When You Remove God from the Picture

December 28, 2016

Carol and I really enjoy many of British television’s Masterpiece Theatre productions.  They are usually cleverly scripted and well-acted.  They also give interesting insight into how the British view life.  For instance, a recurring theme in many productions is the resentment felt by the lower and middle classes toward the “upper crust.”  Repeated pokes are taken at an upper class that is presented as narcissistic and out of touch with reality.

Over the last couple of months we have been caught up in viewing two BBC Masterpiece Theatre detective mystery series.  One is entitled “Inspector Lewis,” and the other “Grantchester.”  What has captured my attention in both series, and the reason I am mentioning them at all, is because of the way Christianity and Christian morality is being portrayed from a British point of view.  That perspective is both enlightening and a little frightening.

“Inspector Lewis” is set in contemporary Oxford, England.  The two main characters are Inspector Robert Lewis and his sidekick Sergeant James Hathaway.  Oxford University is an intrinsic part of the story.  Characters in the mysteries are often faculty or students at the University. 

Grantchester’s setting is a small English town in the early 1950’s.  The two main characters are an Anglican vicar by the name of Sidney Chambers and a local Detective Inspector Geordie Keating.  They form an unlikely alliance as they work together to solve various crimes.

As you view Christianity through the lens of “Inspector Lewis,” Oxford, both town and university, is proudly and almost uniformly atheist.  This is a point that is repeatedly made.  Intellectualism and atheism are seen as going hand in hand. Sergeant Hathaway is portrayed as having once studied for the priesthood, but he is the only remotely Christian figure on the show.  The sergeant is extremely intelligent, and obviously very well educated, but as his  character is revealed from one episode to the next, no one would accuse Hathaway of being a happy man.  He is emotionally remote and lonely, and finds frequent solace in a bottle. There is little evidence his faith in God makes any significant difference in his life.  When a clergyman does make an occasional appearance, he is either cold and judgmental or hapless. The main character, Inspector Lewis, has no use for the Christian faith and makes no bones about it.  If anything, he seems to carry a chip on his should toward God.  By the way, an interesting visual side note is that a number of nightclubs and taverns in Oxford visited by the main characters in the course of the programs were beyond doubt at one time, from their architecture and stained glass beauty, churches.  In post Christian Britain, the inference is clear: church buildings as houses of worship are a thing of the past.  They are being repurposed for much more popular usages such as drinking and carousing.

In “Grantchester” Christianity receives similar treatment.  The young vicar is handsome and smart – and a borderline alcoholic who smokes like a train and has an eye for women.  One of his favorite places to hang out is a tavern. It appears the writers for the show have little to no idea what a vicar actually does.  He is rarely, if ever, shown studying or praying or ministering in any fashion. When he is portrayed as preaching, the message is insipid and trite and delivered to a handful of bored parishoners.  Sidney’s associate is a man struggling with homosexuality who clearly has a much greater knowledge of contemporary philosophers than he does of Scripture. Sidney’s bishop is a cold, calculating monster, one of those characters you love to hate.  His best friend in seminary shows up as a sexual predator.   

The message of both shows concerning Christianity is very clear: it is an unnecessary historical relic.  It has no relevance to modern life.  Christianity in Britain today is seen as convictionless, Bible less, and soulless.  It is an interesting and sometimes frustrating anachronism – nothing more.

I believe British television can give us valuable insight into what the not too distant future may look like here in the U.S.  American culture has been aping European culture for decades when it comes to morals and faith.  The British attitude toward Christianity should be seen as a harbinger of what is to come in our own country if we continue to follow a similar path.

It breaks my heart, but the battle for the soul of much of Europe has been clearly lost to the forces of humanism, socialism, and atheism.  What is left behind is a people without faith and, it would appear, without hope.  There is a kind of resigned pessimism that seems to permeate these shows.  They are cleverly written and well-acted, but the main characters would never be accused of being happy.  Nearly all of them consume alcohol in prodigious quantities, and when not seeking to solve a crime, spend a great deal of time moping around.  I think it would be safe to say life in godless England is portrayed as being pretty bleak.

The British are now free of the trappings of Christianity.  But they are paying a horrific price for that freedom.  These shows portray plenty of sexual acting out in all forms, but few healthy relationships or happy marriages.  The British may no longer recognize the ten commandments as coming from a transcendent God, but ignoring them certainly hasn’t added to the quality of life there.  Existing in an environment where “agape” is unknown, but greed, lust, envy, and anger are commonplace is pretty dreadful. Whether within the confines of intellectual fortresses like Oxford or small towns like Grantchester, life lived without God appears to be more of a slog than a blessing.  Removing God from the picture hardly produces an earthly Paradise.  In fact, I would argue it appears to be quite the opposite.

Humanists and Progressives would have us believe in this brave new world there is no place for Christianity.  What is truly sad is that in that same world there is also no place for grace or mercy or peace. 

Post Christian England has a message for us if we’ll just pay heed.  Recent statistics indicate that less than four percent of the population of Britain now attend any type of worship service on a Sunday. England is filled with huge, beautiful, empty cathedrals.  The British may have successfully shut God out of their country, but they have also closed the door to the blessings His presence brings.