Friday, December 6, 2013

England is losing its faith in God.

Is England losing its faith?  It looks like it.
Like an Old Testament prophet telling the Israelites that they were doomed, Lord Carey has been warning Anglicans for years of their possible annihilation. The Church is “one generation away from extinction,” he declares. The reality is less dramatic, but the story is not altogether wrong.

Young adults in Britain are far less likely than their parents and grandparents to have a religious identity. The Church of England in particular has been squeezed hard by the trend away from religion. This is well illustrated by the graphic below which shows religious affiliation by year of birth. In the oldest group polled, one in two identified as members of the Church of England – among the youngest that figure falls to one in 20.

...Only one in five people born since 1975 believes in God, even with doubts. These levels are roughly half those found among people born before the end of World War II – and certainty of belief has collapsed. Belief in a “higher power” has indeed gone up, but this vague spirituality comes at the expense of more religious theism. Nearly half of younger adults in Britain qualify as atheists or agnostics, even if they would not use those terms themselves.
 I must say these findings are shocking and ominous.  It leaves them open to latest philosophical and spiritual fad how ever destructive.  My concern isn't with the future of Christianity.  Rooted in truth; it will survive and flourish.  The same, I'm afraid, can't be said for England.