Christianity in Britain down 25% in last 25 years
A study to be issued in January says religiosity is in sharp decline in Britain with most of the decline, in level and rate, coming in the established religion, the Church of England.
[M]ost people still say religion helps bring happiness and comfort, and regret its declining influence on modern society.The Archbishop of Canterbury recently blamed the government for the increasing irrelevance of the Church of England.
...
[The] analysis, to be published in January by the National Centre for Social Research (NatCen), looks at the results of 4,486 interviews conducted in the respected 2008 British Social Attitudes survey.
...
The steepest fall was among those who say they worship in the established religion, the Church of England, down from 40 per cent of those who call themselves Christians to 23 per cent. Official Church attendance figures show that average Sunday attendance was 978,000 in 2007, compared with 1.2m in 1983. Prof Voas said: “The declining Christian share is largely attributable to a drift away from the Church of England.”
At the Guardian, Andrew Brown gives his take on the research, and focusing on these sentences from the research:
the gap between age groups arises not because individuals become more religiously committed as they get older, but because children are less religious than their parents. The results suggest that institutional religion in Britain now has a half-life of one generation, to borrow the terminology of radioactive decay. Two non-religious parents successfully transmit their lack of religion. Two religious parents have roughly a 50/50 chance of passing on the faith. One religious parent does only half as well as two together.
Simply as an anecdotal matter, I've dealt with a number of English who were amazed at the variety of Christianity in the U.S. That I (and a lot of others) could be a Bible-quoting Sunday school teacher and obviously a true believer and not just believe in women's rights, marriage equality, and a variety of other "progressive" causes, but think that they are biblically enjoined, simply does not seem to compute to an Englishperson. I guess what I am saying is that the C of E, at least from my far-off vantage point, has become homogeneously conservative and unable to take a meaningful stand aside from saying "no." It's not terribly surprising that when my fellow young English professionals go reaching for a grounding for themselves, their lives, and the best parts of themselves, they wind up looking at a vague and semi-Christian "humanism," because the C of E is having trouble making a place for them. And since they make up much of Labour's (and the Conservatives', for that matter) most important constituency, it's no wonder Parliament has little solicitude for the C of E's opinion.
Mike Lockaby.
Posted by www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1505362![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.episcopalcafe.com/lead/nav-commenters.gif)
|
December 16, 2009 9:10 AM
“The declining Christian share is largely attributable to a drift away from the Church of England.” Well, let's see. On one hand, we have the Bishop-designate of Peterborough waffling on whether the sun really stood still for Joshua. On another hand, we have the Archbishop of Canterbury waffling about the treatment of gay persons by Uganda (and it now appears also Rwanda). And then there's the issue of women in the episcopate -- more waffling all around. (What doesn't the C of E understand about "Done Deal"?) The only thing Lambeth seems to be really sure about is that Ain't It Awful that The Episcopal Church proposes the consecration of Mary Glasspool to the episcopate. So. "A drift away from the Church of England." (And all the fault of the Labour Government!)
Quelle surprise.
Posted by Bill Moorhead![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.episcopalcafe.com/lead/nav-commenters.gif)
|
December 17, 2009 11:23 AM