WHY, you may ask, are liberal-left politicians so legalistic, possessing the desire to control the populace through ever more laws, even down to the minutiae of detail? It is a strange irony. One reason is that they have largely abandoned Christian faith.
The rise of Christendom under the authority of Rome led to biblical principles being established in the legal framework of European nation states. For centuries the laws in England and Wales were grounded upon the biblical legal understanding, albeit rather legalistically, but people gained more freedom after the Glorious Revolution. The crowning of William III and Mary II led to greater rights for non-conformist believers following the Toleration Act of 1688/89. However, with the subsequent decline of Christian influence, modernist approaches to law have become increasingly secular, thus moving to divorce the legal code from spiritual guidance and wisdom. This has had a negative impact upon the state of justice in the West, with targeted laws increasing in number as political leaders are no longer enthused by spiritual values. In effect, without God the secular left and its utopian project leads us back to the darkness of authoritarian legalism.
From the time of the first-century faith, Christian theologians have expounded a nuanced approach to law, understanding it in the context of divine grace, forgiveness, mercy and a life lived by faith in Christ. Reformed Christian teaching holds that believers are saved freely by grace apart from the law; they are no longer under the law, but neither are they antinomian. Here is the dilemma: how can one be free of law and not be lawless? The Apostle Paul taught the way forward for believers in the New Testament.
Paul’s letter to the Romans set out the relationship between divine law and personal freedom; contextually, the law being the Law of Moses with its heavy 613 specific requirements. The letter describes how, through Christ, a person can be both morally righteous and free, without being legalistic; that is, to desire to be obedient to God’s commands without them being a stone weight upon the shoulders of the believer.
The unstated illustration that Paul alludes to as he explains the gospel is the Edenic symbolism of the two trees: the tree of life, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. In the Genesis account Adam and Eve were told not to eat of the fruit of the second tree. Of course, the serpent tempted Eve, Adam followed suit, and we can read how that went through the rest of the Old Testament.
For Paul the tree of the knowledge of good and evil symbolic alludes to the Law. We are informed that the Law is good (Romans 7:12), but that it is powerless in the face of the frailty of human flesh (Romans 8:2). Not only that, but the Law enables the knowledge of sin, which leads to temptation (Romans 3:20). So, the Law gives both knowledge of what is good, and what is evil. Sin personified, represented by the serpent in the Garden, seizes its opportunity through the law to lead a person into disobedience and death: ‘For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it slew me’ (Romans 7:11). Paul’s response was that of many a man: ‘O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?’ (Romans 7:24)
But Paul rejoiced that through Christ there is another law at work, the law of the Spirit of life, represented by the Garden’s tree of life (which is symbolically Christ): ‘There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death’ (Romans 8:1‒2). The Holy Spirit writes the law on a believer’s heart, thus giving a person the desire to do the good. It is a moral restraint apart from a written code. This is the grace of God that spiritually enables the Christian believer to live a just life; as Paul stated, ‘the just shall live by faith’ (Romans 1:17).
But here is the irony. As Western societies become ever more secular, partly to remove personal accountability towards God and overthrow divine laws, the direction of travel is towards greater legalism, not less. Secular humanism developed in the 19th century alongside the growth of a left-wing progressive agenda in Britain. Partly because of the Protestant Reformation, Britain was many decades behind the turmoil and violent revolution that took place in France in the late 18th century. The movement in Britain was more evolutionary than revolutionary. One progressive organisation that formed was the Fabian Society on January 4, 1884; membership becoming almost a prerequisite for Labour Party leadership subsequently. It grew out of The Fellowship of the New Life, which also spawned various humanist and ethical movements.
There was a common desire amongst Fabians and humanists to organise society along egalitarian lines, seeking to remove the hierarchical class structure, which they thought gained justification from the established Church of England. The Fabian Society was named after Roman General Quintus Fabius Maximus, who won ultimate victory through a slow war of attrition, but striking hard when the opportunity came. The original motif was that of a wolf in sheep’s clothing, followed by the tortoise symbol which reflected slow but sure progress towards the establishment of a secular socialist utopia. It is the long, slow march through the institutions. As a result, we have witnessed the gradual removal of Christian influence from the public square in Britain by political activists, and a move towards ever increasing laws to restrict or direct conduct.
Although many early Labour members were Christian socialists, with a humanist mindset Fabian socialists have worked to remove the religious moral code from the nation, transforming society bit by bit from within. David Starkey has pointed out that the current Labour Prime Minister, Sir Keir Starmer, is a legalist, or rather he believes in rule by lawyers. In practice this means giving greater control to quangos and courts, and limiting the power of parliament. More laws for people to follow are enacted, but also it is a process that undermines democratic accountability, and this leads to concerns around two-tier justice. The Labour Government’s Equality Act of 2010 specifically legalised two standards of justice depending upon various protected characteristics. Although religious belief is given specific protection, traditional Christian faith is at the bottom of the pile.
Those who hold to the revealed faith have fallen foul of this legislation, and with the growth of technology there is greater scope to control behaviour through cancel culture and threats of de-banking. The law has therefore become a tool or weapon of the left to control behaviour, not only in Britain, but in many Western nations as well – it is becoming once more a heavy yoke. Without God, the legal system becomes a lever of power for authoritarian leaders.
And as Western society becomes more secular, we are faced with the confusing tension between licentiousness and legalism. The media and Hollywood present a culture where people are encouraged to view sexual activity as unbounded and consequence-free, but we also have a political realm which seeks to shame and control behaviour for transgression in certain areas. The rainbow people have gained greater legal freedom and tolerance, but not Christian believers who face increasing intolerance. This can mean loss of employment for not affirming novel lifestyles, or even arrest for street preachers who publicly speak against particular sexual preferences.
Left-wing politicians, influenced by the feminist agenda, have also tried to pass laws to ban such things as staring at women on public transport, and upskirting. Of course, a Christian should know by a spiritually informed conscience that such acts are wrong because they disrespect a woman’s dignity. Such targeted rules should be unnecessary in a high-respect society. But people are caught in a minefield of confusion; encouraged to think they are sexually free, but also threatened with legal sanctions for misunderstanding that freedom, or not being equipped with the emotional intelligence to navigate the moral maze. As a result, there is an increase in distrust in society. A growing number of men seem unable to relate to women, identifying as incels (involuntary celibate), and many feminists are equally cautious of men. In the desire for a utopian society without God new laws are required to control conduct, and where there is dissent, there is also the suppression of speech. But laws and censorship do nothing to end the tension and confusion. St Paul noted that without acknowledging God’s pathways we are caught between the burden of law on one side and the destructive consequence of the serpent’s voice on the other.
This conflict was described by Yale law professor Arthur Leff in a 1979 lecture, Unspeakable Ethics, Unnatural Law. Modern secular society wishes to be both ‘perfectly ruled and perfectly free’, to ‘discover the right and the good’ and at the same time to shape it for our own ends. Berkeley law professor Philip Johnson in Nihilism and the End of Law called it the modernist impasse, and the tension is damaging to social cohesion. Secular rulers draft laws for people to follow, but at the same time act as though they are free from such laws. How many politicians on the liberal-left, for instance, have found themselves caught in sexual scandals? Should we accept that such frail leaders are capable of acting as unbiased evaluators in defining what is lawful? Leff longed to find an unevaluated evaluator, but wouldn’t recognise the place of God – and nor do our leaders today.
In summary, as Western nations have moved away from Christianity, they do not become less legalistic, but more so. But laws in themselves fail to deal with the growing distrust and chaos. Ironically, the desire to remove divine principles was for purposes of greater equality and freedom, but society has become less free, less equal, and more confused as a result. Many new laws are passed to control behaviour in a populace that has forgotten how to love or respect in a Christ-like manner. Many people are ill-equipped to understand the complex rules and conflicted social messaging of the modern world. The Christian message on the other hand calls for people and society to be transformed by God’s grace through the indwelling Holy Spirit. Such divine grace enables people to live morally better lives, albeit as works in progress, and be free from a legalistic approach to law.
