The Gods of Cavaliers and Roundheads

Interesting thought by Clifford Longley. I notice that he even puts atheists (like his father) into leaning one way or another.

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Thought for the Day, 11 June 2007

Clifford Longley

Gordon Brown and David Cameron have both been emphasising the need to establish a clearer sense of national identity, to counter the tendency for a multi-cultural society to pull itself apart. Neither mentions religion, probably because it is seen as part of the problem and not part of the solution. But what about the national character?

That's slightly different from identity, and you can't so easily dismiss religion from the equation. The Anglo-Saxon personality owes a lot to our turbulent religious history, in particular the fault- line that has emerged time and again between two principles or ideas which, going back to the English civil war, we could label Roundhead and Cavalier.

If we're looking for where the dividing line runs today, we shouldn't ignore the party wall between No 10 and No 11 Downing Street. There is something of the Roundhead about Presbyterian Gordon Brown and something of the Cavalier about Tony Blair, who leans, as we know, towards Catholicism. The Cavalier and the Roundhead have two views of God, even a God they don't believe in like my utterly atheist father who was distinctly Puritan in his values. The Puritan God is hard to please; we must keep to his rules or he will be angry with us. Those who follow him are zealous strivers who work hard to get where their duty drives them. The Cavaliers' God is more relaxed and forgiving, who wants us to enjoy life. Cavaliers, natural aristocrats, rise effortlessly to the top as if it was their God- given right.

The Roundhead-Cavalier divide will be the key to understanding the relationship between Gordon Brown and David Cameron, who is manifestly on the Cavalier side of the line. We can even boil this down to a rhyming couplet: Cavaliers have more fun, Roundheads get more done. Needless to say they don't entirely understand or like each other. But they will co-operate and compromise when they have to.

But what about multi-culturalism? These two ideas of God, the judgemental versus the merciful, turn up in other religions too. We can see definite Roundhead characteristics in parts of the Muslim community most influenced by Wahhabist fundamentalism. Whereas Sufis, like most Hindus and indeed Sikhs, are on the Cavalier side of the line. What keep this division alive is the fact that neither Cavalier nor Roundhead is completely wrong, even if their views of God, or of how to live the good life, are out of harmony.

Understanding this fault-line, and how it influences the way we think and feel, is the key to that one British characteristic both Mr Cameron and Mr Brown agree on: tolerance. It is fundamental that we realise there can be no final victory between Cavalier and Roundhead. They will be locked together inside us as a nation until the end of history. They just have to get along.