A pilgrim’s progress for the 21st century

03 September 2008

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Mary Wakefield talks to the author William P. Young, whose self-published religious novel has astounded the publishing world and sold nearly two million copies

Why did you write a book about the Trinitarian, Christian God if you’re anti-‘religion’, I ask? ‘I believe in Scripture, I mean I’m very orthodox in terms of the traditional doctrinal framework,’ says Young. ‘But what I’m asking for is that we see these theological problems as questions about how we live the love of God. It’s not just intellectual territory. I really, really believe that God has unlimited affection for his creations.’

And do you think your book will be as well received here? ‘I’ve already had good feedback,’ says Young, a little defensive. ‘We’ve sold about 50,000 copies in the UK.’ That’s great, but we’re a secular nation, I say, trying to prepare him for disappointment. You can’t expect to sell a million copies here. We have rational answers for things — Richard Dawkins says so.

‘Ah, Dawkins!’ says Young. ‘Well he’s absolutely, wonderfully free to make his points but by far the majority of the human race has a sense of the transcendent. And you know, there’s a phrase in my book: “If anything matters, everything matters.” I put that in there to attack the nihilism of people like Dawkins because, like, come on! The basic question I’d ask any atheist [Young is unstoppable now] is, is there a drive in our hearts to be authentic? I think there is. We’re all longing to live in such a way that our lives become restful, we stop lying and trying to manipulate things. That’s the message of The Shack and it’s as relevant in England as it is in America.’

The Shack is published by Windblown Media in partnership with Hodder & Stoughton. It is available bookshops across the UK, price £7.99.

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EUSSR GO HOME

September 5th, 2008 5:26am Report this comment

"That’s great, but we’re a secular nation, I say, trying to prepare him for disappointment."

I really wish you euro atheists would stop telling everybody that Britain is a secular nation. If that is true, it hasn't been true for very long. And people who don't believe in 'Secular' think it's something horribly shameful.

Furthermore, those of us who grew up in the nicer, better, more beautiful, dearly loved Christian nation are not all dead yet. You may keep on shunting us all into infected NHS wards, but the younger among us are wise to you.

Anyway, guess what - you still have a lot of Christians among you. And we keep praying for you, not least because one of these days you're going to wake up and realize that little base-metal god 'Secular' is full of emptiness!

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