Rod Dreher interviewed James Arthur , head of the school of education at Birmingham University and a UK national expert on character education, about the recent British riots:
What does the collapse of Christianity as a significant moral force in British society have to do with all this.
I believe quite a bit. We live in a society — and both Labour and Conservative governments bear some responsibility for this — that provides an environment in which children are much more sensitive about their rights, but less about their duties. So they have a very weak base for the values of civil society. In fact, many of them lack a moral language to discuss moral questions, because they don’t have the kinds of traditions, such as religion, in order for them to discuss these matters. So religion becomes less important to them, because through the secularization process, they’re losing touch with the moral traditions of society. No government or other secular tradition, has been able so far to replace the Judeo-Christian moral tradition.
Muslim children grow up with the language of morality and virtue provided to them by their religious tradition. They can at least discuss these concepts, because they have the language for it. Many of the white children in my studies throughout England identified themselves as Christian, but what they meant was: ‘I’m white and I’m English.’ They’re using Christianity as a label for something they see as superior. It has nothing to do with real Christianity.
