I am expecting this trend to actually reverse, once new generations have
grown up without continually hearing of sectarian violence on the news
every
day. I live in the UK, and have spoken to many people who believe in God,
but reject organised religion, and that is not surprising when they, like
me, grew up continually hearing of "Catholics" and "Protestants" blowing
each other to bits. "If these are supposed to be Christians, who believe
in
"Love thy neighbour", why are they doing this?" people wondered. Not
surprising, when often the "Right to March" seemed far more im****tant than
"Love thy Neighbour".
I feel confident that whereas there is not much church *going*, I think
under the surface there is much church *being*, certainly at least
potentially. The threat of Islam, combined with a spiritual yearning,
means
there are many 'searchers' out there, and our job as Christians in the UK
is
to simply encourage people to look at Christianity afresh, and simply to
consider it alongside the 'New Age' crystal gazing and pebble-rubbing, the
far Eastern dreaming and floating, and all the other distractions. So
many
at the moment are just writing off Christianity because of the history of
sectarianism that has so dogged us over here - but if we can just get them
to *look* at Christianity, they will see that all the other things just do
not measure up to the Truth that is in Christ Jesus. Unlike Islam, we
don't
have to ban the other things...
Tim.
"**Rowland Croucher**" <rccroucher@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote in message
news:4823a5a3$0$30464$afc38c87@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> May 8, 2008
>
> Churchgoing on its knees as Christianity falls out of favour
>
> Ruth Gledhill, Religion Correspondent
>
> Church attendance in Britain is declining so fast that the number of
> regular churchgoers will be fewer than those attending mosques within a
> generation, research published today suggests.
>
> The fall - from the four million people who attend church at least once
a
> month today - means that the Church of England, Catholicism and other
> denominations will become financially unviable. A lack of funds from the
> collection plate to sup****t the Christian infrastructure, including
church
> upkeep and ministers’ pay and pensions, will force church closures as
> ageing congregations die.
>
> In contrast, the number of actively religious Muslims will have
increased
> from about one million today to 1.96 million in 2035.
>
> According to Religious Trends, a comprehensive statistical analysis of
> religious practice in Britain, published by Christian Research, even
> Hindus will come close to outnumbering churchgoers within a generation.
> The forecast to 2050 shows churchgoing in Britain declining to 899,000
> while the active Hindu population, now at nearly 400,000, will have more
> than doubled to 855,000. By 2050 there will be 2,660,000 active Muslims
in
> Britain - nearly three times the number of Sunday churchgoers.
>
> The research is based on analysis of member****p and attendance of all
the
> religious bodies in Britain, including a church census in 2005.
>
> Coming just months after the Archbishop of Canterbury suggested that the
> introduction of aspects of sharia into British law was unavoidable, the
> re****t is likely to fuel calls for the disestablishment of the Church of
> England.
>
> Martin Salter, the Labour MP for Reading West and a member of Reading
> inter-faith group, said: “I think all faiths could be treated equally
> under our constitution. These figures demonstrate the absurdity of
> favouring one brand of Christianity over other parts of the Christian
> faith and the many other religions that grace our shores.”
>
> Hazel Blears, the Communities Secretary with responsibility for
community
> cohesion, said: “We will look at these findings very closely. Britain is
a
> secular democracy with a strong Christian tradition but many faiths have
a
> home in Britain.”
>
> The re****t makes it clear that Christianity is becoming a minority
> religion. It also reflects the changing nature of religious practice
> worldwide and will further aid the stated aim of the Prince of Wales
who,
> on his Coronation, hopes to become Defender of Faith rather than
Defender
> of the Faith.
>
> Only in the large, evangelical churches of the Baptist and independent
> denominations is there resistance to the trend, but many of these
churches
> also show some decline. One small area of growth is in Northern Ireland,
> where the enthusiasm of Pentecostals and other independents has led to a
> slight increase in numbers of churches - a trend expected to continue to
> 2050. The three growing denominations are the Orthodox, Pentecostals and
> smaller denominations, all dependent to a degree on immigration.
>
> The crisis is particularly acute for Methodists and Presbyterians, as
many
> wor****ppers are aged over 65. The re****t predicts that these churches
> might well have merged with others by 2030. “The primary cause of the
> decrease in attendance is that people are simply dying off,” the re****t
> says.
>
> By 2050 there will be just 3,600 churchgoing Methodists left in Britain,
> Christian Research predicts. Anglicans will be down to 87,800, Catholics
> to 101,700, Presbyterians to 4,400, Baptists to 123,000 and independents
> to 168,000.
>
> The national breakdown shows similar declines across England, Wales and
> Scotland. Churchgoing across all denominations in England will fall from
> about 3 million today to about 700,000 in 2050. In Wales it will tumble
> from 200,000 to 42,000 and in Scotland, from 550,000 to 140,000. The
> figures take into account the recent boost to Catholicism from the
number
> of Polish immigrants to Britain, particularly in Scotland.
>
> The re****t predicts that by 2030, when Dr Rowan Williams’s successor as
> Archbishop of Cantebury will be approaching retirement, there could be
> just 350,000 people attending just 10,000 Anglican churches, with an
> average of 35 wor****ppers each. The next Archbishop after that could
find
> his position “totally nonviable”, the re****t says, with just 180,000
> wor****ppers in 6,000 churches by 2040.
>
> David Voas, a professor of population studies at the Institute for
Social
> Change at the University of Manchester, said: “The difficulty is in
> retaining the children who have churchgoing parents. So long as
> churchgoing is something that gets you laughed at, so long as there is a
> social stigma attached to being a churchgoing young person, it will be
> difficult to reverse the trend.” He said that young Muslims operated in
a
> different environment. “Being religious is a way that you show you are
> different, that you are proud of your heritage. One of the ways young
> Muslims assert their identity is by being more observant than their
> parents.”
>
> The Church of England disputed the forecasts last night. Lynda Barley,
its
> head of research, said: “These statistics represent a partial picture of
> religious trends today. In recent years church life has significantly
> diversified so these traditional statistics are less and less meaningful
> in isolation.
>
> “There are more than 1.7 million people wor****pping in a Church of
England
> church or cathedral each month, a figure that is 30 per cent higher
[than
> the Sunday attendance figure used by Christian Research] and has
remained
> stable since 2000. We have no reason to believe that this will drop
> significantly.”
>
> — Hundreds of churches are protesting at soaring water bills, with some
> parishes facing increases of up to 1,300 per cent. Senior churchmen from
> the Church of England, Methodist and other churches are meeting
officials
> from Ofwat, the industry regulator, to argue their case against the
> charges today.
>
> http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/faith/article3890080.ece
> --
>
> Shalom/Salaam/Pax! Rowland Croucher
>
> http://jmm.aaa.net.au/
(20,000 articles 4000 humor)
>
> Blogs - http://rowlandsblogs.blogspot.com/
>
> Justice for Dawn Rowan - http://dawnrowansaga.blogspot.com/
>
> Funny Jokes and Pics - http://funnyjokesnpics.blogspot.com/
>
>
|
