Kingsley Martin was the son of a Congregational minister and had a Christian upbringing (of his father’s pacifist kind). Kingsley was a humanist through and through, edited the ‘New Statesman’ magazine for 30 years and, mixing with Laski, the Webbs and Bertrand Russell, took a left-wing view of 1930s Europe.
One thing about Martin that may interest readers of this blog was his positive and encouraging relationship with his father. This can sometimes present difficulties but the son once said of his father: ‘…he was ready to discuss everything and to yield when he was wrong.’ It can only be good that a father knows that a son has to be his own man and live his own life. ‘All boys in adolescence must break with their parents. ’Painful as it may be, the break is the point of entry into mature adult life, a proper stage in growing up.
Kingsley Martin was brilliant. Brought up on a traditional diet of Greek and Latin, he almost embarked on an academic life; He came to see that it was his lot to exercise influence through his editorship of the NS rather than be seduced by the apparent power of a life in politics.
Which brings up the interesting and perhaps for some readers the startling implication that often we Christian believers can learn important things and enjoy valuable benefits from those who have no such faith. We do this all the time, of course, when we board a jet or entrust our children to secular schools. But peer pressure (as KM discovered) can be a distressing part of school life for a sensitive child. And the adulthood that follows can be just as stressful.
1930s Europe is a very different place from today’s Europe. Then, Spain offered a choice: support the elected government or the traditional backlash. Not everyone, Christians included, chose wisely or well in those days. One thing is unchanged. Responsible fatherhood was and remains desirable and achievable.
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