In recent years, Britain has witnessed an unsettling rise in hatred, cultural hostility, and identity-driven phobias that seem to touch every corner of society. What once felt like a relatively cohesive nation now often resembles a battleground of competing allegiances, fractured communities, and irreconcilable worldviews. Politicians and commentators alike wring their hands over the “loss of civility” and “growing polarization,” yet few are willing to ask the deeper question: What if the very political philosophy that promised unity — pluralism — is the root of our division?

Political pluralism, once hailed as the antidote to tyranny and the guarantor of peaceful coexistence, has proven instead to be a grand and destructive illusion. Rather than fostering a shared commitment to the common good, pluralism has dismantled the foundation of a unified moral and cultural life in Britain. In its place, it has erected a fragmented society where no ultimate loyalties are shared, and where every group vies for dominance in the public square.

Every society, whether it acknowledges it or not, is built upon a dominant religious vision. Political pluralism promised to create a neutral public square by dethroning religious commitments from civic life — but in doing so, it did not create neutrality; it simply enthroned a new god: secular humanism. Today’s societal fracture is not the failure of politics alone; it is the judgment upon a nation that has rejected Christ’s lordship. Before we can hope to rebuild a common world, we must first expose the fatal flaw at the heart of pluralism itself.

Understanding Political Pluralism

At its core, political pluralism is not a neutral arrangement of governance; it is a theological declaration. It asserts that no single truth, no ultimate authority, no binding moral vision should govern public life. Instead, all beliefs — sacred or profane, true or false — are treated as equally valid within the civic arena.

But this premise is a lie, and a deadly one. The premise of pluralism assumes that a diverse society can coexist peacefully without a single, overarching moral framework. This idea, however, is fatally flawed. The decline of Christianity in British political and cultural life has led to a chaotic moral landscape, with each ideological faction claiming its own truth. A key example of this is the rise of identity politics, which has fractured British society into warring factions based on race, gender, and sexuality.

As Stephen Perks has argued, no society can remain religiously neutral. Every culture inevitably serves a god — whether it bows to the living God or to the idols of human autonomy. Political pluralism masked a religious revolution: the dethronement of Christianity as the moral foundation of Britain and the enthronement of secular relativism. In abandoning a common life rooted in God’s law, Britain did not gain freedom; it sowed the seeds of its own disintegration.

Rushdoony’s great insight rings truer now than ever: “The choice is never between law and no law, but between God’s law and some other law.” Political pluralism, by rejecting the authority of Christ over society, did not abolish authority — it merely handed the scepter to another master.

The Collapse of a Shared Common Life

A common life requires a common faith. No society, no matter how prosperous or sophisticated, can endure for long without a shared moral and spiritual foundation. Britain once possessed such a foundation — a public life woven from the fabric of Biblical Christianity. The Common Law, the concept of ordered liberty, the sanctity of marriage and family — all were rooted in the assumption that Christ is King not only over individual hearts but over nations.

But that foundation has been methodically dismantled.
Under the banner of tolerance, Britain exchanged its Christian identity for a hollow multiculturalism. Public institutions proclaimed themselves “neutral” while systematically erasing the moral grammar of Scripture from the courts, the schools, and the marketplace. As Stephen Perks warns in The Politics of God and the Politics of Man, no society can survive the severing of its life from its roots. Without a unifying covenant under God, Britain has fragmented into rival tribes, each demanding recognition of its own autonomous “truth.”

Rushdoony’s axiom stands as a terrible indictment: “When men cease to serve God, they do not cease to be religious. They merely serve new gods.” Today’s Britain is not secular; it is idolatrous — bowing to the altars of race, sexuality, state power, and personal autonomy. The old bonds of a shared common life have dissolved, and what remains is a cacophony of competing loyalties — none of which can bind a nation together.

The inevitable result of this collapse is not peace, but cultural warfare. Without a transcendent center, society splinters along every conceivable fault line. Race against race. Class against class. Religion against religion. Identity against identity. Where Christ is not confessed as Lord publicly, chaos reigns publicly.

The Rise of Hate and Societal Phobias

When a society abandons its shared covenant under God, it does not become free — it becomes fragmented. The vacuum left by the collapse of a common life is not filled with peace, but with fear, hatred, and tribal warfare.

The rise of hate and societal phobias in the UK is one of the tragic consequences of a fragmented society. The UK has witnessed an explosion in the frequency and intensity of online hate speech, with accusations of “Islamophobia,” “racism,” and “homophobia” often used as tools to silence opposition and reinforce a secular moral order. Yet, in this environment of heightened political correctness and identity politics, there is little room for genuine dialogue or mutual understanding. Instead, hate and division grow unchecked.

Instead of unity under a transcendent moral order, Britain has devolved into a battlefield of identities. Racial tensions simmer under the surface of every political debate. Religious hostilities flare in once-peaceful neighborhoods. Gender ideologies clash violently with traditional family values. In a land that once sent missionaries to the ends of the earth, Christian belief itself is now openly despised and marginalized.

What political pluralism failed to foresee — is that without a shared standard of righteousness, the only remaining standard is power. Offense becomes the highest crime, and every group seeks to weaponize the law to silence its rivals. Accusations of “phobia” — Islamophobia, homophobia, transphobia, and now even “Christianophobia” — multiply, because there is no longer a common definition of truth, good, or evil. There is only the will to dominate.

Doug Wilson captures the moment: “In a war of gods, tolerance is never permanent. It is only a temporary truce before the next assault.” Britain is no longer experiencing civil disagreement among citizens; it is enduring a religious war among rival gods. And without repentance — without a return to the true King and His law — the hatred will only intensify.

The Illusion of “Neutral” Public Spaces

The modern British state proclaims itself neutral — above religion, above morality, above partisan loyalties. It promises to adjudicate the competing claims of its citizens without favor.
But this claim is not only false; it is blasphemous.

No human institution can ever be religiously neutral. Every law reflects an underlying theology. Every policy is rooted in some vision of man, of justice, of right and wrong. When Britain abandoned its Christian foundations, it did not create a neutral public square — it simply installed a new religion: the religion of secular humanism, where the autonomous self is supreme, and the state is the ultimate authority.

Today’s supposedly “neutral” institutions — courts, schools, media — are evangelists for a new gospel. They preach tolerance, but it is a selective tolerance. Christian convictions are increasingly branded as hateful. Biblical morality is cast as regressive and dangerous. Faithful adherence to God’s law is treated not merely as an eccentricity, but as a public menace to be managed or removed.

As Rushdoony warned in The Institutes of Biblical Law, every society is a theocracy — ruled by the god of its highest allegiance. Britain has not ceased to be a theocracy. It has simply enthroned man as god, with the state as his high priest.

Neutrality is a myth. And like all myths erected against the knowledge of God, it is destined to crumble under the weight of its own lies.

A Way Forward: Rebuilding a Common World

The collapse we are witnessing is not irreversible. God has not abandoned His throne, and Christ has not surrendered His claim over the nations.
But if Britain is to have a future, it must first repent of the great apostasy at the heart of its political and cultural life. It must turn from the idol of human autonomy and bow once again to the King of kings, acknowledging His law as the only true foundation for justice, liberty, and peace.

Stephen Perks calls for nothing less than a reconstruction of society — not upon the shifting sands of pluralism, but upon the unshakeable rock of Christ’s lordship. This will require more than individual piety; it demands a public reassertion of Biblical truth across every sphere: law, education, commerce, family, and governance. As Gary North emphasized, “There is no escape from theocracy. It is never a question of whether but which.”
The choice before Britain is stark: Christ or chaos.

The rebuilding of a common world will not come through political compromise or shallow appeals to shared “values.” It will come through the faithful witness of the Church, the bold proclamation of Christ’s total sovereignty, and the courageous work of Christian men and women willing to labor for the re-Christianization of culture.

This is not the work of a moment, or a single election cycle. It is the long, costly obedience of a people who believe that Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever — and who live and labor as if that were actually true.

The path forward is clear but costly. If Britain is to recover from the fracturing effects of pluralism, it must return to Christ as its true moral foundation. This will require repentance, not just on an individual level but as a nation. The secular experiment has failed. A nation built on the rejection of Christian truth is doomed to division and destruction.