LIVING LIFE IN A POST-CHRISTIAN WORLD

I recently received a letter from a sceptic who had decided to “abandon the faith,” and be “honest” about life. I know this topic can take on a broad view like looking at religion or a much narrower view like looking at a church experience. I have lived in both of those world too. As I understand the letter-writer, he was abandoning the Christian Faith.
Many years ago, in 1973, actually during the Watergate period, the late William F. Buckley Jr.was a quite well known intellect. For a number of years he had a TV talk show program on PBS. Buckley would often have some well known personality along with a panel of intellects. He had a series of TV discussion interviews with Malcolm Muggeridge. The discussion brings out some interesting points about Christian ity.
Malcom Muggeridge was also quite well known. He had been a journalist of some 50 years. During that time, he had been the editor of “Punch”–a British weekly magazine (1841-1992) which used humor and satire to make its point. Using his writing and journalist talents, Muggeridge had been a ardent socialist. He lived as a controversial figure - known as a drinker, heavy smoker and womaniser in earlier life. However, some of his best work came as a result of finding faith late in life, eloquently expressed in broadcast and in writing, and fighting energetically on moral issues.”


This particular exchange took place in London, in August of 1973

MR. BUCKLEY: Is it the notion of the clergy you speak of that they won't otherwise be noticed unless they come out for free ping-pong or whatever?
MR. MUGGERIDGE: Well, they won't otherwise have anything to say, because, for the most part, they’ve lost their, faith, I mean, the faith in Christianity as a transcendental view of life has dimished enormously in all....they've either got to go out of business altogether or look around and see some earthly equivalent of that, something they can hold up-“
...That change is really the most--it's much more important, in my view, than, for instance, Marxism, or than the Russian revolution or the Chinese revolution. This is the total collapse of transcendental Christianity, but what is even more fascinating is. where do you find this transcendental Christianity,raising its head again? You find it in the communist countries, among the dissidents, of whom, obviously, Solzhenitsyn is a classic example.”
Aleksandr Isayevich Solzhenitsyn was a political prisoner of the Soviet Union for some 20 or more years. He wrote “The Gulag Archipelago” and “One Day in the Life Of Ivan Densovitch.” Before he left that country, he wrote an open letter to the Soviet government. He wrote:"I'm not against the Soviet regime as such. I'm not against dictatorial government. I don't think that by dismantling a dictatorial government you will automatically achieve freedom.
What I am against is the ideology Marxism, which gives the notion that men can satisfy their aspirations in worldly terms. That is the great fallacy, that is the great illness, and that the only answer is Christ.”

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