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Theos director Elizabeth Oldfield presented BBC radio 4's 'Thought for the day' programme on Tuesday 11th October.
Elizabeth spoke about the weaknesess of the liberal project as it relates to the question of shared identity. Christianity has something to offer that can take us beyond the tribalisms and individualism that corrode our common life.
You can listen to the programme here.
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It was a huge privilege to be at the recording of this year's BBC Reith Lectures last week, the first of which will be aired on 18th October. Given by philosopher Kwame Anthony Appiah, the four lectures will cover colour, culture, country and creed. His overarching title is ‘mistaken identities’- the implication is that these identities are not and should not be absolute.
I've been thinking about it ever since.Globally, we are seeing a resurgence in strong shared identities, most visibly nationalism, but also class, region, race and religion. This has prompted many an anguished comment piece on the crisis of liberalism.
In *very*simple terms, the liberal project sought to make the individual more important than these shared identities. This has delivered a huge amount of good stuff- it's rightly credited with much of our peace, order and prosperity, as well as personal liberation.
However, it has weaknesses. We know from wellbeing research that the ability to be a free individual isn't all we need. We also long for community, for a meaning and purpose bigger than ourselves, for some kind of hope. Liberalism alone can't provide these. Maybe we do need shared identities after all.
The need to find a way to acknowledge these longings, while also holding onto the good things liberalism provides, is now an urgent project for our best thinkers.
And Many of them, not necessarily religious themselves, are acknowledging that Christianity might have something to offer. Between tribal and divisive shared identities on one hand, and disconnected individuals on the other, there might be a third choice. Christianity provides for believers belonging, purpose, meaning and hope. We know this does have a positive impact on wellbeing. Crucially though, Christianity is not a shared identity that should allow you to retreat into tribalism. These positive benefits should instead be used to to serve, not attack, those outside the group. None of which is to say that the church has anything like a perfect record on these things. Far from it. But for those seeking a new way forward, the ideal of an identity that's both shared *and* outward facing might well be worth a look.
Image via BBC
