Who is David; who is Goliath?

Christianity has almost been vanquished in Britain and no longer influences the government or people's lives, the leader of the Catholic Church in England and Wales told a gathering of 100 priests in Leeds recently. Yet, despite decades of the systematic secularisation of every aspect of British society, when the news finally came, English newspapers appeared genuinely shocked.

Speaking on the state of the Catholic Church in England and Wales, Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor chose language hat mirrored concerns expressed by the Archbishop of Canterbury when he declared Britain to be a country here "tacit atheism prevails". But the Cardinal went further. The extent to which Christianity informs modern culture and intellectual life in Britain today has been hugely diminished, he said.

This means that Christians--particularly Britain's 4.1 million Catholics -- have had to adapt to "an alien culture" in which increasing numbers of people are gaining their "glimpses of the transcendent" through music, New Age movements, occult practices, and green issues. "There is indifference to Christian values and to the Church among many young people. We see quite a demoralised society, one where the only good is what I want, the only rights are my own, and the only life with any meaning or value is the life I want for myself," the Cardinal said. "Christianity as background to people's lives and moral decisions and to the Government and to the social life of Britain has almost been vanquished. We live in a totally new time for all Christians, especially for us Catholics, and the anguish of the Western world is there for all to see."

Days later, an aghast world watched the World Trade Center reduced to an inferno, the Pentagon in flames, Manhattan wreathed in smoke, and the Statue of Liberty rising above the billowing clouds like the dome of St.Paul's during the Blitz. What occurred was a stunningly wellplanned attack on two symbols of Western secular values--power and military might. Regardless of who had delivered the horrific assault, the point had been made. In less than an hour, out of the moral wreckage of the 20th century, the 21st century had been born. Here's the question: after decades of precisely the sort of 'demoralisation' Cardinal Murphy-O'Connor has described--during which Christian virtue has been systematically replaced with non-Christian "values"--does the West have the moral strength necessary to prevail against an unseen enemy? Put another way, in this new war of super-terrorism, who is David and who is Goliath?

Canada

In the wake of the spectacular attack on New York and Washington, Prime Minister Chretien made a spectacular claim: Canadian values would not be an early casualty in the war on terrorism.

Here's another question: what are those values exactly? What values might those be in a society that professes to be in the vanguard of enlightened thought? What might those values be in a nation that does not condemn promiscuity but condemns those who fail to obtain the requisite consent; that condones casual sex while damning a flirtatious remark as grounds for legal action that celebrates assisted suicide and euthanasia--the right to death--as a more important human right than the right to life.

What values is the prime minister referring to when he points to a Canada that is no longer functionally Christian; where divorce is viewed as a lifestyle choice; where illegitimacy has been rebaptized as "non-marital childrearing"; where the traditional family is seen as a pathological facade concealing the new "original sin"--child abuse; where criminal behaviour is seen as the product of low self-esteem, poverty, unemployment, and racism, to be overcome by a more generous welfare system and more aggressive anti-discrimination laws; where the spirit of relativism makes it almost impossible to pass any moral judgments or impose any moral conditions; where school prayer is prohibited; where drug and alcohol addiction and pornography are rampant; where sex education and birth control are the rule; and where abortion is performed on hundreds of preborn infants every day as if it were a divine right?

"It is impossible to fully comprehend the evil that would have conjured up such a cowardly and depraved assault upon thousands of innocent people," Prime Minister Jean Chretien said on September 11. "There can be no cause or grievance that could ever justify such unspeakable violence. Indeed, such an attack is an assault not only on the targets but an offence against the freedom and rights of all civilized nations."

Quite so, Mr Chretien. On the topic of abortion, your comments are particularly apt. As for September 11, I am reminded of another giant in history, a tower of a man brought down by a well-aimed airborne projectile from the sling of a young zealot.

Paula Adamick is our London, England, columnist. Her column appears every other issue.