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Where did I come from? Christianity, secularism, and the individual

Richard Johnson Lecture

Nick Spencer delivers the 2018 Richard Johnson Lecture, on what makes the West the West.

It’s obvious. Life should be respected. We should obey the rule of law. Humans have inalienable dignity. People are of equal worth. Freedom is good. Science is legitimate. And – as Life of Brian reminded us – “we are all individuals”.

Except that it is far from obvious. Nick Spencer is on a quest to rediscover our origin stories, and what makes the West the West.

Nick Spencer is Research Director of Theos Think Tank in London and author of several books including Atheists: The Origin of the Species(2014), The Evolution of the West: How Christianity Has Shaped Our Values (2016),The Mighty and the Almighty: How Political Leaders Do God (2017), and most recently The Political Samaritan: How Power Hijacked a Parable (2017). Nick has written for The Guardian and The Telegraph and has been described by The Economist as “like a prophet crying in the post-modern wilderness”.