BLD,
The Leaders opf the Church have damned themselves with their capitulation to the idolators of mahammed.
Our Church leaders are becoming little more than caretakers of our heritage buildings.


Given time, the Muslims will take over the buildings as well.

Mark said...

Crusader Coyote:

I tried doing what you suggested, but it didn't work! :-(

Mark said...

The news, folks, is becoming ever more depressing. The mess in Iraq, the shockwaves reverberating through Canada, the immigration mess all over the Western world, the unrelenting jihad, which no politician seems prepared to confront. And, and, and...

What an age to be living in!

cybercrusader said...

Alas, many of the most influential clergy today are children of the 60's. They have replaced Holy Scripture with Political Correct Dogma, which of course is simply Marxism applied to culture. Hence, the sad result you describe, Mark.

cybercrusader said...

Oops. I meant 'politically correct dogma'....

Unknown said...

OK Mark, slap me upside the head with a clue-by-four. Wake up, wake up boy. The first time I read this, I guess I wasn't paying attention, shades of school days, off elsewhere dreaming. I know all you teachers around here will groan in recognition. Smack!

Great essay Mark.

I admit to a marked tendency to glaze over, every time that I hear a pronouncement from the church talking-heads. They lost their relevance about the same time I learned that I had a brain of my own. The tragedy is that Western civilisation needs real leaders in all positions of high authority. Our society has quite simply dumbed itself down to the level of rank stupidity. How else could you explain the assaults of the muslim hopefuls. Cunning they may be, sharp intellects they are not. Thanks a lot Mr. Marx and all your acolytes, all you more caring, more compassionate, more righteous, holier than thou souls. (Actually, souls is the wrong word, ghouls fits much better).

Then again; those whom the gods would destroy, they first drive mad!

Again, good one essay, sorry to be so slow off the mark, Mark.

Mark said...

Just Another Richard:

OK Mark, slap me upside the head with a clue-by-four. Wake up, wake up boy. The first time I read this, I guess I wasn't paying attention, shades of school days, off elsewhere dreaming. I know all you teachers around here will groan in recognition. Smack!

There's no need for that! :-)

Great essay Mark.

Thank you! I appreciate your comments. And I am so happy you liked it.

I admit to a marked tendency to glaze over, every time that I hear a pronouncement from the church talking-heads.

It doesn't surprise me.

They lost their relevance about the same time I learned that I had a brain of my own. The tragedy is that Western civilisation needs real leaders in all positions of high authority. Our society has quite simply dumbed itself down to the level of rank stupidity. How else could you explain the assaults of the muslim hopefuls. Cunning they may be, sharp intellects they are not. Thanks a lot Mr. Marx and all your acolytes, all you more caring, more compassionate, more righteous, holier than thou souls. (Actually, souls is the wrong word, ghouls fits much better).

Our society has been dumbed down out of all recognition. No wonder the Muslim hopefuls are waiting in the wings.

Again, good one essay, sorry to be so slow off the mark, Mark.

Think nothing of it. Your comments are always so good that they are worth waiting for! :-)

Mark said...

Franze:

Centuries later of hate to the christian religion in Europe and in US have their consequences.

I'm afraid that they do.

By the way, I wish I were fluent in Spanish to be able fully to appreciate your blog.