There is a cruel side to each of us which labels people as hopeless cases or causes. The rather 'fun' practise of asking for the help of St Jude (patron of hopeless causes) has a more serious point. The Gospel ethos is that nothing or nobody is beyond hope. Yet how often do we label people as useless or stupid, let alone use terms like 'chav'.
I was really struck on BBC's Question Time last week the BNP leader Nick Griffin made his infamous appearance on the panel. I was struck at how he fused two issues, immigration and the plight of the 'white' working class for his propaganda. (He even tried to fly the flag for Christians which was a bit rich!) I really think that it is crucial that these two issues should be kept as separate.
But there does appear since the mid-1980s to have been a collapse in confidence in the white working class and a loss of aspirating. Maybe it started with the failed Miners Strike of 1984 and the later the emergence of a more middle class Labour Party? Could it be that with an emphasis on university education, apprenticeships and traditional blue collar jobs are seen as second class. In all of this I am not advocating a class system but rather commenting on the lack of hope and aspiration in a section of society. Is it no wonder that people like Nick Griffin feed off this.
Although the churches have made some valiant attempts over the years, much of Christianity remains outside the British working class culture. I suspect that from within this culture the church is seen as just too respectable. In addition, the lack of working class 'hope' is being fed by a drip drip intellectual climate of athiesm and secularisation which at present offers very little to this class culture. I do feel that long-term the churches need to invest much more and fundamentally shift from being a middle class experience to being a working class community. More ASDA less Sainsbury's.
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