A religious and a secular basis for society. (Part 7)

A religious and a secular basis for society

Part 7: Ultimately, our faith leads us to the truth that our sense of self relies on our relationship with God

In contrast, because I ignore external categories, and base my life upon my relationship with God, it means that I focus on the values and principles that I gain through my faith in God. The essence of who I am does not lie in my external categories, but in my spiritual and moral values. It is faith that frees me from the control of the impulses that evolutionary biology has imbued me with. I fully accept that I have these impulses, and I can never switch them off. However, I can use my values and principles to shift my centre of judgement to rest on what God has taught me. Reliance on identity categories leaves people prey to the instincts of evolutionary biology, rather than the freedom of spiritual gifts. For example, evolution has taught us to be intensely self-interested (read: “selfish!”), to be greedy, manipulative, suspicious of outsiders, quick to turn to hatred and violence. Place these tragic human impulses onto the template of identity politics and it turbo-charges our inclination to conflict by, not simply giving us permission, but urging us, to see others as inevitable oppressors, inescapably in conflict, in an endless round of domination and victimhood – both given and received from other groups, for whom there is no basis of unity.

Again, I fully accept that I have taken only tiny, almost token, steps towards basing my life on my faith, but my commitment to my principles and values is very genuine. I may not do very well, but my heart is set on trying to live according to my faith in God. And this is in complete contrast to secular ideologies which – regardless of whether they succeed or fail – are, on a point of principle, promoting ideas that can only produce conflict, fragmentation and emptiness. They have nothing whole or fulfilling to offer society. Although my failures in the life of faith are so very great – miserable sinner that I am – that, by rights, I should not dare to open my mouth, but, by grace, as someone who is loved by God, my sense of self does not rely on my qualities, but on my relationship with God. I do not feel good about myself because I am good; I give myself no credit for being gentle or compassionate; I don’t even take credit for believing in or wanting to be gentle and compassionate. All these things that I may have – even though they be slight – or which I may still lack, are not mine, in the sense of being signs of my worthiness, they are all simply a response to the love that God has given me – a response which is the essence of his grace. This is ultimately where faith leads us: our sense of self relies on our relationship with God. I feel good because God loves me.