Christians close to falling below 50pc in England

It is a general trend for some years already that church attendance is on the decrease, though it did not mean that the people would be less religious or would have left the faith in God.

Just over half of the population in England and Wales, some 51 per cent, reported their religion as Christian in 2019 – a decline of nearly 8.3 per cent since the 2011 Census, the last time a comprehensive survey of the nation’s different religions took place. The results of the next Census will be published next year.

However, in the most detailed government analysis in over a decade, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) published data showing that no religion – including not stated – was the second most common response in 2019, rising from 32.3 to 38.4 per cent of the population.

When it rains in America, it drips in Great Britain. In the United States the 45th president of that nation could see a lot of division and made religious people come to stand opposite each other. Hatred against Jews and Muslims grew over there. Also in the United Kingdom there were political leaders who tried to create division and wanted to set up people against certain religious groups. And in a way they succeeded, though in the U.K. it did not come so much from the pulpit. In the States we could find several churches where such hatred was preached in the (mostly white) conservative and evangelical churches. Though several conflicts or clashes between Jews, Palestinians and others, made rise to a “wave of anti-Jewish hate” in Great Britain in 2021.

The Church of England in 2021 has announced a “radical” overhaul of its governance, amid criticism from parishioners that the plans are “a coup by Archbishops to take control of everything” though the bishops say their new strategy is aimed at offering more transparency and accountability. Those renovations are considered by campaigners it being simply a grab for control. And it is such control by the higher hierarchy that is giving several people an aversion for the church system.

For many, the English Church also lost its moral compass, and has made itself irrelevant to their daily lives. Gone are the powerful moral counter-arguments against Government misuses of power, gone is the support to the poor and unfortunate, and lost is the support to communities. In re-branding Christianity for the consumer age those main churches have taken the wrong direction for many. The phrase

“go woke, go broke”

works for all organisations, including the Church of England.

Lots of churches are closed. Today in Britain there are more off-licences than churches. In a country where it is easier to purchase alcohol than to pass your driver’s licence, it is no surprise that Britain has a spiralling contagious pub culture. The Sikh community seems to have a problem with that. Being locked in a house for months, with zero social interaction, several young adult sikhs (male and female) were happy to have their booze, drugs and more booze. Countless sikhs have fallen to the glamorisation of alcohol within their culture, which made that the Sikh fell from 0.75 to 0.69 per cent.

In Corona time a lot of people may have found liberation of their Sunday duty because in Great Britain it was until before the Covid-19 pandemic the tradition to go to church on Sunday morning. With having to follow the service at home by the use of modern electronica, several people might have found the profit of free time a great gain, but also something to consider for the future, being it worth still to go to church so regularly instead of using that time for more pleasant things. There was not one country in the industrial world that could escape the pressure put on the church in the Corona period. Being more at home, lots of people used more time in front of the television and did not select so much what they were going to see. That way, lots of moral and ethical undermining programs came frequently in the living room. Having the government changing rules regularly, lots of people not only became confused but also started getting an aversion to any sort of rules.
Several, mostly seniors and middle-aged people, therefore opposed the government but also started to oppose the establishment, in which they also saw the Church as a dominant party.

The importance of religion in UK society has had to contend with the growth of secularism, resulting in a generational gulf as younger people are increasingly unlikely to identify with any faith in comparison to their parents and grandparents. The youngsters are taken by social media, TikTok and YouTube moving pictures and flashy messages on Facebook. Having fun has become a priority.

More than half (53.4 per cent) of those in their twenties reported having no religion in 2019, compared with 27.1 per cent of those in their sixties.

For the younger generation, the Church is stuck in outdated values and has not kept up with the times as far as its views are concerned, which are far too old-fashioned and simply do not seem to fit in with the times.

Richy Thompson, of Humanists UK, said:

“Modern scientific explanations are so complete, many religious groups hold outdated attitudes around women and LGBT people, and there are now enough non-religious people that negative prejudices towards us are falling away.

“Given this, the ongoing growth of the non-religious is hardly surprising.”

The right-wing politicians in trying to make the British population afraid of Islam made more people interested to know more about that religion and as such brought some to convert to Islam. Muslims rose from 4.83 per cent to 5.67 per cent.

Hindus increased from 1.46 per cent to 1.65 per cent. Jews increased from 0.47 to 0.55 per cent, while Buddhists stayed the same at 0.44 per cent.

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Preceding

1. 500 Years of Reformation Divisions Have Lost Much of Their Potency
2. 19° century London and Unitarians
3. Capitalism and economic policy and Christian survey
4. Mega church country loosing religous people
5. 2016 American Bible survey
6. Same sex relationships and Open attitude mirroring Jesus
7. Being religious has benefits even in this life
8. Faith antithesis of rationality
9. Not everyone in the churches of Christ are “ungodly”
10. Gradual decline by American Christians
11. Megachurches out of America now have a higher average attendance
12. Unhappy people in empty churches
13. Being Christian in Western Europe at the beginning of the 21st century #1
14. Being Christian in Western Europe at the beginning of the 21st century #2
15. Main churches losing population share
16. Church indeed critical in faith development
17. Offering words of hope
18. The focus of multiculturalism in Europe on Muslims and Jews
19. Possibility for a Jew to replace Donald Trump
20. Anti-Defamation League’s survey showing the problem of American anti-Jewishness
21. Christian in Christendom or in Christianity
22. About Three-in-Ten U.S. Adults Are Now Religiously Unaffiliated
23. Less Americans interested in praying

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Find also to read

1. Not everyone in the churches of Christ are “ungodly” (Our world)
2. Being religious has benefits even in this life (Our World)
3. Capitalism and economic policy and Christian survey (Our World)
4. Christians, secularism, morals and values
5. Mega church country loosing religous people (Our World)
6. 2016 American Bible survey (Our World)
7. Gradual decline by American Christians (Our World)
8. Megachurches out of America now have a higher average attendance (Our World)
9. Unhappy people in empty churches (Our World)
10. Being Christian in Western Europe at the beginning of the 21st century #1 (Our World)
11. Being Christian in Western Europe at the beginning of the 21st century #2 (Our World)
12. Main churches losing population share (Our World)
13. Germinating small seeds, pebble-stones, small and mega churches and faith
14. Church indeed critical in faith development (Our World)
15. Good or bad preacher
16. Daring to speak in multicultural environment
17. The post-Christian world
18. Are you having such days?
19. Decrease in church attendance not only a recent feature #1 Methodist Church of Victoria and Tasmania
20. Decrease in church attendance not only a recent feature #5 Necessity of attendance
21. My perspective: Virtual v Physical church attendance
22. Offering words of hope (Our World)
23. Judaism and Jewishness in 2020 America
24. Anti-Semitism in the United States
25. American Conservative Judaism
26. British Jews suffering worst levels of hatred for decades
27. What sort people of faith do we want to be

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