Some of essentially the most influential people on the planet were told this week that to rebuild and renew our societies, faith in Christ is important.
The importance of real Christian belief to the urgent task of rebuilding Western civilisation was a central theme on the Alliance for Responsible Citizenship conference, a enterprise begun by psychologist Jordan Peterson, and a rival to the controversial globalist and liberal World Economic Forum.
The conference held in London brought together a coalition of thinkers, entrepreneurs, politicians and other influencers on the correct wing of the political spectrum together with greater than 4,000 influential delegates from everywhere in the world.
There was a broad agreement of the importance of Judeo-Christian principles to the transformation of society, though not all speakers were Christians. The overall theme was encouragement in working towards rebuilding our declining civilisation and its values and freedoms. Speakers included Muslim-to-atheist-to-Christian convert Ayaan Hirsi Ali, who criticised multiculturalism and said the “nation state needs Christian morality,” while evangelical apologist Amy Orr-Ewing spoke on the importance of redemption and forgiveness.
Many Christian speakers emphasised the importance of real faith to rebuilding our nations.
“There’s been lots of talk and there shall be more talk at this conference about economic development, political development and so forth,” US Bishop Robert Barron told the conference. “I’m here as a bishop of the Catholic Church to talk to you about God, because my deep conviction is there might be no real political and economic development without some reference to the ‘summum bonum,’ to the best good.
“You cannot tell the story of Western civilization irrespective of God. My thesis is when God is bracketed, God is ready aside or forgotten, societies are inclined to collapse in on themselves and so they implode. If we
want real progress and never only a superficial one we now have to have reference to God.”
There was a spread of more secular speakers, on topics as wide-ranging as artificial intelligence, the care of young children, and the potential harm of smartphones, to quite a few current political and economic debates. But an underlying theme was the decline in morality that was guilty for the woes of the West.
Bishop Barron added that “every thing on this world, all of our accomplishments, are under God’s judgement, they’re under the criterion established by God”, and warned in regards to the dangers of idolatry.
“Don’t consider the fashionable lie that one way or the other belief in God chains the spirit,” the Bishop said, to 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 events because the first ARC, which took place just days after the horrors of the October 7 attacks on Israel: “Since then we have 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 and the product of the 1967 call for a protracted march through the institutions, and what we have seen since 2023 is that fateful convergence of those two radicalisms.”
He was referencing the documented 1941 meeting between Muslim leader Haj Amin al-Husseini and the Nazi leader, where the previous said they shared the identical enemies – “the English, the Jews, and the Communists”.
These forces are uniting of their hatred of the West, said Guinness. Recent years have shown that secular humanism and the “enlightenment” that was imagined to sideline faith and usher in an era of reason has been shown to be “absolutely inadequate” because it has led to intolerance, Marxism, postmodernism and extremism.
“This is a difficult moment, and we will not depend on clichés and warm ourselves with truisms,” said Guinness. “We’re on the showdown moment in Western civilization.
“The Christian faith won’t do anything for civilization if it’s viewed as useful. It will do nothing for civilization if we turn it right into a psychological version of whatever. It will only be true and effective if it’s understood to be true, and you have got enough people who find themselves residents who’ve an ultimate loyalty to what they see is ultimate reality.”
Orr-Ewing focused on the importance of Christian beliefs: “Forgiveness and redemption are one in every of the richest traditions in Western culture. They are being lost to cancel culture in a fashion paying homage to totalitarian regimes. Redemption is one in every of the good themes of the literature and art of civilization that has so mattered to us as human beings.”
The overall tone was positive, inspirational and inspiring towards motion. Baroness Philippa Stroud, one in every of the founders, closed the conference by saying: “Many have said we live in an ‘era of decline’. But we now have an urgent message for Western leaders: decline isn’t inevitable, but we must act to renew our societies. I hope that this yr’s conference marks a crucial step within the vital work of constructing this brighter future.”
Some on the left wing of politics were up in arms in regards to the conference and speakers they consider to be controversial, from Reform Party leader Nigel Farage and Conservative Party rival Kemi Badenoch to Triggernometry podcast host Konstantin Kristin, whose interview with former Spectator editor Fraser Nelson about what makes an individual British caused controversy this week, too.
The speeches given on the conference advocating a return to free-market capitalism and warning of the harms of ‘net zero’ on the economy were perceived negatively on the left.
But the conference had a broader spectrum of opinion than simply these ideas, which might be seen within the range of panels and talks mostly available online via YouTube. Some speakers, resembling Labour peer Lord Maurice Glasman, architect of “Blue Labour”, or former MP Miriam Cates, are more economically and socially conservative.
There has been much speak about a “vibe shift” of a turning back towards more conservative and/or Christian values within the culture normally. There was little doubt that many in the gang were relishing the changes that Donald Trump is bringing in – a critic of the brand new President on the speaker list was even booed by the gang. But this was a rare moment of discord.
“I joined 4,500 conservatives, mainly from Europe, on the @arc_forum in London,” wrote Rev Johnnie Moore on X. “Really amazing watching this movement sweep the globe, a return to our founding principles.”
Heather Tomlinson is a contract Christian author. Find more of her work at https://heathertomlinson.substack.com or via X (twitter) @heathertomli
