I recently read a profound book by Melanie Phillips. I am familiar with her mostly from op-eds she has written for the Jerusalem Post. She is a Modern Orthodox Jew and a moderate conservative, a British Israeli. I usually find her writings convincing and insightful. Her thesis in this book is profound, and I agree with about 90 percent of it. It is very much in line with my own views.
Western Civilization Is Based on the Bible
The best of Western Civilization is based on the Bible, especially the Hebrew Bible. The failures of Western Civilization are due to a failure to live up to biblical law and values, while progress comes when people recognize the disparity and seek to more fully implement biblical norms. This was the case in the fight against slavery. I think of William Wilberforce in England, a deeply committed Anglican Evangelical, and Harriet Beecher Stowe, who wrote Uncle Tom’s Cabin and also composed hymns.
For Phillips, Judaism provided the world with these laws and values, and Christianity was key in mediating them to the Western world. Civil society should acknowledge God and His law as the source of our law and values. This provides the best foundation for rights and responsibilities, separation of powers, the worth of every human being, and much more. I would add the American Declaration of Independence, which affirms that every human being is created equal and that basic rights are endowed by the Creator.
A Wrong Understanding of the Separation of Church and State
For Phillips and for me, the prevailing understanding of the separation of Church and State is a profound mistake. The West should acknowledge and honor the source of its laws and values: fair courts, checks on power, and rulers who are under the law rather than above it. Morality, the family, and biblical sexual ethics are all crucial to a future, prospering society.
She calls for a partnership between conservative Jews and Christianity to restore biblical norms as the foundation of society and for this foundation to be publicly acknowledged. Minorities who do not believe in God or the Bible can still embrace these values, and minority rights must be protected so that religious faith is not forced on anyone.
There are many historians who have acknowledged this positively. One of the more famous is Herbert Butterfield of the University of Cambridge, who recognized this foundation as key to the origin of science and the progress of Western civilization. More recently, atheist British historian Tom Holland has acknowledged that only societies influenced by the Bible practice human rights. Phillips is therefore in good company.
Neo-Marxism Marches Through Western Institutions
What happened? There has been a march through Western institutions of neo-Marxist ideas and grievance culture. This is expressed in “human rights” gone off the rails, such as DEI, which seeks quotas and equal outcomes among races and ethnic groups; the loss of the definition of sexual identity as male and female; sexual fluidity and the trans movement; the breakdown of marriage and family; and anti-white, anti-colonial ideology.
All whites are deemed guilty of the sins of centuries past. This teaches Westerners to despise their heritage. Without courage rooted in the good of that heritage, the West is adrift, with nothing left to preserve. The absurdity of blaming all whites—including those with no ancestors who practiced slavery or came from nations that never engaged in colonialism—is ignorant and foolish, yet the idea prevails.
For neo-Marxism, one is either an oppressor or the oppressed. Women, blacks, other minorities, homosexuals, transsexuals, and even those with bipolar disorder are to be affirmed exactly as they are. They are categorized as the oppressed. Meritocracy is rejected, and this will lead nations into economic and social decline. Preserving national identity is worthless to them. They embrace transnationalism, universalism, and relativism. No culture is better than any other—really? Even head-hunting cannibal cultures? Or cultures that enslave women?
This leads to the open-borders orientation of the West, where massive immigration erodes the culture of the host country. Immigration is no longer governed by the expectation that newcomers integrate and support the culture of the nation, as was the norm in the past. This is especially evident with Muslim immigration. Some of these immigrants seek to destroy the West and replace it with radical Islam and Sharia law. Muslim fascists are not relativists but absolutists. They exploit Western relativism and weakness, using Western elites as useful idiots.
The October 7th Genocide
The response of many in the West to the October 7th genocidal attack against Israel two years ago illustrates the bankruptcy of moral thinking in the West and underscores the urgent need for restoration. Israel, as a nation, is key to that restoration. Phillips’ presentation of Israel’s importance is profound: Israel represents a life-affirming society, not a culture of death.
The Call for Jewish and Christian Cooperation to Save Western Civilization
Phillips therefore calls for a great movement of Jews and Christians to fight back and restore Western Civilization. She calls for Christianity to be pro-Jewish and pro-Judaism and to repudiate its historic anti-Semitism.
Weaknesses in Her Book
So far, so good—amen. But there are weaknesses. Phillips criticizes Christianity for being too heavenly minded, echoing the old phrase about being “so heavenly minded that one is no earthly good.” She defends a more Jewish, this-worldly focus and downplays the importance of eternal life. She has a point with respect to some Christians, but she is partly wrong.
If we lose the hope of eternal life, we will lose the courage needed to affect this age and this world. C. S. Lewis argued that the most effective people have one foot in heaven and one on earth. Phillips even suggests that belief in eternal life is not essential for social transformation and that Judaism functions without this focus. I would argue that Judaism does emphasize one’s state in the Age to Come.
The great philosopher Immanuel Kant saw this more clearly than Phillips. While Kant could not embrace the importance of the sacrificial death of Yeshua, he grasped key truths. In his Critique of Practical Reason, he argued that three beliefs are necessary to sustain a humane and ordered society: God, freedom, and immortality (life after death). In this life, people do not receive just reward for their good or evil deeds—so why be moral? True moral motivation requires belief in life after death, where justice will ultimately be rendered. Second, freedom is necessary for real moral responsibility. Third, belief in God as the moral judge who rewards good and punishes evil is essential. These beliefs are foundational for civilization as opposed to barbarism. I agree with Kant.
Another missing piece in Phillips’ work is revival and evangelism. The only way to turn the tide against the neo-Marxist onslaught is for a sufficiently large portion of the population to push back—and push back hard. Without revival and successful Christian evangelism, this will not happen. This is why preaching the Gospel of the Kingdom with power and genuine outpourings of the Spirit is essential. In American history, such revivals have repeatedly led to profound and positive social change.
