The ANC won the recent South African election — but with a reduced majority. Commentators had little trouble explaining why. In the past the ANC was defined negatively, by what it stood against — apartheid. Now, it had to define itself positively. What does it stand for? That challenge seems to be proving more difficult as apartheid recedes in the popular memory. The ANC needs to create a new, positive identity for itself rather than relying on past enemies and battles.

It’s a familiar point. Purely oppositional movements tend to find themselves in difficulties once their point of reference is removed. The loss of an external threat often gives rise to an internal crisis, and the need for a new sense of identity. This often means that groups justify themselves by condemning others.

Christopher Hitchens’ book God is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything (2007) celebrates atheism through the condemnation of religion. This “religion is evil” tub-thumping plays well to a certain type of liberal rationalist reader. The argument of this extended soundbite of anti-religious rage is sustained by paying scant attention to history and contemporary experience. It locates the virtues of atheism firmly in the alleged outrages of religious believers.

There is a comparison to be had here with early Christianity, as it celebrated the Resurrection of Jesus. The Resurrection was not seen as a way of scoring points against anyone else, but as an event that transformed the human situation. Yes, enemies were declared to be defeated — such as the fear of death and a pervasive sense of hopelessless in the face of human mortality and transciency — but the Resurrection set out new possibilities, offering humans hope in their struggle against these ancient enemies.

The first Christians thus did not affirm the Resurrection of Christ against anyone. The “victory” of the Resurrection was not seen as a way of stigmatising other people, or proclaiming their defeat. Celebration here did not entail condemnation. The Christian church may well have deployed its ideas aggressively or prejudicially at later points in its history, and merits criticism for doing so, yet this is a defection from its original vision. Belief in the Resurrection was seen as a positive option, “good news” for all humanity.

All of us have beliefs — what the psychologist William James famously described as “working hypotheses” that help us to make sense of life. They are found to be reliable and meaningful, yet often lie beyond logical or scientific proof. As James noted, that doesn’t stop us holding on to our beliefs. The demand that we limit ourselves to the logically and scientifically certain sounds reasonable until we realise the limits of both logic and science. Beliefs that we cannot prove to be true are part of the fabric of our lives, whether we are religious, secular or indifferent.

For example, Christians believe in God; the “New Atheists” believe that there is no God to believe in. In 1948 the United Nations “reaffirmed their faith in fundamental human rights”. The statements of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights cannot be proved, logically or scientifically. This doesn’t fit the “New Atheist” mantra of “all faith is blind faith”. But that’s just the way things are. As the literary critic Terry Eagleton points out: “We hold many beliefs that have no unimpeachably rational justification, but are nonetheless reasonable to entertain.”

All of us want to celebrate our beliefs. Yet can we do this without condemning the beliefs of others? It is an important question in contemporary Britain. The threat of social fragmentation is easily worsened if interest groups, secular or religious, lash out against others when justifying themselves. A rhetoric of dismissal and ridicule plays well to a populist gallery. Yet a robust civil society is fostered by a culture of respect and civility rather than derision and censure. Neither of these civic virtues seems to be much in evidence at the moment.

Alister McGrath is Professor of Theology, Ministry and Education at King’s College London. His latest book is A Fine-Tuned Universe — The Quest for God in Science and Theology (WJK)