According to research from the University of Essex, British people are becoming less honest.
The survey says Britons of 2011 were more likely to tolerate extramarital sex, drink-driving or failing to leave a contact after hitting a parked car than those of 2001. The only transgression they were less tolerant of was social security fraud.
So have we all leapt on the liberal bandwagon only to find out it’s a handcart destined for hell? It’s not that simple, says Nick Spencer, director of studies at the British think tank Theos. The problems British people face are not because they stopped reading the Bible or obeying the Ten Commandments.
Ethical problems are linked to the decline of Christianity, but not so much with the lightened social weight of Christian moral edicts as with the weaker presence of Christian communities, formed around and modelled, however imperfectly, on the example of Christ. Walk away from your faith community, and you walk away from a wealth of practical moral wisdom.
Broadcast on 2CH Sydney, 5 Feb 2012.
