Western Values and When ‘The Main Thing’ Isn’t

Recently a headline in ‘The Educator’ magazine for senior educational professionals caught my attention. It read-

‘Out of control: Sexual harassment rife in Australia’s schools’

‘The ‘Sexual Harassment of Teachers’ report, published by Collective Shout. . . . . .  found that teachers – almost all female – report being propositioned, threatened with sexual assault, subjected to sexist slurs, asked for intimate pictures, and other offensive behaviours.

Of 1,000 teachers who participated in the survey, almost 80% reported a rise of harmful sexual behaviours in their schools.’

I introduce this article with this highly unsavoury report because its subject matter is symptomatic of the ongoing degradation of western society. (See The Degradation: What About the Children). Many other symptoms of this degradation can also be cited. For example-

• Just 5% of Australians trust politicians to tell the truth (Ipsos, 2024).

• Only 28% of Australians think democracy is working well. According to a report in 2019 by the Pew Research Centre-

 ‘People are dissatisfied with the functioning of democracy in their countries for a host of reasons.’

Democracy, described by Winston Churchill as ‘the worst form of government except for all the others’, has always been like an unguided missile. You don’t know where or what it will blow up unless it is under the control of a moral guidance system.

One of the founding fathers of the United States of America, John Adams, highlighted the necessity for a moral compass and religious principles in the governance of a democracy.

• There is an increasing amount of general violence in society, such as attacks on ‘helpers’, Paramedics as well as Doctors and Nurses in Emergency departments etc. Such attacks were rare to non-existent in earlier generations.

• There is a deepening breakdown of social cohesion as a result of tribalization (Identification) and cultural diversity. Something that is at least in part created by the ill thought-out, culturally-unintelligent, Multiculturalism project based on the naïve belief that all cultures are equal.

• The decades-long intentional dismantling of the long-established Western understanding of the primary building blocks of a strong cohesive society, namely family and marriage.

• The decline in such ‘old-fashioned’ virtues as respect, courtesy, consideration for others, politeness, service etc.

• The now decades-long decline in educational standards as measured by the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA).

• A legislated belief that a biological man can be a woman if he chooses to be.

• An epidemic of mental illness, especially among the young, with rising anxiety, depression and suicide, suicide being the leading cause of death for those between 15 and 44 years old.

The mental health of Australians has been declining since around 2010 and this is seen in earlier generations, not just the youths of Gen Z, according to a study led by the University of Sydney.

A 2023 University of Adelaide report into the mental wellbeing of Australia’s youth reports that young people are struggling with their resilience and mental health, with 40-50 per cent reporting . . . . . falling levels of hope, across all ages and genders.

Another reports indicated that 13% admitted to having suicidal thoughts.

It is interesting that in such reports, the issue of ‘Meaning’ features little. The question is, how much a secular education with its absence of a religious dimension, and its failure to provide any answer to the ‘why do I exist’ question, contributes to the mental malaise.

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In all this there are frequently heard calls for a return to ‘Western’ values, which begs the question, what are such values? Usually those calling for such a reinstatement seem to be ignorant of the fact that the values they call for are not some naturally occurring characteristic intrinsic to human nature. Rather, they are Christian values, founded on and shaped by the very Bible that society has progressively decided to discredit.

The cries for a ‘values resurrection’ are in effect, and often unknowingly, calls for the restoration of a Christian society without Christ, but even my favourite atheist Friedrich Nietzsche realized that if you take Christ out, the whole Christian moral guidance system collapses.

The values longed for by many are actually the fruit of the Gospel, the proclaimed Gospel, not the one locked up Bible study groups and church buildings. It is the Gospel carried on the ‘beautiful feet’ of those who ‘Go’ and proclaim good news (Romans10:15) , but the sound of those feet is now but a distant fading echo.

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A useful way of looking at the reason for the fading values many long for, would be to do so through the lens of the statement made by Stephen Covey in the context of the business world viz-

‘The Main Thing is to Keep the Main Thing the Main Thing’

The Main Thing is critically important because it is the reason for the existence of any organization, i.e. its primary goal. This is no different in the case of the Church, the question for which being, what is the ‘Main Thing’ and is the Church keeping it the ‘Main Thing’ the main thing?

There seems to be a general ignorance of, or a deliberate unwillingness to accept, that the lamented loss of ‘Western values’ is the result of the decline of Christianity and the corresponding loss of the biblical moral operating system essential to the control of western democracy. Thus, and here is the key issue, the restoration of a biblically controlled democracy and the values flowing from it, requires the re-evangelization of Australia.

So, for a church, while there may be a great number of valuable things (ministries) running, the question is, what is or should be the ‘Main Thing’?

If you ask that question of members of most congregations the answer will usually be a whole raft of things – for example – to care for the members, preach/teach the Bible, provide help services to the needy in the community, provide regular (usually) Sunday services, run children’s and youth ministries (Sunday school, youth groups etc.). Others will reach for their congregation’s mission statement or strategy document, but none of these is the Main Thing; although they should be contributors to its achievement.

The question we asked above for a church is, ‘What is the Main Thing’? Church leaders and congregational members will come up with a whole range of answers as listed above, and more. However, Jesus gave us the answer- The ‘Main Thing’ is to ‘Go and make Disciples’.

The now chronic failure to do that has consequences- The first of which being the continued decline of the Church and all the ministries people will (wrongly) claim to be the ‘Main Thing’, as we run out of both human and financial resources. The second consequence being the ongoing decline of the very ‘Values’ many call to be restored.

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A common response I have frequently received when I have suggested the Church needs to switch a large proportion of its resources away from congregational gatherings to reaching society with the Gospel is “Yes but we have to look after church members”.

This is contrary to Jesus’ parable of the Lost Sheep. It is also contrary to the view of a former Archbishop of Canterbury, William Temple, who said that “the Church is the only institution that exists for its non-members.”

For those who ‘have eyes to see’, and even a modicum of knowledge of Church trends, the ‘looking after the members’ focus at the expense of disciple-making has resulted in church members becoming fewer, and Christian values fading from view.

It should be obvious that the only way those who call for the restoration of ‘Western Values’ will see their desire fulfilled would be the result of a re-evangelization of Australia. For this to happen requires-

1. A (painful) and rapid breaking of the shackles currently binding the church.
2. A radical creation of a truly missional church.
3. A corresponding redirection of resources away from maintaining the networks of failing congregations to energetic, creative and costly local mission.

Will this happen? There is next to no sign of it. So, Christians, question. Is the ‘Main Thing the Main Thing’ in your fellowship?

It’s over to you!