Jobs & Justice, Homes & Hope:
analysing the state of the nation
By Sir Fred Catherwood
Hodder & Stoughton. 220 pages. £8.99
ISBN 0 340 69072 0
Although subtitled 'analysing the state of the nation', this book is actually a call to the churches throughout Britain. It is a call to evangelicals to recover their historical social conscience and get involved in seeking to repair broken lives and heal the disintegrating communities in our crisis-stricken land today.
With this call in mind, Sir Fred surveys the state of Britain under three broad headings: the moral order, the economic order and the political order. If, shut away in our cosy suburban church ghetto, everything looks rosy and we doubt that Britain has problems, then it is time to wake up.
Morals
The opening chapters on the morality of our nation are both uplifting and heart-breaking. Sir Fred has toured Britain on behalf of the Evangelical Alliance visiting many church-based projects, and it is uplifting to see what Christians are already doing. But it is also heart-rending to read some of the statistics, and the tragic stories of broken families, poverty and deprivation.
A quarter of our whole population now live alone. The number of criminal offences has gone up from just under 2% of the population in England and Wales in the 1960s to over 10% in 1994, and just over 40% of offenders are now under 21. There are so many in our land who feel 'nobody wants me'. The rising generation is 'a generation which owes nothing to anyone; nothing to family, nothing to neighbours and nothing to social order. They are the loose cannons of our society and may go off in any direction.'
Economics
According to the book, the problem of a divided society, the 'haves' and 'have-nots', rightly fosters deep fears for the future of Britain. The next section therefore, moves into a consideration of our economic order. Here we have skilled and informed analysis of the economic history of the last 30 years handled by a master with all the experience of working alongside the government and industry, and years as an MEP in Strasbourg. Chapters address subjects such as 'How to restore full employment' and 'Who wants full employment - and who doesn't'. The market economy may have its advantages, but its disadvantages are ruthlessly exposed.
The market is inevitably oriented towards short-term dividends for shareholders rather than long-term investment for the good of the country. There needs to be co-operation between employers and employees. Sir Fred argues cogently, as we would expect, for full involvement with the European Union. 'The European market was a European Parliament initiative which brought to an end the stagnation of the early 1980s, and gave us a million new jobs in Britain alone. What we need now is another such initiative. More than Europe depends on it. Europe has to take over as the motor economy of world trade, since the US is too deeply in deficit, and Japan is too small.
Politics
The combination of the breakdown of the family and mass unemployment is the lethal cocktail which is destroying our nation.
Based on the divided nation scenario, the books raises fears about the very future of democracy in our land. 'The welfare state is now under severe pressure. All the talk is of cuts in social benefit, because the welfare system was not meant to bear the permanent burden of paying two million people to do nothing. The break-up of the family has cut the number of new births and, not too far ahead, that will reduce the number of earners whose tax is needed to pay the pensions of those who have retired. This is yet another heavy burden on the budget not foreseen by the architects of the welfare state, who were dealing in their day with a buoyant rise in population.' Friction between the 'haves' and the unemployed or underpaid underclass could eventually boil over. With a breakdown of law and order, a far-right wing government could come to power with the promise to restore order. In a memorable phrase, Sir Fred says that nationalists need enemies for their country while patriots seek friends for their country. With such matters as our dealings with Europe over the BSE crisis, the book detects an unhealthy rise in the nationalist tendency, stirred up by the media, which is mostly owned by those with a vested interest in keeping Britain out of Europe. Emphasising true British identity as being indissolubly tied up with our Christian history, Sir Fred goes on to call for changes in our constitution in a fairly pro-devolution direction. Power corrupts - it needs to be shared, not centralised.'
The gospel
It is against this background of concern for our land that the call is given to the church to wake up and do its prophetic job of addressing the ills of the nation, from a platform of deep social involvement with the needy of Britain. 'Christians believe that the greatest need of men and women is to be reconciled to our creator through the work of Jesus on the cross, and to have eternal life. But that is not an easy message to give to a secular world which does not believe in a creator or eternal life. To look after our neighbours is not only right and Christian; it is the way in which to earn our right to be heard . . . As I have looked back over history, I have been struck by the way in which care for society goes hand in hand with revival.' Don't fail to read this book!
Thus under the aegis of the Evangelical Alliance, there comes an impassioned plea for churches to work together and form a network of agencies reaching out in social care to our land. This volume needs to be read by everyone and followed up by some definite initiative from EA.
JEB
Dr John Benton
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