Tawdry events have shaken popular confidence in both governmental and religious authority figures in the United Kingdom.

Overall they reflect the gradual decline of traditional values caused in part by the combination of spreading secularism and growing ignorance of true biblical morality.

Evidence of decline

Noted Daily Mail columnist Melanie Phillips sums up this sad state of affairs in the British nation: "The government is convulsed by spiralling revelations in which ministers and their aides are all swearing, plotting and spinning…Meanwhile the [London] Metropolitan Police is reeling under mounting claims of brutality at the G20 demonstration...Indeed, almost everywhere the governance of Britain appears to be crumbling before our eyes" (April 20, 2009, emphasis added throughout).

The latest incident involves the disclosure of a private e-mail by a senior government political advisor virtually slandering a few prominent members of the opposition Conservative Party. This official was subsequently forced to resign. But as Melanie Phillips observed, "True responsibility lies with the politicians who have used such creatures to carry out their destabilising campaigns and have perverted the whole of politics as a result" (ibid.).

This incident reveals the contempt that some political leaders have for their opponents. How can the country pull together when its political leaders are so divided?

Root Causes

Conservative Party leader David Cameron, boldly addressing other worrisome trends, wrote:

"So as we survey our broken economy, the hallmarks of our broken society are clearer than ever—crime, fear, incivility, teenage pregnancy, wasted lives. There's a theme that links all of these things together. We see it in root causes of family breakdown, welfare dependency, debt, drugs, poverty, poor policing and failing schools. It all comes down to a society that is in danger of losing its most important value: responsibility.

"You can see this loss of responsibility in the decades-long shredding of our civic fabric. There's been a deep erosion of duty, and of the unwritten codes of courtesy and neighbourliness that sustain our communities. This can't go on" (Scotland on Sunday, April 26, 2009).

Absence of moral leadership

Meanwhile Rod Liddle writes in the well-respected Spectator weekly magazine that the leaders of the Church of England "…have ditched its traditions and reduced it to a sort of superannuated ad-hoc branch of social services. It has lost all sense of mission and direction" (April 11, 2009).

Mr. Liddle's indictment accurately reflects the suspicions of many of his fellow citizens. He continues: "It [the Anglican Church] seems to have swallowed whole  every convenient shibboleth [watchword, Webster's] of modern liberalism, every transient political fashion—just as have, by the way, our judiciary, our social services, our education department. It has become an institution which is more politically correct than even our government; you look to it for moral leadership and it offers none whatsoever."

Spiritual standards needed

Of course other churches have residence in the United Kingdom, but the Church of England remains the state or established church and the one expected to set proper spiritual standards for the whole nation.

Yet, with its focus on long-running controversies like the ordination of women bishops and the role of gay priests, the Anglican Church in Britain somehow seems to have forgotten its purpose.

Policy makers in the Church of England should remember that if we claim to follow God's instructions, we need to live by all of His standards. God doesn't sanction the rewriting of His rules by humans simply because humankind is naturally inclined to sin.

Accepting responsibility

The apostle Paul warns, "Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap" (Galatians 6:9). Church leaders who claim to believe God's Word should permit themselves no other option than to strictly adhere to biblical standards. Not to do so invites the negative consequences for sin that Paul writes about.

As David Cameron observed, "We need to make sure that everybody recognises their responsibility to wider society, not just to those they are closest to—and that means tackling the causes and consequences of crime and disorder in their communities. This is intrinsically connected to the issue of family breakdown" (Scotland on Sunday).

But will this acceptance of responsibility really happen? Will the current trends in Britain ever be reversed?

The promised solution

The Bible states plainly that conditions will become much worse before our social and religious irresponsibility is corrected. But it also reveals that the God of the Bible has a clear plan to thoroughly renew the spiritual integrity of the British people—a people whose biblical identity you need to know.

To receive this essential knowledge simply request or download our free booklet: The United States and Britain in Bible Prophecy.