From Mr R.A. Massie-Blomfield Sir: While it is easy to
write from thousands of miles away and presume to offer an explanation for a murder in Milton Keynes, perhaps I may at least point out what I regard as a contributory factor. Secular education implies that it is possible — nay, desirable — to educate the young in a spiri- tual vacuum. Religion only breeds intoler- ance of other religions, as we have recently witnessed in your diary and correspondence columns (so the argument goes), and the result is a generation who are at the mercy of their own inclinations. 'I don't know why I didn't [help the drowning man]' is an appalling indictment of a society that is breeding spiritual dwarfs who have no awareness of their fallen state. As I looked at Heath's brilliant illustration of the scene of the crime, I was reminded of the words of the hymn my generation sang when we were at school where 'every prospect pleas- es, and only man is vile'.
The unpalatable truth is that we are all potential 'monsters of motiveless malignity', but until now that malignity has been soft- ened by the almost unrecognised benignity of Christ. Since His gracious influence is now on the wane, the monster within us all is beginning to take over. Such chilling inci- dents like the one Justin Marozzi has brought to our attention can act as a timely warning.
To put it bluntly, can a godless society be surprised when some of its members behave in a godless way?
R. A. Massie-Blomfield
Nairobi, Kenya
Previous page
