16th August 2011

I keep waiting for a Church Leader to say something sensible about the riots apart from sharing in Mr Cameron's outrage.

But as the debate rolls on and I seem to be waiting in vain.

Which is a shame because I suspect that religion may well have something to say about the summer of 2011.

Or at least the lack of religion.

As far as I know neither the Prime Minister, The Deputy Prime Minister or the Leader of the Labour Party are practising Christians, at least not to the degree to which Tony Blair went out of his way to demonstrate his belief, despite Alastair Campbell declaring that they 'didn't do religion'.

Now there will be an enquiry into the riots.

I hope that a theologian is invited onto the panel to offer some thoughts about how the loss of belief, in the general rather than the denominational or faiths understanding of that word, may have contributed to the general recklessness.

We no longer need to pacify the Gods because they have been silenced.

We can run amok as though there is no law or constraint and no sanctions will be demanded. There will be no demand for sacrifices.

Francis Fukuyama in his latest book shows how religion has been instrumental in enabling human kind to move from its pre-history through a process of social evolution with banding and tribalism as steps on the path to full sociability which underpins what his title calls, The Political Order, which of course collapsed during the riots.

The images, screened and re-screened of the riots of August 2011 show a regression from full sociability, through tribalism (gang culture) to bands aggregated from individuals and groups who wished to make common cause by attacking and looting neighbourhoods.

Last night Panorama showed an excellent film which went some way to explaining what lay behind the eruption of lawlessness in London, Manchester, Liverpool and Birmingham, but which also revealed the human tragedy and the pain of those caught up in the violence.

Caught between horror at the apparently mindless violence that affected innocent people, destroying homes and businesses and livelihoods and a desire to understand the circumstances which gave rise to the riots, it is essential that in seeking to explain the one you don't trivialise the other.

I just find it very hard to listen to Mr Cameron or Mr Ian Duncan Smith and share either their outrage or find their solutions acceptable. How can you call what occurred a moral collapse without having a shared basis for and understanding of what constitutes a 'moral order? How does making someone homeless help improve their social usefulness?

It may be a bit rich to suggest that the Christian answer of turning the other cheek is appropriate but of course the heroic and hugely affecting image of Tariq Jahan who made it clear that his Muslim faith required that he accept his son's death without calling for retaliation and whose response to his personal tragedy was described by a senior policeman as: 'one of the most powerful, generous and far-sighted interventions I have ever seen, at a moment of absolute grief and devastation' came at a crucial moment in the violence that was threatening to engulf Birmingham.

So no, I haven't heard a church leader offer any insight into the events of August 2011 but I find myself reflecting again and again on Mr Jahan's words and thinking how a quiet word of faith called people to their senses and called time on the escalating violence.