Immigration and the Apologetics of Enoch Powell

The political philosophy of American Conservatism is a volatile composition: libertarianism, religious and social traditionalism, corporatism, and simple befuddlement. As a frontier people we’ve had little use for intellectual exercises; we had a continent to manage. As such I think conservatism remains undefined in America; I didn’t understand conservatism until I read the works of an Englishman, Roger Scruton.

Similarly, I was led to another Englishman, Enoch Powell, while seeking clarity on the immigration question. If any Western thinker has made the case for immigration restriction in a more principled and coherent manner than Powell I don’t know him.

Reading Powell’s thinking on immigration I discovered something else…

his apologetic.

Enoch Powell was raised in the Anglican Church and taught Greek with his mother’s New Testament primer. He acquired great literary skills and, no doubt, he “learnt much in general from Carlyle, Nietzsche and Sir James Frazer” so that he emerged from his youth a “proselytizing atheist”, according to Maurice Cowling.

Returning from WWII he left his literary pursuits and became a figure in conservative politics. Changes in British life after the war provoked in him a reaction, in this period Powell’s views towards Christianity shifted. Appalled by the popular press, which he saw, assailing the traditional morality of the majority and the infantile radicalism of the 1960’s student movements he chose to fight

A reappraisal of the church is not surprising considering his objections to post-war modernism. Before his 1968 ‘Rivers of Blood’ speech Powell delivered a number of sermons, though none addressing immigration. Facing criticism from Christian elements within the Tory party he developed an apologia.

‘Self Righteous Nonsense’

The apologetic went like this: the church ought to inoculate itself from the crusading spirit of secularism - what he called ‘self righteous nonsense’ - lest it become irrelevant and subordinated to secularist thought and institutions; it ought to decouple itself from - from what we now call - the civil rights agenda: gay liberation, environmentalism, economic justice, third world poverty concerns and the like. By doing this, and returning to Christ’s mission of saving souls, the church would remain vital and not besmirched by ideological fads, as Powell might have said. Cowling summarized his doctrine this way:

“… Christ’s Kingdom was not of this world, that Christ’s pronouncements called men to salvation, and that church leaders had authority only to prepare men for the Kingdom of God. Since Christ has provided no guidance for an earthly kingdom, the modern clergy had no authority to do so either…”

Such a position, if adopted by the church, would, of course, free Powell from criticism of his immigration and economic policies; quite a clever apologetic, and no doubt sincerely formulated. Here are Powell’s own words, in

No Easy Answers

“The refusal [by Christ] to answer the question ‘what shall we do?’ is essential to Christianity. In the face of its doctrines – incarnation, crucifixion, resurrection, redemption, and judgment – the question ‘what then shall we do’ is not so much superfluous as uncomprehending. Yet the refusal [of Christ] to answer is almost intolerable to men and women, in a way that looking at the sun is intolerable.”

Social justice concerns have caused the church to stray from Christ’s message, damaging itself, Powell suggests.

Powellism in America?

I think the American church, at least a segment of it, has unknowingly followed Powell’s doctrine. Despite the alarm in the de-Christianized and secular press about Christian activism in politics, the Evangelical and Reformed churches stress the centrality of Christ’s message, as Powell said they ought to.

As an American, looking at British society from the outside, I am bewildered by the irrelevancy of Christianity in the public’s thinking. I see few prospects for a revived Europe without the Christian message. Interestingly, those parts of America with greater Church attendance also have higher birthrates – something to consider. Liberal activist churches in America, continue to bleed members, as in Europe.

Notes

A summary of Enoch Powell’s accomplishments are listed here. Regrettably his works are out of print.

Maurice Cowlings is a historian at Peterhouse College, at Cambridge and is author of Religion and Public Doctrine in Modern England: Volume 1, 2, and 3 (Cambridge Studies in the History and Theory of Politics). A review of this work is found here.

As an alien to English culture let me apologize if I’ve misused terms common in English life and politics.

Posted by leslie on Sunday, November 28, 2004 at 10:43 PM in British Politics
Comments (6) | Tell a friend

Comments:

Posted by Phil on November 29, 2004, 06:30 PM | #

Geoff,

I foresee little hope for a Christian revival in Europe, as much as one would hope for it. Christianity is simply dead in Western Europe. I dont have another way to put it, unfortunately.

The European revival is more likely to flow from Nationalism (which still survives in perhaps a stronger form than in the United States). Germans or Frenchmen may not care for the Lord but they do still consider themselves French or German. That is our only source of hope here.

The situation is of course quite different in Eastern Europe where Catholicism and Orthodox Christianity have shown themselves to be quite tenacious. But whether that will last I don’t know. Many Eastern European nations are now in the EU and if there is an effect the EU has on a country it is to destroy its attachment to God permanently among White christians - Muslims are a different matter. If anything Islam seems to LOVE the EU and flourishes handsomely under the aegis of that most evil of human creations.

regards,

Phil

Posted by Geoff M. Beck on November 29, 2004, 11:02 PM | #

Hello Phil:

I think you’re right about America, religious fervor is stronger than nationalism. I’m not sure either are as strong as the liberal media would like to believe.

It would be foolish of me to exhort revival for your nation, though I do hope for it. In my own case, after years of being outside the church I returned.

Anomie and nihilism are consuming America. Nothing is sacred anymore, everything is for sell and nobody believes in honor: money, money, money, money.

I think many Americans are alarmed at the rawness of life and they seek shelter in religion. They want a place free from rap videos, naked women, homosexual propaganda. Parents don’t want their kids to be sluts and gangsters.

The ugliness of modern life in America is ubiquitous. I’m not sure how I could face the horrors without faith.

Posted by Phil on November 30, 2004, 03:17 PM | #

Geoff,

You make some fascinating observations. All those signs of degeneracy you talk about are very much present here in Europe, if not even more so.

But there doesn’t appear to be a moral minority even that seems disgusted with whats happening. And there certainly is no evidence of even a small minority of people here seeking refuge under God to escape the degeneracy that surrounds us.

I have to think more about this remarkable difference.

Posted by Pericles on December 01, 2004, 01:48 PM | #

Dear Geoff & Phil,

Saw this on BBC website.

Germans argue over integration

By Ray Furlong
BBC News, Berlin

Decades of consensus about a multicultural society have been thrown into question recently as leading German politicians suggest that minorities living in the country need to do more to fit in.

Many Turks found work during Germany’s economic miracle
“The notion of multiculturalism has fallen apart,” said opposition conservative leader Angela Merkel in a recent interview.

“Anyone coming here must respect our constitution and tolerate our Western and Christian roots.”

It was just one of a chorus of voices, from left and right, among politicians and the media.

The debate centres largely around the three million-strong Muslim community - mostly Turkish, with Bosnians making up the next largest group, followed by people of Arab origin.

It was sparked by the killing of Dutch film-maker Theo van Gogh, and subsequent attacks in the Netherlands on Muslim and Christian sites.

Fears that something similar could happen in Germany were fanned by a TV broadcast in which a secret recording caught an imam telling worshippers that Germans would “burn in hell” because they were unbelievers.

This has been followed by a raft of new proposals for better integration of the Muslim community, against a backdrop of fears that Muslims in Germany inhabit a “parallel society” centred around mosques infiltrated by “hate preachers”.

If multiculturalism means that it’s OK for 30,000 Turks to live in a certain quarter of Berlin, and never leave, and live like they’re still in deepest Turkey, then the term is now discredited

Nikolaus Blome
Die Welt newspaper
“A democracy cannot tolerate lawless zones or parallel societies,” declared Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder. “Immigrants must respect our laws and acknowledge our democratic ways of doing things.”

Another politician suggested it should be compulsory for imams to preach in German, and sections of the media have judged that the debate marks the end of multiculturalism.

“It’s a quite frank debate on what we Germans expect of those people coming to us as immigrants,” says Nikolaus Blome, commentator with Die Welt newspaper.

“If multiculturalism means that it’s OK for 30,000 Turks to live in a certain quarter of Berlin, and never leave, and live like they’re still in deepest Turkey, then the term is now discredited.”

Mood shift

The debate shows a marked swing in the atmosphere in Germany.

Four years ago, a conservative politician was attacked from all sides for suggesting the country has a Leitkultur or “leading culture”.

As this previously unacceptable term resurfaced, former Chancellor Helmut Schmidt caused further furore by suggesting that the decision to invite “guest workers” to Germany in the 1960s had been a mistake.

Poor command of the German language among Muslims has been singled out for particular criticism.

When tens of thousands of Muslims took part in a protest against terrorism in Cologne recently, the German politicians who addressed the crowd gave them a blunt message: “Learn German.”

A new immigration law which takes force from 1 January contains compulsory language and civic lessons for new arrivals, but critics point out there is nothing for people from ethnic minorities who are already here.

No help

Erol Ozkaraca lives in the Berlin district of Reinickendorf, where the population is a mix of Germans, Turks and people from the former Soviet Union.

Switching off the Turkish TV channel broadcasting into his living room, and taking a contemplative drag on his cigarette, he declares: “Germany has never been a multicultural society. The concept of multi-culturalism was never given a chance here.”

Mr Ozkaraca, a lawyer by profession, was born in Hamburg. His father came to Germany as a student in 1949, long before the “guest workers”.

“These politicians say: They don’t speak German, they don’t want to be part of German society, and they have their own structures. But I ask: Where are the courses where we can learn German? Where is the help to integrate us, to show - you are welcome and we want you here?”

Pericles

Posted by Fred Scrooby on December 01, 2004, 06:19 PM | #

“Germany has never been a multicultural society. The concept of multi-culturalism was never given a chance here.” (—from Pericles’ comment)

If that’s true, then thank God for it. We should all emulate the Germans in that regard. Alas, we aren’t. The “Multicultural” plank of the neo-Marxist party platform calls for what amounts to the complete replacement of a nation’s original race and ethno-culture by wholly alien ones. Why in the world should any country want that for itself?

Posted by Guessedworker on December 02, 2004, 12:31 PM | #

On this issue of integration vursus multiculturalism, the former is productive only of a quieter road to oblivion for the European peoples. The latter, allowing immigrants to be more determinedly themselves and, therefore, more alien, gives us a better chance of waking up and acting in our own protection.

Commenting is not available in this channel entry.

Next entry: Boscov’s is anti-Christmas

Previous entry: How Ordinary People Come to Take Part in Extraordinary Evil

Existential Issues

White Genocide Project

Of note

General News

Science News

Science Categories

All Categories

The Writers

Each author's name links to a list of all articles posted by the writer; the hashes link to authors' homepages.

Links

Endorsement not implied.

Controlled Opposition

Crime

General

Immigration

Islam

Jews

Nationalist Political Parties

Science

Whites in Africa