Society is “losing the plot” as it becomes more secular and less trusting, the UK’s outgoing Chief Rabbi Lord Sacks has said.
Lord Jonathan Sacks told the BBC the growth of individualism over the past 50 years was responsible for a pervasive breakdown in trust.
He highlighted the 2008 financial crisis and the declining marriage rate.
The National Secular Society said the decline of religious authority had led to a “more tolerant and equal society”.
Lord Sacks, 65, is to step down next month after 22 years in office. He will be succeeded by Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis, an ex-chief rabbi of Ireland.
In an interview with BBC Radio 4’s Sunday programme, he said: “I think we’re losing the plot actually. I think we haven’t really noticed what’s happened in Britain.”
He added: “If people work for the maximum possible benefit for themselves then we will not have trust in industry, in economics, in financial institutions, we will not see marriages last.”
He also said institutions, including marriage, broke down “when you begin to lose faith and society becomes very, very secularised”.
“It’s not the fault of one government or another, and it’s not even the fault of government,” he added.”It’s the fault of what we call culture, which is society talking to itself.”
Lord Sacks has been chief rabbi of the UK and Commonwealth since 1991.
Read more:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-23825465
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