Tim Dieppe reviews ‘God is an Englishman: Christianity and the Creation of England’ by Bijan Omrani (Forum, 2025) 

Introduction

This book is in essence a lament. The very first sentences of the introduction set the scene:

“Christianity is dying in England. In this generation, the religion that has defined the spiritual life, identity and culture of the country since its origins as a unified state in the tenth century has come to its death agony.” (p4)

Any Christian should lament the loss of an essentially Christian culture which our nation once had. Omrani continues on the same page:

“The death of Christianity in England represents a change far more profound than anything like Brexit. The British membership of the European Union and its predecessors lasted for little short of 50 years, and its practical effect for the most part was confined to trade, commerce and the movement of people. The presence of Christianity, by contrast, reaches back to before the emergence of England as a country, and has been a loadstar in the development of nearly every facet of English life – its language, law, literature, calendar, spirituality, the very existence of the nation itself.” (p4)

Omrani’s analysis is quite right. Nothing can really compare with the influence of Christianity on these Islands, and the loss of this influence, and the current trend towards returning to a pre-Christian paganism, marks the most momentous change to our culture for many generations.

Nothing can really compare with the influence of Christianity on these Islands...

The author is a British historian of Persian descent who has previously written books about Asian and Roman history. He is Churchwarden of St Michael’s in Shute, East Devon, which is a high church in the Anglo-Catholic tradition. His preference for liturgy and emphasis on the sacraments comes through at points in the book but does not detract from the primary message with which all Christians will sympathise.

What England Owes Christianity

This book is really about British cultural history, and it is structured in two parts. Part One is titled: What England Owes Christianity. Here Omrani seeks to demonstrate England’s cultural debt to Christianity. He starts by relating Bede’s account of the arrival of Christianity to England, and how King Alfred sought to apply Christianity to the formulation of Anglo-Saxon law and culture.

This leads neatly to a chapter on the influence of Christianity on English law. The author relates a remarkable legal case from 1928 when a bottle of ginger beer was served to a customer who found it contained the remains of a dead snail, the consumption of which resulted in her requiring hospital treatment! The customer then sued the manufacturer with the case going all the way up to the House of Lords – then England’s highest court. There Lord Atkin made a ruling that changed the law and remains valid in UK law to this day:

“The rule that you are to love your neighbour becomes in law, you must not injure your neighbour; and the lawyer’s question, Who is my neighbour? Receives a restricted reply. You must take reasonable care to avoid acts or omissions which you can reasonably foresee would be likely to injure your neighbour. Who, then, in law is my neighbour? The answer seems to be – persons who are so closely and directly affected by my act that I ought reasonably to have them in contemplation as being so affected when I am directing my mind to the acts or omissions which are called in question.” (p43)

... this serves as a powerful example of how even into the twentieth century, judges assumed that English law was based on Christian morality.

Lord Atkin is clearly referencing the story of the Good Samaritan, and this serves as a powerful example of how even into the twentieth century, judges assumed that English law was based on Christian morality.

There follow several enlightening chapters on the influence of Christianity on education, art, architecture, music, language and poetry.

There are many fascinating anecdotes and illustrations:

• Monasteries which became centres of learning and education motivated by Christian ideals. Bede’s adoption of the AD dating system which we still use today.
• The institution of Christian festivals as national holidays by King Alfred the Great.
• Artwork and architecture designed to glorify God, and which still inspire worship to this day.
• The translation of the Bible into English by Wycliffe and Tyndale, with the enduring influence of biblical phrases on the English language.
• Also, multiple well-known phrases like “for better, for worse, . . .” and “peace in our time” from the Book of Common Prayer.

Gone are the days now when every school would teach from the Bible, have Christian prayers, and sing Christian songs every day.

What Christianity Can Still Give

• Identity,
• Culture,
• Morality,
• Spirituality.

On identity, Omrani argues that England self-identified as a Christian nation and should continue to do so today. On culture, Christianity has massively shaped our culture, and we would all benefit if we continued to allow it to do so. On morality, Christianity has provided the moral foundation and framework for English culture – would that it still did! Similar comments can be made about spirituality.

On morality, Christianity has provided the moral foundation and framework for English culture – would that it still did! 

Omrani writes in the concluding chapter:

“But if one can make the case that for 1,000 years and more, Christianity has made the most fundamental contributions to the emergence, development and flourishing of England as a nation, and that in spite of the profound changes of the twentieth century, it still has an essential role to play in national life, one can also make the case that in addition to all these instrumental contributions – identity, culture, morality – it still has a spiritual offering and benefit to all here, regardless of their background or faith.” (p341)

Emerging Signs

This book does an excellent job of showing just how much our culture has been influenced by Christianity. All of this only happened because Christians proactively sought to achieve this influence. Much of this Christian cultural legacy continues to this day.

Sadly, our nation is now intent on dismantling or disregarding the Christian legacy we have inherited, and has successfully done so for the last few generations. This is having devastating effects, with the massive increase in family breakdown, the mass killing of babies in the womb, the loss of respect for Christianity in our culture, and the loss of the most basic understanding of the gospel.  

Only if Christians decide to once again fight to retain and regain cultural influence will these things be recovered. Sadly, it seems most Christians today are more ready to concede cultural ground than to take it. The Church in the last few generations has evidently failed to preach the gospel.

Fortunately, and, not least, with evidence of a ‘quiet awakening’ among Gen Z, there are emerging signs that the next generation might put us to shame.