Tony Watkins » Society

Christmas set to be toughest for Britain’s poor, new research reveals

Tony Watkins — Mon, 13 Dec 2010 10:44:49 +0000

Theos, the public theology think-tank has published the results of a survey it commissioned into attitudes towards Christmas in the UK. The results are both very interesting and useful. Director of Theos, Paul Woolley comments:

The stark differences between Christmas for the rich and poor in society should trouble us.
In general terms, the financial downturn is clearly forcing people to tighten their belts this year. Still, it’s interesting to note that 62% of people don’t think it will make any difference to their enjoyment of Christmas.

The fact that 68% of people will be spending Christmas with their family shows how significant family bonds are, but we should be concerned that people aged 65 and over are most likely to spend Christmas alone.

It’s clear that society is split right down the middle regarding the religious significance of Christmas.

It will surprise people that young people are most likely to believe that Jesus is relevant to their Christmas.

It’s difficult to work out why fewer people expect to attend a Christmas church service than in previous years, although 36% remains a relatively high figure.

via theosthinktank.co.uk

Posted via email from Tony Watkins

Why should children study religion Earlier this year, Bjørn Ulvaeus wrote an article in...
Aagh! Christmas! christmas from Crestock Royalty Free Images Two young children...

Clay Shirky talking about cognitive surplus

Tony Watkins — Fri, 26 Nov 2010 14:50:29 +0000

HT: David Gurteen

Nature. Beauty. Gratitude. Louie Schwatzberg shoots beautiful images, particularly time-lapses. Here’s a...

Play « Conspiracy of Freedom

Tony Watkins — Wed, 22 Sep 2010 18:41:38 +0000

I can’t remember who it was who posted this on Twitter a few days ago, but I’m glad they did. As the tweeter said, everyone with children should watch this:

via conspiracyoffreedom.org

Posted via email from Tony Watkins

State of Play Cal McAffrey (Russell Crowe) is covering the story of an...

A Hunger for Truth and Justice

Tony Watkins — Mon, 13 Sep 2010 14:19:13 +0000

Stieg Larsson’s Crime novels

Interview with Tony Watkins by Christian Bensel, 23 March 2010

The bestselling Millennium Trilogy features cases of mass murderers, human trafficking and government conspiracies. 27 million copies have been sold in over 40 countries according to theEconomist (March 22, 2010), making the late Stieg Larsson the second most sold author worldwide in 2008 (after Khaled Hosseini).Today, his books still rank in the top selling lists of Europe.

Christian Bensel asked writer and cultural commentator Tony Watkins on the significance of crime novels and the message behind Stieg Larsson’s trilogy.

Tony, you seem to spend a lot of time in cinemas or reading great book – and then thinking about them.

Not enough!

What to you hope to achieve?

Part of the work of Damaris is to equip the church to understand the culture that we are in. Culturewatch itself and much of my work is more focussed on helping people who are not Christians to begin to think more deeply about the books, the films and the television that they are already watching. And to realise that they actually raise very fundamental issues such as morality, happiness, freedom, love, spirituality, identity, religion, politics. These issues are at the very centre of any narrative. And the Bible and Christians have a lot to say about them.

Do crime novels also raise those big life questions?

Yes, absolutely, I think there is an argument for saying that crime novels are the fictional form which takes the hardest look at where society is at the moment and raises the biggest questions over the dark side of human nature.

What makes crime novels so appealing to European readers?

Crime fiction nearly always has a strong narrative drive and it engenders feelings of mystery and intrigue, but also of fear, because of the possibility of what’s out there. Crime fiction presents us with the dark underbelly of our society, with the fear of what can happen with us. It helps us to face those fears in the same way as fairy tales did.

Does the success of crime novels also show a fundamental hunger for justice, for truth?

Absolutely, yes. Those are the two big drives of crime fiction, that we want justice to be achieved at the end. There is a longing for justice. And crime fiction is all about the pursuit of truth and the investigation of truth and the marshalling of evidence.

Is that a sign that society isn’t as postmodern or relativist as we sometimes think?

I think that’s true. A lot of postmodernism happens at a fairly intellectual level and deep down most people still keep that longing for truth and justice. Cracks are appearing in the relativist paradigm.

Stieg Larsson must have had a passion for justice – his friend described him as a sort of Don Quixote, trying to save the world. How can we incite Christians not to give up on society?

I don’t know really because I think that Christians ought to know enough already to know what to do. The problem of how do you move somebody’s will is very difficult. Make them all read Stieg Larsson perhaps.

In your article “Moral Climate” you ask questions about the foundations of ethics: “How are we to say that Nils Bjurman’s sexual treatment of Lisbeth Salander is wrong, and that Blomkvist’s sexual behaviour is right?” But the character of Blomkvist never uses force in relationships and thinks about satisfying other’s desires. He sees himself as a tool. Bjurman uses the other person as a tool. There’s a clear difference between the two. Isn’t that enough of a distinction?

The fact that Blomkvist has sexual relationships with three people in the first volume alone means that he is not ultimately concerned about the needs of any one of them, because that would require a commitment that he doesn’t go off having sex with other partners. He’s not really meeting somebody’s needs.

What basis does Stieg Larsson have for his morality? A lot of his morality is good morality. But I don’t think that he has a solid basis for it. He is an inheritor of the Christian tradition within Western Europe that has given us this strong moral framework and there are many people like Larsson, humanists, people like Richard Dawkins who live in the benefits of that Christian tradition and yet want to deny the basis of it. They don’t realise that they’ve actually taken the foundations out from under their feet and are left with no secure place to stand

Even if people have good morals – no matter what they base them on – where can they find the strength to not exploit and violate others?

What does drive Blomkvist and what does drive Larsson is their intuitive sense of right and wrong. It is deep, deep within us. For a Christian, the strength to do good also comes from the work of the Holy Spirit within us who clarifies that intuitive moral sense and brings it to the surface, and provides an inner dynamic to make acting on it possible.

Tony Watkins is a speaker, writer and editor, working mainly with Damaris. His main responsibility is as Managing Editor ofCulturewatch.org. Tony is the author of Focus: The Art and Soul of Cinema (2007) and Dark Matter: A Thinking Fan’s Guide to Philip Pullman (2004), co-author of Back in Time: A Thinking Fan’s Guide to Doctor Who (2005) and a contributor to a number of other books including Matrix Revelations: A Thinking Fan’s Guide to the Matrix Trilogy (2003) and the Talking About books, of which he is the series editor. He also teaches “Prophets” on the Bible&Culture course.

Download the full version of the interview .

Posted via email from Tony Watkins

Philip Pullman’s next book is a reworking of the story of Jesus. And a denial of the truth of Jesus. Children’s author Philip Pullman says Jesus wasn’t the Son...
The truth will set you free A conversation this morning made me realise I’d never...

Culture Now

Tony Watkins — Wed, 19 May 2010 21:56:35 +0000

Yesterday I led a study day on engaging with media culture for the Southampton Deanery Chapter. Here’s the first session:

SDC1. Culture Now

View more presentations from Tony Watkins.

A more print-friendly version of the slides is here.

Understanding teen culture On Saturday (21 November 2009) I led two workshops...

Independent research shows ‘faith schools’ promote community cohesion and equality

Tony Watkins — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 10:49:01 +0000

Secondary schools with a religious foundation contribute significantly and substantially more to the promotion of community cohesion and the provision of equality of opportunity for students than other schools, according to the results of an academic study of recent Ofsted inspection data.

Analysis of the sample of independent inspection reports suggests that secondary-level ‘faith schools’ (of all faiths and denominations, taken as a group) received average grades more than 11 per cent higher than ‘community schools’ for their promotion of community cohesion, and outperformed such schools by almost nine per cent for their effectiveness in tackling inequality.

The research, by a recognised expert on the evaluation of school performance, is published today alongside a set of case studies of Church of England schools which have pioneered programmes that reach out well beyond the school gates to help foster good relations across their local community. [more . . . ]

via cofe.anglican.org

Posted via web from Tony Watkins

No related posts.

Why should children study religion

Tony Watkins — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 13:00:55 +0000

Earlier this year, Bjørn Ulvaeus wrote an article in The Guardian arguing that religion has no place in schools. Yet according to statistics published in August, the number of children in the UK opting to take GCSE Religious Education has risen for the eleventh year in a row. Paul Woolley, Director of Theos think tank, gives five reasons why children should study religion:

religion has always been with us
religion isn’t just yesterday’s news. It’s hugely significant today
like it or not, religion is the future
religious literacy is important for commerce
perhaps most contentiously, religion persists and should be studied because it is often life-giving

You can read his article which explains these reasons on the Theos website.

Posted via email from Tony Watkins

Television – not in front of the children? youth from today from Stock Images Patrick Barkham (The...
How religion could help save Iraq | Andrew White, The Spectator Canon Andrew White, the vicar of Baghdad, says that...
Is religion evil? The third in the series on apologetics at Above...

Talking about . . . holidays

Tony Watkins — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 23:39:29 +0000

Summer is here at last. We spent the cold, wet winter yearning for it to arrive, and now complain about the cold and wet ruining barbecues, camping trips and cricket matches. But maybe we’ll have the predicted heat-wave, and we’ll moan about that instead. But at least it’s time for a break, which is what really matters.

Many of us crave holidays in the sun. In 2007, Brits took almost 70 million holiday trips overseas, which is more than one each, and a third of those were to Spain. Thanks to the credit crunch, this year will be very different with many choosing to holiday in the UK, even remaining at home for a ‘staycation’.

In his book, The Art of Travel, Alain de Botton gives a primary reason why people travel: the desire for something different, for the exotic. This is why the average Brit has visited only 2 per cent of UK towns and cities, and why a Mamma Mia-inspired Greece appeals so strongly. De Botton suggests that we have this desire because we are dissatisfied with life as it is. ‘What we find exotic abroad may be what we hunger for in vain at home,’ he writes.

Something fresh

Our lives are mundane. When everything is familiar we start taking it for granted. We cannot imagine that our environs have any charms because we see them every day. We rarely visit local tourist attractions because they are always there and we could go whenever we like. We long for something fresh, something we’ve not seen before.

Meanwhile, even those of us who enjoy our work find parts of it a drag and we long for a break. Back in 1955, psychologist Erich Fromm suggested that western society is profoundly unhealthy because of work’s impact on mental health. It is more stressful than ever today, with more than 2 million people a year suffering work-related ill-health.

And don’t get me started on day-to-day life’s frenetic pace. Nobody seems to have any time to relax. No wonder we’re all crying out for an opportunity to get away from it all and unwind. The urge to escape, if only for a short time, is a strong one.

Part of the joy of holidays for many people is the escapism of a good book. Dan Brown’s Da Vinci Code sequel, The Lost Symbol, comes out too late for the beach this year. But the Richard and Judy Book Club Summer Reads, including Bateman’s Mystery Man and Janice Lee’s The Piano Teacher, will be packed in many suitcases. The summer is also a time for escapism in the movies. Ice Age 3, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince and The Time-Traveler’s Wife are all sure to draw in big audiences of people who relish the opportunity to be taken, albeit briefly, to another time or place.

But at the heart of the holiday is the prospect of peace. That’s exactly what the Pearson family are about to enjoy in the family thriller Aliens in the Attic; a perfect family vacation.Unfortunately, their holiday is wrecked by, well, aliens in the attic. And the honeymooners in A Perfect Getaway have their tranquillity shattered when two killers stalk them.

A right to happiness?

Ordeals like this an exaggeration of a fear that we all face. We dread having our holiday ruined, whether by builders finishing the hotel, noisy campers in the neighbouring tent, or a deluge turning the great outdoors into a soggy swamp. We feel cheated of our right to some happiness. It’s more fundamental than that, though, since we do not have a right to happiness. The real issue is that our desire for peace has been thwarted.

The yearning is deep inside each of us. It is not necessarily a hankering for quietness, since some of us relish activity. But we all hunger to feel at peace with the world, our families and ourselves, and that can be very elusive in the normal daily round. Time spent in rest and recreation can certainly help us rediscover something of this, enabling us to find some inner calm.

But of course nothing really changes in the long run. Our equanimity is sometimes disappointingly short-lived, evaporating at the sight of a clogged inbox. Even while we’re on holiday, we know that our failings remain part of us.

The truth is that this world cannot deliver the deep, lasting peace we long for. And yet we thirst for it because we were created to experience it in a relationship with God. This is why we travel in search of new places and new experiences. As C.S. Lewis wrote, ‘If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world.’

No related posts.

Reflections on Princess Diana’s death

Tony Watkins — Sun, 26 Oct 1997 11:21:55 +0000

: Church Candles from Crestock Photos

In the days following the tragic death of Diana, Princess of Wales two issues struck me as particularly interesting. First is the issue of responsibility. The media treated us to a spectacular display of passing the buck. Everybody blamed someone else. It was the paparazzi’s fault! No, it was the driver’s! It was all down to Camilla or Charles or the Queen or the SAS! It was the newspaper editors’ fault for paying vast sums for an endless stream of paparazzi pictures! No, it was the public’s fault for wanting them!

Passing the buck is almost a national pastime. The sense of responsibility has slipped away from our culture. President Truman kept a sign on his desk saying, ‘The buck stops here’. It’s now more a matter of what poor mug gets landed with something when the music stops. To be more precise, it’s the idea of my personal responsibility that has gone, not responsibility in general. Someone is responsible – but never me.

Our culture has not just lost the sense of personal responsibility but also respect for authority. There is a connection. Authority always carries responsibility. Those in authority have a duty of care to those under them. Part of that duty of care means accepting responsibility when something goes wrong – the ones under authority need to be confident that those over them can be trusted. It affects everyone: if I don’t respect those in authority, why should I own up when I’ve done something wrong?

What’s the root cause of all this? The answer is complex but part of it lies with us, the church. The church in Britain has lost confidence in the authority of God speaking through his Word. Even evangelicals are too often ashamed of its uncompromising stance on a number of issues. Yes, our message is hugely unpopular but we have been given a responsibility: to be salt and light, helping to prevent decay in our society and clearly showing the authority of God at work in our lives.

The second issue is how people handle grief. Diana’s death resulted in a vast and ‘unprecedented’ (the favourite word on TV) outpouring of emotion. Millions were apparently grieving for someone they didn’t know yet whom they felt was a part of their lives. But this wasn’t genuine grief. The real thing is much more intense – as some of us know all too well. People were shocked and experienced a real sense of loss. They struggled to know what to do with those emotions.

What does it mean when people leave millions of flowers – not to mention champagne and teddy bears – outside Kensington Palace and on the steps of almost every town hall? What made people send flowers by Interflora and not even go themselves? Why did people queue for hours to sign books of condolence? It was a desperate attempt to express deeply felt emotions in a society where that can be very hard.

It clearly shows the extent of the spiritual need in Britain. Some people looked to God for comfort – though we might have all kinds of questions about their idea of God. Many were just looking to others. They were longing for a sense of community that crosses class and race boundaries and that surfaces at times of crisis. That seems like a very unreligious response. It is. But it also shows the depth of spiritual need. There is something in us that needs to connect with something beyond us. Some people can’t look beyond a mass of other people but it’s a glimmer of a desire for God that’s innate in humans made in the image of God. Society has turned its back on God, and no-one knows where else to look for help and comfort. In a society that has lost its Christian perspective on life and in which image counts for everything, Diana was a goddess – beautiful, glamorous, compassionate, rejected by the establishment. What a dreadful loss.

In Ezekiel 9, the women of Jerusalem sat by the temple gates weeping for Tammuz. Tammuz, in the Babylonian myths, was a shepherd who married a goddess and died. A cult of sentimentality surrounded him. The women of Jerusalem should not have been weeping for him but for the dire spiritual mess their nation was in. Should we not be grieving over the spiritual state of our country we’ve seen so graphically illustrated?

Reflections on Movie Nazis Mike Hertenstein, ‘Movie Nazis & After the Truth‘, Filmwell,...