Christianity's Role in Reviving Western Civilization

Faith, Politics, and the Revival of a Civilisation in Crisis

Across the West, a growing number of voices—from disillusioned liberals to estranged conservatives—are reluctantly but urgently acknowledging a truth once mocked and now missed: only Christianity can save us.

This is not merely the cry of theologians or bishops, but the sober analysis of cultural commentators and political theorists who see clearly what many in the Church have forgotten: a civilisation cannot survive without a soul.

These voices come from different quarters—cultural, political, and theological—but their analyses increasingly converge. They are not simply listing grievances or indulging nostalgia. They are identifying the spiritual vacuum at the heart of our crisis, and pointing, however reluctantly, toward Christian revival as the only hope.

Some, like Douglas Murray, speak from a culturally secular standpoint, recognising the structural collapse of meaning in post-Christian Europe. For Murray, the moral infrastructure of Western civilisation—its laws, liberties, and social instincts—cannot survive the erosion of the Christian narrative that once animated them.¹ His diagnosis is sociological, not evangelical, but it reinforces the urgency of restoration.

Likewise, Tom Holland, the historian, has shown that even the secular West is inadvertently Christian in its moral reflexes. In Dominion, he traces liberal values such as human rights, dignity, and compassion for the weak—not to Enlightenment rationalism—but to the scandal of the Cross.⁹ Holland’s thesis is not a call to belief, but it demolishes the illusion of moral neutrality. Our political ideals have Christian roots.

Jordan Peterson and Ayaan Hirsi Ali, meanwhile, represent the conversion of conscience. Peterson, while not doctrinally Christian, insists that the Bible forms the meta-narrative of the West.² His popularisation of Christian ethics and anthropology has drawn millions toward the faith’s intellectual and moral foundations. Hirsi Ali, more dramatically, has converted—not only from Islam, but from atheism—to Christianity, declaring it the only serious bulwark against both secular meaninglessness and religious extremism.¹⁰

Where these thinkers highlight the civilisational implications of Christianity, others—Patrick Deneen, Mary Eberstadt, and Bijan Omrani—trace its concrete social and political consequences. Deneen critiques the incoherence of liberal democracy when severed from religious purpose.³ Eberstadt, through rigorous cultural analysis, links identity politics and societal disintegration to the collapse of Christian family ethics.⁵ Omrani appeals to British historical memory, demonstrating how our liberties emerged not in spite of Christianity, but because of it.⁶

Politicians like Danny Kruger MP and Nick Timothy MP have attempted to translate these insights into action. Kruger, invoking the Christian moral law in the House of Commons, urges the nation to rediscover the spiritual foundation of its laws.⁷ Timothy’s defence of free religious expression is grounded not in clericalism but in constitutional fairness, arguing that Christianity must have the same rights to public expression as any other worldview.⁸

Even Rafe Heydel-Mankoo, focused on cultural heritage, sees the loss of Christianity not merely as a decline in faith but as the dissolution of national identity.⁴ For him and others, to restore Christianity is not only to save souls—but to save the civilisational coherence of the West itself.

Together, these voices illustrate that revival cannot be a purely private event. If Christianity is true, then it must speak to the whole of life—not only the heart, but the home, the courtroom, the classroom, and the legislature.

And so we return to the central question:

Can a Christian revival be political?

Yes—but not in the way many imagine.

A true Christian revival will have political consequences—but it must never be reduced to political goals. If revival becomes a banner for partisanship, it is already lost. If it merely seeks to “restore the culture” without conversion of the heart, it is counterfeit. Christ did not die to make Britain moral again; He died to redeem the world.

Yet, if revival is real, it cannot help but reshape public life. The Gospel is not a private comfort. It is a public claim: Jesus is Lord—not just of heaven, but of earth; not just of the soul, but of society.

As such, a genuine revival will not be a Christian nationalism of flags and slogans, but a Christian reordering of life itself. It will begin in the confessional, but it will not end there. It will form saints—and saints change history.

What Revival Looks Like in the Political Sphere

Moral Clarity in Law and Policy
A revived Christian people will no longer accept laws that kill the unborn, mutilate the confused, or punish those who speak the truth. They will demand a political order that protects life, marriage, conscience, and religious liberty.
Public Witness and Cultural Confidence
Revival will embolden believers to act publicly—with charity but without compromise. It will inspire parents to challenge school indoctrination, professionals to live their faith at work, and citizens to reclaim Christian time and space: from Christmas to Sunday rest.
Conscience-Formed Citizenship
A true revival will raise up a generation of Christians who are in the world but not of it—informed by Scripture, guided by the natural law, and equipped to resist the tyranny of relativism. They will vote, legislate, and lead not as culture warriors, but as servants of Christ the King.
Sanctifying the Institutions
A revived Church will not seek power for its own sake, but will sanctify the institutions of society from within: law, education, media, medicine, politics. This is not dominionism—it is discipleship in public.

The Limits of Political Engagement

And yet, revival cannot be political first. It must be spiritual. No society was ever saved by legislation. Only grace changes hearts.

That truth is precisely what today’s political ideologues have forgotten. Whether they idolise the state or weaponise morality, their attempts to engineer utopia through law alone are doomed. They have inverted the order of renewal—attempting to remake culture without conversion, and power without penance. The result is always the same: disillusionment, division, and decay.

Today’s ideologues—whether radical progressives or reactionary authoritarians—are engaged in precisely this doomed effort. They believe that law can save society, that coercion can produce virtue. They pass laws to define identity, control language, and mandate belief. But they do not heal the soul. The crisis of meaning is a spiritual crisis, and politics alone cannot mend it.

The danger of politicising revival is not theoretical—it has happened before: in the moralism of post-war Britain, in the hollow civil religion of American conservatism, and in failed efforts to baptise party platforms. Without true conversion, Christian language becomes camouflage for worldly agendas.

Revival must come from below, not above: from the sanctuary, not the state. From the family, not the parliament. It will be led by ordinary saints, not special advisers. It will be slow, costly, and quiet. But it will bear fruit—if it is real.

Conclusion: The Gospel Is Public

We live in an age of cynicism and collapse, where even the idea of truth is contested. But a true revival will not accommodate that darkness—it will confront it with the light of Christ. The Lordship of Jesus is not a metaphor. It is a claim on every aspect of life.

And so yes, a Christian revival must shape the political realm.
But it will do so as salt and leaven—not through coercion, but through conviction.
Not through shouting, but through sacrifice.
Not through triumphalism, but through testimony.

To reclaim the West, we do not need a Christian party.
We need a Church on fire with the truth, beauty, and authority of Christ.
That alone can save the soul of the nation.

Published on Selsey Substack! This post is public so feel free to share it.

Footnotes

Douglas Murray, The Strange Death of Europe, Bloomsbury, 2017.
Jordan B. Peterson, 12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos, Penguin, 2018.
Patrick J. Deneen, Why Liberalism Failed, Yale University Press, 2018.
Rafe Heydel-Mankoo, interviews and commentaries archived at The New Culture Forum and Winston Marshall Show, 2023–2025.
Mary Eberstadt, Primal Screams: How the Sexual Revolution Created Identity Politics, Templeton Press, 2019.
Bijan Omrani, interviews and commentary, 2024–2025.
Danny Kruger MP, Hansard, House of Commons, 17 July 2025.
Nick Timothy MP, Ten Minute Rule Bill on Religious Freedom, July 2025.
Tom Holland, Dominion: The Making of the Western Mind, Little, Brown, 2019.
Ayaan Hirsi Ali, “Why I am now a Christian,” UnHerd, November 2023.