Nigel Biggar

Theologian Lord Nigel Biggar warns of a new dark age as the dishonesty, bad faith and mindless abuse of the culture wars threaten our liberal culture.

Biggar argues that culture wars are far from superficial disagreements to distract us but are political and moral debates that cut to heart of the most substantial questions of our time. These questions range from the welfare of our children to the way we conceive and manage ethnic and cultural differences in diverse societies. He says the bad faith, dishonesty and mindless abuse that often characterise these debates expose a rot at the heart of the intellectual culture of the west. Biggar warns our liberal culture of rational truth-seeking and good faith civility is under threat and a new dark age looms.

Biggar is a former professor of moral theology at the University of Oxford and author of the bestselling Colonialism: A Moral Reckoning. He was named one of Prospect magazines top thinkers in 2024 and entered the House of Lords as a Conservative peer in 2025.