LONDON, UK - February 18, 2025
The sold-out Alliance for Responsible Citizenship (ARC) Conference 2025 on February 18th featured speakers such as Ayaan Hirsi Ali, Douglas Murray, David Brooks and Os Guinness. One ARC focus today was on “this civilizational moment,” a time when nations must choose what ideas will dominate public life and philosophy in the future. ARC aims to tell “a better story,” which was provided by a range of insightful speakers.
Douglas Murray, author of War on the West and other books, asked whether we can transition from apparent decline to an “age of reconstruction?” How can this be done? Reducing bureaucracy will free up people’s initiative. Money itself doesn’t always solve the problem—there must be innovation. He contrasted Europe with the US. In the US there is an acceptance of risk. There is also an element of efficiency in business. Meanwhile, the UK is under increasing pressure due to bureaucracy. For example, he lamented that the National Health Service is under pressure due to a lack of doctors and an overburdened system.. He ruefully noted that there was, however, a desire to kill people more efficiently (i.e., euthanasia). He lamented that there is increasingly little pride in one’s country in the UK. He spoke about the deculturalization of the UK due to mass migration. He did suggest that, despite challenges, there is still an opportunity to restore the wasteland. He argued that the task of UK citizens is to break through with innovation, which is at the heart of the reconstruction of civilization.
Ayaan Hirsi Ali, a Somali immigrant to the UK, lamented the decline of institutions and ideas that made the UK attractive. She said nationalism itself is good, but that it has to be distinguished from the wrong type of nationalism. She argued that the policy of multiculturalism has failed. “Stop the post-national experiment.” There is an uncertainty of identity which has led to an uncertainty of values. She said the nation state needs Christian morality. The approach of secularism is not a firm foundation. Christian faith has been the foundation of the rule of law. People made in the image of God underpins values. Rulers and citizens are accountable to a higher power. Responsible citizenship in the West is inseparable from Christian morality. She suggested that the best approach is to rebuild a national state and the Christian operating system upon which they run.
David Brooks, author and New York Times columnist, talked about the privatization of morality in the West. For people of faith that is not acceptable. How do we change culture? Culture change is about a change of heart. Culture change is when a small group of people find a better way to live. He argued that moral formation is at the centre of society. Lastly, a crisis of values in the West may not be all bad—crisis precedes renewal.
Os Guinness is a well-known writer whose latest book is Our Civilizational Moment: The Waning of the West and the War of the Worlds. While faith has answers, in our society, “religion” remains a dreaded word. He notes that “culture” is simply a way of life lived in common. Every civilization has its answer to meaning and that is typically expressed in a religion. The intended replacement which was the Enlightenment, an embodiment of reason, has proved entirely inadequate.
Guinness noted that over the past couple of years, there have been three things we can see clearly. First, secular liberalism has failed. Reason is now tainted. They have replaced God with things such as Marxism. C.S. Lewis foretold this in The Abolition of Man. Second, the renewal of faith is now seen as indispensable. People need three things: meaning, belonging and purpose. Faith provides roots, restraints and renewal for civilization. The West is a “cut flower” civilization—cut off from its roots it looks fine for a while but will not last. We need chains on our appetites. Third, there is a need for renewal. The biblical story is one of exile and return, rather than decline and fall. The alternative to going back to faith is to be focused on power. The will to become powerful is the predominant motivation according to Nietzsche. “We are at a showdown moment in Western Civilization." He referred to historian Arnold Toynbee who observed that a critical element to change is a creative minority.