Community
Soul of Britain, with Michael Buerk, 9th July 2000
Soul of Britain, written and presented by Michael Buerk was broadcast in nine episodes in June & July 2000. This BBC TV series explored what people in Britain today really believe. What is their attitude to moral issues? What do they think about Christianity? The BBC commissioned the largest ever survey of beliefs and attitudes for this series.
This episode discussed what is happening to community life in Britain today. This issue relates closely to appendix A of the Facing the Challenge course (on how the Church needs to respond to changes in our culture).
Breakdown of traditional communities
In the past, we lived in traditional communities (villages, small towns) where everyone knew each other. We lived and worked with the same people, went to church and the pub with them, and played sports with them on the village green.
But such traditional communities have now largely broken down. In this program Michael Buerk asks whether we still have a sense of community, or are we becoming a nation of individualists who just do not care any more?
Loss of a sense of trust, rising crime
One result of the breakdown of traditional communities is that trust is also breaking down, because we do not know the people around us. According to the 'Soul of Britain' survey, only 35% of us know our neighbors quite well. Only 47% of us completely trust our immediate neighbor, but 59% of us think you 'can't be too careful' when dealing with other people.
Rising crime rates may be linked to the breakdown of traditional communities:
47% of us think that crime is society's most important problem
49% of us think that the country is headed in the wrong direction.
The rise of shared-interest communities
According to gay rights campaigner Peter Tatchell, traditional communities based on shared location (we lived in the same place) are being replaced by communities of shared intent (we are interested in the same things) e.g. the gay community. This is certainly correct as an observation of what is happening in practice.
Tatchell also argues that traditional communities demanded conformity, and were harsh and intolerant towards those who did not conform. There is certainly also a large element of truth in this.
However, one problem with the shift to communities of shared intent is that we only meet with and work together with people who are like ourselves. This intensifies the rise of tribalism. (See session two of the Facing the Challenge course). This is likely to become even more of an issue in the future.
The difference is between being in a community of people you cannot choose to be with, and being in a community of people you select for yourself.
Another problem is that many shared-interest communities have a sense of victimization, and feel that they are unfairly discriminated against. This may be true! So we should be very careful in how we respond to this issue. However, the danger is that they come to believe they are the only people who are discriminated against.
Loss of a sense of responsibility
One major effect of the breakdown of traditional community life is that we have lost our sense of civic responsibility - responsibility to each other.
If it is true that we have lost this sense of responsibility, who can we now turn to to create the kind of society we want to live in? The government? The media? The churches?
Does the Church have a role?
The Church was a key element in traditional communities. But today it seems that the Church does not have a significant part to play any more. Only 22% of us believe that our religious leaders are giving adequate answers to the social problems facing us.
We also have mixed feelings about our church leaders: 82% of us want them to speak out about poverty, 75% of us want them to speak out about racism, but fewer than half of us want them to say anything about sexuality or abortion. It seems that we are highly selective about the kind of issues we are willing to hear church leaders speak about - perhaps only those issues which do not touch our own consciences too closely.
Key Questions
- What does it mean to be part of a community?
- What kind of community(/communities) do we want to be part of?
- Who can give us a lead in providing such a community?