NCF Brighton Lecture: Can you build a future on borrowed faith?

“Can You Build a Future on Borrowed Faith?” Lecture by Dr. Jerome Lloyd, Titular Archbishop of Selsey New Culture Forum, Brighton — 10 February 2026 In a provocative and evidence-rich address to the New Culture Forum, Dr. Jerome Lloyd explored a fundamental question facing Britain today: Can a society sustain its moral life on values it no longer believes in? Dr. Lloyd argued that over the past sixty years Britain has attempted to preserve the ethical language of dignity, compassion, and freedom — while abandoning the metaphysical and moral foundations from which those values once flowed. Drawing on historical symbols, demographic data, and institutional behaviour, he showed how this “moral borrowing” has now reached a breaking point. Key insights from the lecture included: Demographic decline as moral evidence: With fewer than half of adults married, a fertility rate well below replacement (≈1.4 children per woman), rising loneliness and mental-health challenges, and a reliance on migration for population growth, Britain is not reproducing itself socially or culturally. Institutions without conviction: Across policing, education, and public life, Dr. Lloyd identified a pattern of proceduralism without moral clarity — where harms are managed administratively and truth is treated as negotiable. Symbolism hollowed of substance: The coronation of King Charles III was used as a vivid example of religious form maintained while belief was neutralised — heritage without moral inheritance. Failures of safeguarding and compassion