Toby Young on Christianity, the ‘Church of Woke’ and the death of forgiveness

In an interview with The Christian Institute, released today, Toby Young, Director of the Free Speech Union, says the “God-shaped hole left by the retreat of Christianity” has given rise to a “censorious and authoritarian” secular public morality which Christians find themselves at odds with.

Speaking with Simon Calvert in the latest episode of The Christian Institute’s “In Conversation With…” series, Young, an atheist, observes:

“We’ve embraced this new secular public morality, which is … much more … censorious and authoritarian than the seemingly much more gentle Christian public morality, which at least allowed for forgiveness and a path back…”

“That’s why if you don’t sign up to the shibboleths of the ‘woke Church’, you end up cast out and curiously, lots of people who do find themselves at odds with the articles of faith of the new public morality are orthodox Christians.”

“One of the attractive things about modern Christianity is this distinction between the sin and the sinner. And if you transgress, but you are penitent, then you can be readmitted into the community.

“But in the ‘woke Church’, there is no forgiveness. Once you’ve transgressed, that’s it. You’re cast out, and there’s no way back.”

Toby Young, who is candid and animated throughout the 30 minute interview, discusses:

• the Hollywood movie based on his memoirs

• education

• trans ideology

• cancel culture

• the growth of the Free Speech Union

More quotes from the interview

Toby Young on being cancelled (19:02):

“One of the things I think which makes being cancelled really difficult, is … the kind of woke cult, this feverish group of Identitarians on the Left. They’ve taken on quite a lot of aspects of Christianity. It’s as though as the Christian tide has ebbed away, so it’s left some things behind. And these have been taken up by people to help fill the kind of God-shaped hole left by the retreat of Christianity, and the decline of Christian worship. But they’ve taken the bad bits and left out the good bits.”

On Christian morality and tolerance (22:00):

“…and why has cancel culture kind of metastasised and become such an all-encompassing kind of blight? …in the 19th century, even in the first part of the 20th century, we were a Christian society. And the sacred values we were expected to observe were Christian values. … And there was some tolerance for people who didn’t believe. I think more tolerance, particularly towards the end of the 19th century in the higher education sector, towards people who challenged the prevailing orthodoxies. More tolerance than there is now.

“But I think, as the Christian tide ebbed away, so this public morality began to fade, particularly in the 1960s and the 1970s. And all the taboos which had constrained people’s behaviour, the moral taboos began to fall away … but then, interestingly, people seemingly found it quite difficult to cope with that degree of freedom. And they’ve embraced another, even more dogmatic morality, which in the past 10/15 years has become the public morality.

“So … after a brief interlude, one public morality has been replaced by another, and if you don’t sign up to the articles of faith of that public morality, you’re now outcast, probably more outcast than you were if you didn’t sign up to the articles of the Christian faith in the 19th century, the early 20th century. … We’ve embraced this new secular public morality, which is actually interestingly much more puritanical and censorious and authoritarian than the seemingly much more gentle Christian public morality, which at least allowed for forgiveness and a path back – redemption – which this new public morality doesn’t seem to allow for…

“That’s why we live in an increasingly intolerant society. That’s why if you don’t sign up to the shibboleths of the ‘woke Church’, you end up cast out and curiously, lots of people who do find themselves at odds with the articles of faith of the new public morality are orthodox Christians.”

Notes for Editors:

• Click here to watch the full interview.
• Click here for the full transcript.