The scientific view of things is, in truth, an incredibly narrow view. Fascinating, exciting, but narrow. And the fact that so many scientists say the world is simply mechanical, simply means they lack the breadth of outlook to encompass other mental disciplines, irrespective of whether they think those disciplines true, or false. They seem to forget that nobody in his senses acts as though the world were mechanical, which I would have thought should introduce a certain caution into their certainty. When the whole of scientific method and the logic of induction have to be limited by common-sense, which science itself condemns as inadequate, you are left with a philosophical system, which is emotionally bankrupt. Evangelical Christians should take note, and appreciate that they are just as capable of making similar bad decisions in their own line of business. And the simple truth is that we need to be protected from the new scholasticism of science, just as much as we needed to be freed from the old scholasticism of medieval theology. The one is no better than the other.
What we want, if we are to create or preserve a decent just society, is a vision of Nature and the Universe that enables us to recognise as distortions or perversions the bigoted intolerant attitudes, which tend to gain control of all religions, which now pervade the narrow scholasticism of science as well, and which brutally manifest themselves when crime begins to get the upper hand. Toleration is a two-way conversation; you cannot tolerate those who will not tolerate you, except for reasons of temporary political expediency. Each world needs to have its due, and no more than its due; both the world on this side of death, and the world beyond death. So what we want is a vision of the Universe, which tolerates religious freedom so far as possible, which accords to science the respect due to it, and which recognises the brutal truth that War or conflict is inevitable if you come across someone more interested in fighting than talking? And in view of our history and our culture, a Christian view of Nature and the Universe is the best that you are going to get, in this country at any rate. Not ideal; but better than the alternatives.
However let us begin by considering the present position, and ask whether we should try to assess whether the degeneration of standards of decency in our community has not already gone so far, that any prospect of reversing it has probably been passed? Have we in Britain, with our long and valiant history of seeking freedom and government by consent, already been overwhelmed by the barbarians within our society? Just as the Romans long ago were overwhelmed by the barbarians from without? Or is it better to follow the example of the younger Scipio? He was one of the few thousand Romans to escape from the slaughter at Cannae, when he heard some Roman officers saying that ‘they must seek armistice terms from Hannibal’. He promptly had them arrested, and taken into custody!