Posted on 06/27/2009 8:50:42 PM PDT by ozguy
Britain is no longer a Christian nation and the Church of England could die out within a generation, an Anglican bishop has warned.
The Rt Rev Paul Richardson said declining church attendance and the rise in multiculturalism meant that "Christian Britain is dead".
He criticised his fellow bishops for failing to appreciate the scale of the crisis and warned that their inaction could seal the Church's fate.
The General Synod, the Church's parliament, will next month consider proposals to cut the number of bishops and senior clergy amid fears over the Church's finances.
Writing for The Sunday Telegraph, Bishop Richardson said: "Many bishops prefer to turn their heads, to carry on as if nothing has changed, rather than face the reality that Britain is no longer a Christian nation.
"Many of them think that we are still living in the 1950s – a period described by historians as representing a hey day for the established church."
He said that the Church had lost more than one in ten of its regular worshippers between 1996 and 2006, with a fall from more than one million to 880,000.
"At this rate it is hard to see the church surviving for more than 30 years though few of its leaders are prepared to face that possibility," said Bishop Richardson.
(Excerpt) Read more at telegraph.co.uk ...
Everyone has faith in something.
“Master of the Obvious” poster goes here.
I wouldn’t be surprised to see England divest itself pretty soon of even ceremonial links to its once prominent and influential church. This could prove a Good Thing for the church itself, as it would not have no more occasion to nod and wink at its notoriously naughty royalty.
would not have no more => would have no more
typo (i ain’t no user of double negatives)
The UK Agnlican Church is merely reaping what they have sowned via abandoning their Covenant with the Lord, even this article bears that out.
The “Church” is meant to obey the Lord, and to teach others to do so, not whine about declining numbers.
The word “Duh” comes to mind...
Of course, America is also a post-Christian nation - yet many here refuse to recognize it!
2nd religion in America is Obama.
I believe I will have a beer.
Now that is a response worthy of acknowledgement. Have one for me as well. ;-)
Private participation in US churches, as compared with almost any other country, appears to show that this obituary is a bit premature. What is gone is virtually any vestige of government acknowledgment of religious mores.
Even the British picture isn’t so dim as this bishop would paint it. He’s only looking at the Church of England. If he counted in Catholics, Lutherans, Baptists, Presbyterians, etc. (in general, those churches that hold to an orthodox view of the bible) the numbers would be much higher.
Martin Luther would agree, though the Baptists would be aghast. Down a big foamy one Saturday night, then get up on Sunday morning for worship on the Lord’s Day.
This is too funny!The Church of England has had less to do with Christianity than an atheist for years. How would the Bishop know.
Its interesting, the common thread, historically, throughout the G7 has been displaced, so I have to assume that globally we have entered into a period of decline.
The free industrialized west is being displaced not through invention or innovation, however the opposite... just displaced demographically by a backwards cult demanding rights from a generous group of people. The Christians.
Britian is no longer an ANGLICAN nation. Seems the bishop confuses the “Church of England” with Christianity as a whole. There are large numbers of devout Christians in England. They just tend to be Catholics and other Protestants rather than the “official” religion of the nation. Guess Henry VII’s efforts to start a religion so he could divorce another wife didn’t work out that well 500 years later.
“Christian Britain is dead”.
John 15:6
If anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned.
I fail to see how anyone can look at the culture of America, and conclude anything but we are a post-Christian nation. If sincere Christians were anywhere close to 50%, there is no way the nation would be like it is today.
“There are large numbers of devout Christians in England. “
I lived in England from ‘89-92. For your statement to be accurate, a massive revival must have taken place.
Generous and, I’m afraid, stupid. This is nothing new under the sun. Jews did it before them in pre-Christian days, dozens of times. Even now we see ostensibly Jewish elements in Israel who don’t want that country to be.
Keep in mind that you are viewing most of this through the eyes of the Big Secular Media.
No, I’m looking at my neighbors. When we head to church, there aren’t many others out & about. I’m also looking at the acceptance of abortion, Obama, promiscuity in teenagers, acceptance of foul language, etc.
Stupidly generous is right. Only now to slowly regress. Away from progress, away from rights and....well, as a extreme example, into theocratic living.
I know! Lets clear the air and get away from people talking of violence! lets beat the rush and save time through moving to Iran!
Agreed. Some years ago I attended a C.of E. Easter service with an old English friend in Worthing. Very few people in attendance, all elderly. That evening the same friend took me to a fundamentalist evangelical store-front church she regularly attended. It was crowded, all ages, enthusiastic and committed. Maybe a minority, but a “remnant” is alive.
” ‘Heavenly Father, we come before you today to ask your forgiveness and
to seek your direction and guidance. We know Your Word says, ‘Woe to
those who call evil good,’ but that is exactly what we have done. We
have lost our spiritual equilibrium and reversed our values. We have
exploited the poor and called it the lottery. We have rewarded laziness
and called it welfare. We have killed our unborn and called it choice.
We have shot abortionists and called it justifiable. We have neglected
to discipline our children and called it building self esteem. We have
abused power and called it politics. We have coveted our neighbor’s
possessions and called it ambition. We have polluted the air with
profanity and pornography and called it freedom of expression. We have
ridiculed the time-honored values of our forefathers and called it
enlightenment. Search us, Oh God, and know our hearts today; cleanse us
from every sin and set us free.. Amen!’
Commentator Paul Harvey aired this prayer on his radio program, ‘The
Rest of the Story,’ and received a larger response to this program than
any other he has ever aired. With the Lord’s help, may this prayer
sweep over our nation and wholeheartedly become our desire so that we
again can be called ‘One nation under God.’”
The UK is done, and has been for some years now. Unrelenting, non-stop immigration, has destroyed Britain
There has been a rise in the proportion of ‘charismatic’ evangelicals from 38% in 1998 to 40% in 2005, nearing the figures of 1989, when charismatic evangelicals constituted 44% of evangelicals.
They's also increased in numbers due to more minorities joining church congregations. The number of non-white evangelical church goers has increased from 208,500 in 1998, to 286,000 in 2005; a proportional rise of 37%. Additionally, non-white evangelicals now constitute 18% of the total number of evangelicals. The highest proportion of non-white churchgoers is found among charismatic evangelicals, where they constitute 31% of the total, closely followed by Catholics, where the proportion is 28%.
Additionally, according to the 2005 English Church Census, 40% of regular churchgoers in England attend evangelical churches – two-fifths of total English churchgoers. The proportion of evangelicals in the churchgoing population has risen from 37% in 1998 to 40% in 2005.Pentecostal churches have seen a 34% rise in regular church attendance since 1998.
In raw numbers, the 3,656 Roman Catholic churches have an average congregation of 244. Of the 2,227 Pentecostal churches, they have an average congregation 129. Of the 1,307 ‘new’ Christian churches, they have an average congregation of 140 people. On the other hand, of the 16,247 Anglican churches in England, they an average congregation size of only 54 people.
In short, Christianity is growing in England, especially when it comes to the number of Catholics and pentecostal evangelical protestants in their country. The numbers are weekly church attendence are on the rise.
It's the "Church of England" -- the "official" Christian church of the country -- where Christianity is dying and their baptized members are Christian in name only.
The “etc.” part is where you’re seeing a heavy media bias. Most polls on abortion carried on by the MSM deliberately blur the picture — acceptance goes way down when the descriptions become more graphic and/or focus specifically on the 90%+ of cases who want abortion only out of convenience. Obama acceptance today is media distortion of media distorted polls taken of people whose major world views come through the distorted media (or else godless democrat politicians). Light traffic on Sunday might even be viewed as a Good Thing if the alternative is to mob the malls.
That’s kind of what happens when your theology and polity is controlled by politicians.
As a Baptist, I can relate. Back when I was a member of the Catholic church … I served as an alter boy and often helped the Priest stagger his way off the dais after mass. Drunk before Mass, drunker after Mass. LOL!
Could Luther have overdone it on the beer (or with bad beer), leading to his notorious fits of fury? Dunno. Some Catholic priests have a problem habit of dipping into the Communion wine.
LOL! Who knows?
You mean Henry VIII.
Glad you posted this....I tend to be greeted with disbelief when I tell people that in many respects Christianity in Britain is thriving.
I am a Catholic but I hope the CofE has a revivial. This reminds me of the CofE in the 18th/early 19th century which was vanilla and definately more ‘Of this world”. A large portion of the clergy were in it for social status and getting the income of the living attached to a appointment than serving Christ. If you read Austen, George Eliot, etc you know what I mean. Nature abhors a vacuum and this lead to the creation of more non-conformist congregations, Wesley and the Methodists. Or attempts to make the CofE more “Catholic” or outright conservion to Roman Catholicism, for example the Pusyites and one its more famous members Newman becoming a Roman Catholic. I find it interesting from the comments and article you have the same situation today of people going to the Catholic church or evangelical congregations and I see that as a very good thing.
The article said — Britain is no longer a Christian nation and the Church of England could die out within a generation, an Anglican bishop has warned.
—
Same thing with America...
Instead of providing the leadership and moral support the Church has needed for decades, Queen Elizabeth and her selfish, miserable brood have presided over the demise of the Anglican Church. Like the first Elizabeth, who taxed the people to the point of rebellion, and like the harridan Victoria, she has “ruled” much too long.
As a Briton who is a good Baptist I dont believe we should have a State religion anyway, so I think the CofE should be disestablished.
That would help the Church immensely. Nothing about winking at the antics of the royals. They are no better or worse than most of the British population at large. Indeed, if their function is to represent us, they are doing a dang fine job on that particular front.
The main plus is that the Church can carry out its original mission without being tied to the establishment. The problem with alliances between Church and State is that having your views represented in Parliament or senate may seem appealing, but you got to remember that the politicos ALWAYS get more out of the alliance.
I’m not sure that either Britain or the US were ever a “Christian nation” (whatever that is).
I prefer to refer to nations that once had a preponderence of Christians in them.
It was Henry VIII, not Henry VII, and he didnt “start another religion”.
The break with Rome was purely political (and economic). He changed the Church in England from being Roman Catholic to being English Catholic. There was no change in any other theology, indeed he persecuted protestants very heavily for much of the rest of his reign.
It was after Henry that changes in belief came about.
Thats a great prayer! Thank you for sharing it.
England has “suffered” from centuries of “unrelenting, non-stop immigrations” and yet, curiously, we are still here.
The CofE is a very odd institution. Its a very broad church indeed. You really dont know what you are going to get until you get into one! Ive been to Anglican Churches that are very evangelical. Ive been to Anglican Churches that are extremely charismatic. Ive been to Anglican Churches that are “more catholic than Rome”.
Given the greater mobility and increased individualism of Britons that might not be a bad model.
In raw membership, the church of England far outnumbers any other Christian denomination in the country because they declared it the "official" state religion of England and spent years discriminating against other Protestants and Catholics. Nevertheless, it is those other Christian faiths, like Catholics and Pentecostals, where the membership is growing. The Church of England is dying. IMO, they should dissolve it.
I'm usually not one to advocate anyone switch denominations -- if someone was raised Baptist and believes their doctrines more than Catholicism, so be it. But if I was raised Episcopalian, I'd have a real problem knowing my branch of Christianity wasn't created for any spiritual purpose or genuine disagreement over Catholic church doctrine, but solely so some fat King could live his lecherous life with official church sanction. IMO, Episcopalians/Anglicians should seriously consider whether they want to remain members of that denomination. The U.S. Episcopal church is falling apart as well, even since they ordained that openly gay bishop.
Shots Across The Bow
That new version that liberal Anglicans embrace, of course, is a modern interpretation of Scripture that allows for gay clergy and same-sex blessings.
With the two sides unwilling to compromise, the conservative leaders aimed two shots across the bow. First, they declared that they no longer see the archbishop of Canterbury as the one who decides who is Anglican or not. Second, they said they intend to form an alternative church or province in North America — one that would compete with the Episcopal Church for members, money and church property.
To be fair, although Henry VIII became a fat, addled, syphilis-ridden wreck by the end of his life, when the break with Rome was accomplished he was still a vibrant, lusty young monarch.
And furthermore, his motivations were not purely selfish. Catherine of Aragorn was barren and therefore there was no heir. That is very bad news. The Tudors had come to power as a culmination of major dynastic dispute that had torn the country apart, doing immense damage to its economy and social structure. Nobody was keen to repeat the experience. No heir, or only female heirs, might very well have led to a “Wars of the Roses II”, which the country might not have survived, and Henry knew it.
Anglicanism may have been created purely for political (and economic) reasons, but that doesnt mean that it doesnt have its own specific theology and practices here and now. Its biggest problem its that it is too broad a church. It has made too many compromises in order to represent a society that is increasingly diverse.
As for the charge of discrimination: the problem is that Anglicanism increasingly became tied to English Nationalism. Such discrimination that other denominations were subject to (particularly Catholics) was largely motivated by that.
I still recall the official policy when I was a child, which isnt that long ago. If you had to fill in any kind of form in which you had to state your religion (a hospital one for example) the options would be “CofE”, “Roman Catholic” and “non-conformist” (which was basically everyone else). Does that kind of mildly derogatory statmement count as discrimination? I suppose it could be construed to be, but there is no sting in it. Anyway, most Baptists I know revel in the term.
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