Some of the most influential people in the world have been told that to rebuild and renew our societies, faith in Christ is essential. The importance of genuine Christian belief to the urgent task of rebuilding Western civilization was a central theme at the sold-out Alliance for Responsible Citizenship (ARC) conference, which was attended by around 4,000 people in London. It brought together a coalition of thinkers, entrepreneurs, politicians and other influencers on the right side of the political spectrum. Former Prime Minister Tony Abbott and former Deputy Prime Minister John Anderson headed a strong Australian delegation. ARC was set up by Canadian psychologist Jordan Peterson and British Tory peer Baroness Philippa Stroud as a rival to the globalist and more liberal World Economic Forum which meets in Davos, Switzerland every January. Among the group’s known financial backers is British hedge fund boss, philanthropist and media tycoon Sir Paul Marshall whose worldview is shaped by his evangelical Christian faith.
The Guardian reports Sir Paul’s influence on UK right-wing discourse is growing, not just through his conservative GB News TV channel, but also his ownership of The Spectator magazine and the Unherd website. He is not a member of a political party but has been quoted as saying in a pre-conference interview that faith and politics were a “dangerous combination.” The ARC conference was not explicitly a faith-based event, but a distinctly religious theme was evident throughout its duration. There was broad agreement of the importance of Judeo-Christian principles to the transformation of society, despite not all speakers being Christians. Speakers included Muslim-to-atheist-to-Christian convert Ayaan Hirsi Ali, who criticized multiculturalism and said the “nation state needs Christian morality.” Reform UK leader Nigel Farage, whose populist brand of politics has rarely made reference to the Christian faith, said Britons should have more children to restore traditional Judeo-Christian culture.
“We’ve kind of forgotten that what underpins everything is our Judeo-Christian culture and that’s where we need to start,” he asserted. “If we recognise that, and if we value that, then I think everything comes from that.” he added. Many Christian speakers emphasised the importance of genuine faith to rebuilding nations. US Catholic Bishop Robert Barron who’s a prolific commentator on faith issues, proclaimed: “I’m here to speak to you about God.” “That’s because my deep conviction is there can be no real political and economic development without some reference to the ‘summum bonum’ — the highest good.” “You can’t tell the story of Western civilization without reference to God.” “My thesis is when God is bracketed, God is set aside or forgotten, societies tend to collapse in on themselves and they implode,” the bishop observed. “If we want real progress and not just a superficial one, we have to have reference to God.”
“Don’t believe the modern lie that somehow belief in God chains the spirit,” the bishop declared, to rousing applause. “The opposite is true. It’s belief in God that unleashes the spirit.” Christian thinker Os Guinness also gave a rousing speech, reflecting on world events since the horrors of the October 7 attacks on Israel: “Since then we’ve seen the incredible convergence between radical Islamism long planned by Hitler and the grand Mufti of Jerusalem back in 1941, and radical Marxism in its cultural Marxist form.” “What we’ve seen since 2023 is that fateful convergence of these two radicalisms.” “The Christian faith will only be true and effective, if it’s understood to be true, and you have enough people who are citizens who have an ultimate loyalty to what they see is ultimate reality.” Evangelical apologist Amy Orr-Ewing focused on the importance of Christian beliefs: “Forgiveness and redemption are one of the richest traditions in Western culture.”
“They are being lost to cancel culture in a manner reminiscent of totalitarian regimes.” Baroness Stroud closed the conference by saying: “Many have said we live in an ‘era of decline’.” “But we have an urgent message for Western leaders: Decline is not inevitable, but we must act to renew our societies.”
Source: Vision Christian Media
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