经济学人:政客与宗教 造神风波

 　　Politicians and religion

　　政客与宗教

　　Doing God

　　造神风波

　　David Cameron's frank Christian¹ talk is more astute² than the reaction to it suggests

　　卡梅伦坦率的复活节讲话与其说是对民众的反应有所企图， 不如说是诡计多端

　　FEW Britons have well-defined religious beliefs, but many have tastes in matters of religion. As with tea, they don't like it too cold or too hot. They seem to want the established religion to be present somewhere in the background, with its village churches, Christmas carols and Remembrance Day services, and they would hate it to vanish altogether; but they would squirm if anyone asked them to accept Jesus as their personal saviour³.

　　具有虔诚宗教信仰的英国人数量虽然微乎其微，但是大多数的英国人都有着良好的宗教品味。譬如喝茶，他们不喜欢茶温过低或过高。英国人似乎只是希望将宗教建立在某些特定环境之中，例如他们的乡村教堂、圣诞颂歌以及国殇日的纪念服务。如果这些都消失不见的话，英国人会十分不悦；但如果有人要求他们将耶稣作为救世主顶礼膜拜他们又会觉得十分别扭。

　　造神风波.jpg

　　It is that sentiment that David Cameron and other senior Tories seemed to be invoking⁴ when they marked the Easter season with some firmly (but not too firmly) Christian messages. Having declared at an Easter reception that he was “proud of the fact that we are a Christian country”, the prime minister took to the Church Times, an Anglican weekly, to spell out what he did not mean. He described himself as a “rather classic” member of the Church of England, “not that regular in attendance and a bit vague on some of the more difficult parts of the faith”. Still, he loved old country churches, like the one his parents had laboured to restore, and welcomed the church's role as a moral and pastoral force.

　　然而在卡梅伦和其他保守党高级官员给复活节打上看似坚定的基督色彩的烙印，似乎祈盼能够唤起民众狂野的宗教热忱。在复活节讲话中公然宣布他“为我们作为基督徒国家而感到骄傲”之后，首相卡梅伦又在英国国教徒周刊《教会时报》上声明他并没有那个意思。他将自己形容成英国国教“不胜虔诚”的一员，“但并不经常参与宗教活动，对某些较难认同的宗教信仰的态度也模棱两可。”同样地，他深爱着这个古老国家的教堂-那些由他的祖祖辈辈耗时耗力修复的教堂，并希望教堂可以作为一种道德与pastoral的力量继续发挥它的功用。

　　These words, plus a short Easter broadcast noting how “incredibly special” the feast was for many people, have drawn⁵ loud complaints from secularists. Dominic Grieve, the attorney-general and an Anglican, defended his boss's views—and was barracked in turn. More than 40 Anglican bishops⁷ and 600 clergy⁸ issued an implicit⁹ rebuke¹⁰ in the form of a letter urging Mr Cameron to focus on food poverty. Keith Hebden, a clergyman, said that the police had prevented him and the bishop⁶ of Oxford¹¹ from delivering a copy to Mr Cameron's constituency office, in an area where lovely old churches abound¹².

　　然而对于大多数人，这些话加上复活节广播中传递出的“令人难以置信的特殊存在”，已然在世俗论者中引得嘘声一片。身为总检察长的国教教徒多米尼克·格里夫，为他的顶头上司辩护，却反而被人们声讨。.超过四十名圣公会主教和600名神职人员以书信的形式对卡梅伦发出隐晦的指责，并要求其将重点放在粮食短缺的问题上。牧师基斯·赫布登称，警方阻止他和牛津的主教向卡梅伦的选区办公室递送这一信件的复印本。据悉该选区办公室位于老教堂鳞次栉比之地

　　Yet Mr Cameron's appeal to warm and fuzzy Anglicanism is politically astute. A recent survey by Theos, a religious think-tank, showed a clear link between being Anglican—practising or otherwise—and voting Conservative. Such voters are Mr Cameron's to lose, and he may lose many of them to the anti-Brussels UK Independence Party if it presses the button of cultural nativism more successfully.

　　不过卡梅伦对于英国国教热情而暧昧的呼吁不失为一种政治上的明智之举。最近由宗教智库“西奥斯”所做的一项调查显示了民众对国教或者其他宗教的信仰同投票支持保守党之间的明确联系。卡梅伦失去了这些选民的支持，并且如果卡梅伦的此项举动按下了促使英国社会文化异化与分裂的按钮，卡梅伦将会失去更多的选民，并且这些选民最终会投向反欧盟的英国独立党的怀抱。

　　And as Jonathan Bartley, founder¹³ of a more liberal religion-watching outfit¹⁴ called Ekklesia, points out, the proportion of Britons (59%) who call themselves Christian on a census¹⁵ form exceeds by a factor of at least ten the number of regular churchgoers. That implies a large constituency of cultural Christians¹⁶ who are not militant¹⁷ secularists but have no more appetite for “difficult parts of the faith” than Mr Cameron does.

　　正如自由宗教组织Ekklesia创始人乔纳森·巴特利指出的那样，在人口普查中声称自己是基督徒的人口（高达总人口的59%）超过了定期去做礼拜的人数的十倍。这意味着大多数选区的基督徒并非激进的世俗论者，而是比卡梅伦对那些“较难认同的宗教信仰” 更难接受的人。

　　For evidence of the continuing role of religion in politics look, too, at Mr Cameron's main rivals. Ed Miliband, Labour's leader, is an atheist¹⁸ who nonetheless aspires¹⁹ to be “the first Jewish prime minister”. Nick Clegg, leader of the Liberal Democrats²⁰, is an atheist too, but he points out that his wife and children are Catholic. Fervent²¹ secularism²² is no more appealing to most Britons than its opposite.

　　披着政治外衣的宗教所带来的持续影响也是卡梅伦的主要对手之一。工党领导人埃德·米利德班，是一名无论如何都想要成为“第一位犹太人首相”的无神论者。自由民主党的领袖尼克·克莱格也是一名无神论者。但是他指出他的妻子和孩子都是天主教徒。对于大多数英国人来说，狂热的世俗主义除了其对立面之外没有任何可取指出。

　　1.seem to 似乎

　　例句:I seem to fritter my time away at coffee mornings.

　　我似乎把时间全都浪费在咖啡早茶会上了。

　　2.ask to 邀请…参加…

　　例句:Ask to speak to the sister on the ward²³.

　　请求和病房里的护士长说话。

　　3.proud of 骄傲；自豪

　　例句:He is proud of his reputation as a seducer²⁴ of young women.

　　他很得意自己“芳心猎手”这一名声。

　　4.focus on 聚焦；集中于

　　例句:Their talks are expected to focus on arms control.

　　他们的会谈预计会集中讨论军备控制问题。

1 Christian   

adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒

参考例句：

• They always addressed each other by their Christian name.他们总是以教名互相称呼。
• His mother is a sincere Christian.他母亲是个虔诚的基督教徒。

2 astute   

adj.机敏的，精明的

参考例句：

• A good leader must be an astute judge of ability.一个优秀的领导人必须善于识别人的能力。
• The criminal was very astute and well matched the detective in intelligence.这个罪犯非常狡猾，足以对付侦探的机智。

3 saviour   

n.拯救者，救星

参考例句：

• I saw myself as the saviour of my country.我幻想自己为国家的救星。
• The people clearly saw her as their saviour.人们显然把她看成了救星。

4 invoking   

v.援引( invoke的现在分词 )；行使（权利等）；祈求救助；恳求

参考例句：

• You can customise the behavior of the Asynchronous Server and hence re-brand it by defining your own command set for invoking services. 通过定义自己调用服务的命令集，您可以定制自定义异步服务器的行为，通过为调用服务定义自己的命令集从而对它重新标记。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• You can customize the behavior of the Asynchronous Server and hence re-brand it by defining your own command set for invoking services. 通过定义自己调用服务的命令集，您可以定制自定义异步服务器的行为，通过为调用服务定义自己的命令集从而对它重新标记。 来自辞典例句

5 drawn   

v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的

参考例句：

• All the characters in the story are drawn from life.故事中的所有人物都取材于生活。
• Her gaze was drawn irresistibly to the scene outside.她的目光禁不住被外面的风景所吸引。

6 bishop   

n.主教，（国际象棋）象

参考例句：

• He was a bishop who was held in reverence by all.他是一位被大家都尊敬的主教。
• Two years after his death the bishop was canonised.主教逝世两年后被正式封为圣者。

7 bishops   

（基督教某些教派管辖大教区的）主教( bishop的名词复数 )； （国际象棋的）象

参考例句：

• Each player has two bishops at the start of the game. 棋赛开始时，每名棋手有两只象。
• "Only sheriffs and bishops and rich people and kings, and such like. “他劫富济贫，抢的都是郡长、主教、国王之类的富人。

8 clergy   

n.[总称]牧师，神职人员

参考例句：

• I could heartily wish that more of our country clergy would follow this example.我衷心希望，我国有更多的牧师效法这个榜样。
• All the local clergy attended the ceremony.当地所有的牧师出席了仪式。

9 implicit   

a.暗示的，含蓄的，不明晰的，绝对的

参考例句：

• A soldier must give implicit obedience to his officers. 士兵必须绝对服从他的长官。
• Her silence gave implicit consent. 她的沉默表示默许。

10 rebuke   

v.指责，非难，斥责 [反]praise

参考例句：

• He had to put up with a smart rebuke from the teacher.他不得不忍受老师的严厉指责。
• Even one minute's lateness would earn a stern rebuke.哪怕迟到一分钟也将受到严厉的斥责。

11 Oxford   

n.牛津（英国城市）

参考例句：

• At present he has become a Professor of Chemistry at Oxford.他现在已是牛津大学的化学教授了。
• This is where the road to Oxford joins the road to London.这是去牛津的路与去伦敦的路的汇合处。

12 abound   

vi.大量存在；(in，with)充满，富于

参考例句：

• Oranges abound here all the year round.这里一年到头都有很多橙子。
• But problems abound in the management of State-owned companies.但是在国有企业的管理中仍然存在不少问题。

13 Founder   

n.创始者，缔造者

参考例句：

• He was extolled as the founder of their Florentine school.他被称颂为佛罗伦萨画派的鼻祖。
• According to the old tradition,Romulus was the founder of Rome.按照古老的传说，罗穆卢斯是古罗马的建国者。

14 outfit   

n.（为特殊用途的）全套装备，全套服装

参考例句：

• Jenney bought a new outfit for her daughter's wedding.珍妮为参加女儿的婚礼买了一套新装。
• His father bought a ski outfit for him on his birthday.他父亲在他生日那天给他买了一套滑雪用具。

15 census   

n.(官方的)人口调查，人口普查

参考例句：

• A census of population is taken every ten years.人口普查每10年进行一次。
• The census is taken one time every four years in our country.我国每四年一次人口普查。

16 Christians   

n.基督教徒( Christian的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Christians of all denominations attended the conference. 基督教所有教派的人都出席了这次会议。
• His novel about Jesus caused a furore among Christians. 他关于耶稣的小说激起了基督教徒的公愤。

17 militant   

adj.激进的，好斗的；n.激进分子，斗士

参考例句：

• Some militant leaders want to merge with white radicals.一些好斗的领导人要和白人中的激进派联合。
• He is a militant in the movement.他在那次运动中是个激进人物。

18 atheist   

n.无神论者

参考例句：

• She was an atheist but now she says she's seen the light.她本来是个无神论者，可是现在她说自己的信仰改变了。
• He is admittedly an atheist.他被公认是位无神论者。

19 aspires   

v.渴望，追求( aspire的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• The fame to which he aspires was beyond his reach. 他追求的名誉乃是他所不能及的。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• An old steed in the stable still aspires to gallop a thousand li. 老骥伏枥，志在千里。 来自《简明英汉词典》

20 democrats   

n.民主主义者，民主人士( democrat的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The Democrats held a pep rally on Capitol Hill yesterday. 民主党昨天在国会山召开了竞选誓师大会。
• The democrats organize a filibuster in the senate. 民主党党员组织了阻挠议事。 来自《简明英汉词典》

21 fervent   

adj.热的，热烈的，热情的

参考例句：

• It was a debate which aroused fervent ethical arguments.那是一场引发强烈的伦理道德争论的辩论。
• Austria was among the most fervent supporters of adolf hitler.奥地利是阿道夫希特勒最狂热的支持者之一。

22 secularism   

n.现世主义；世俗主义；宗教与教育分离论；政教分离论

参考例句：

• Unless are devoted to God, secularism shall not leave us. 除非我们奉献于神，否则凡俗之心便不会离开我们。 来自互联网
• They are no longer a huge threat to secularism. 他们已不再是民主的巨大威胁。 来自互联网

23 ward   

n.守卫，监护，病房，行政区，由监护人或法院保护的人（尤指儿童）；vt.守护，躲开

参考例句：

• The hospital has a medical ward and a surgical ward.这家医院有内科病房和外科病房。
• During the evening picnic,I'll carry a torch to ward off the bugs.傍晚野餐时，我要点根火把，抵挡蚊虫。

24 seducer   

n.诱惑者,骗子,玩弄女性的人

参考例句：

• Shvitzer - Yiddish: someone who sweats a lot, especially a nervous seducer. 依地语：一个汗如雨下的人，尤指一个紧张的玩弄女人者。
• The dream of flight is the dream a seductive seducer. 飞翔的梦就是引诱者的引诱之梦。