Churchgoing Declining in Britain
According to a recent report in the London Times Online there will be fewer regular churchgoers in the UK within a generation than there are mosque-goers or even Hindus.
This is really quite a bit of fresh air to me. Along with recent studies suggesting that the fasting growing religion in the US is no religion, the trends may mean that soon this blog will be obsolete. Then again, the US has significant and strong differences from the UK. Specifically, church attendance in the US has always been much higher than in the UK, and there is no taboo about politics mixing with religion in the US as there is in the UK.
That being said, the American statistics are still pretty depressing. According the Barna group:
# 4% believe everyone is God. (2007)
# 69% believe that God is the all-powerful, all-knowing, perfect creator that rules the world today. (2007)
# 8% believe that God is the total realization of personal, human potential. (2007)
# 3% believe that there are many gods, each with different power and authority. (2007)
# 7% believe that God is a state of higher consciousness that a person may reach. (2007)
# 3% believe that there is no such thing as God. (2007)
Still, over 30% of the population does not believe in the Christian God -- including some people who I'm sure self-label as Christian.
Now the 4% who believe everyone is God ... who do you think they are?
This is really quite a bit of fresh air to me. Along with recent studies suggesting that the fasting growing religion in the US is no religion, the trends may mean that soon this blog will be obsolete. Then again, the US has significant and strong differences from the UK. Specifically, church attendance in the US has always been much higher than in the UK, and there is no taboo about politics mixing with religion in the US as there is in the UK.
That being said, the American statistics are still pretty depressing. According the Barna group:
# 4% believe everyone is God. (2007)
# 69% believe that God is the all-powerful, all-knowing, perfect creator that rules the world today. (2007)
# 8% believe that God is the total realization of personal, human potential. (2007)
# 3% believe that there are many gods, each with different power and authority. (2007)
# 7% believe that God is a state of higher consciousness that a person may reach. (2007)
# 3% believe that there is no such thing as God. (2007)
Still, over 30% of the population does not believe in the Christian God -- including some people who I'm sure self-label as Christian.
Now the 4% who believe everyone is God ... who do you think they are?
7 comments:
Now the 4% who believe everyone is God ... who do you think they are?
Are they god?
:)
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Stan
Though I am interested in the declining numbers in church attendance, I am alarmed at the increase or steadying numbers of attendance at mosques and Hindu centers. Religion is religion - whether it is christian, islam, hindu, or even new age. I have not seen that rational thought or the freedom to challenge authority is a key element in religion, regardless of its stripe. And the tendencies towards extremism exist in the majors: chrisitanity, islam, hinduism. Trading one for another is not a good development.
Perhaps England can start turning some of their churches into dental offices...
I share brother crow's concern. The fact that Christianity is declining as Islam is maintaining if not increasing gives me no comfort. Probably it's an instinctual preference for the evil I know versus the evil I don't know, but I also think it has something to do with the notion that the two religions keep each other in check. As has been mentioned numerous times here, non-religious folk are not nearly so well organized as the religious, which is why even a relative minority such as evangelicals in the US are dangerous politically. I have little reason to think that a sizable Islamic minority would have similar power, especially in the absence of a Christian foil. I would take no comfort in merely having the dominant social religion change from Christianity to Islam.
Those answer sound weird, making me wonder just what the question was and how it was asked. While I'm an atheist, if you ask me "what is God" then I would say something like the 69% said, "God is the all-powerful, all-knowing, perfect creator that rules the world today." Of course this thing does not exist, but that's still what the word means.
I share the concern for what happens if an anti-intellectual Christianity is replaced by an anti-intellectual and violent Islam. Europe doesn't seem to be faring so well.
In all seriousness, I see two problems looming in today's world:
1) The general shift from "moderate" theology to "fundamentalist" theology.
2) (Follows from [1]) The general ignorance of the "moderate" group with respect to the potential dangers of the "fundamentalist" group, and the subsequent refusal to admit any link between the two.
As science and technology uncover more about "the way things work", and as more and more tools and other implements are developed to take advantage of these discoveries, the religious mind necessarily must choose between two positions -- positions which at one time were co-located but which now are moving away from one another in an accelerating manner.
The "moderate" group has chosen to embrace some, if not all, of that which science and technology have offered, and their theology is adjusted to compensate. This group includes the "liberal" Christians, and many forms of many other religions, as well as the non-religious.
The "fundamentalist" group has instead chosen to deny some, if not all, of that which science and technology have offered, and their theology has likewise adjusted to compensate. This group includes so-called "radical" Islamists, fundamental Christians, and various other sects of these and other religions.
The problem stems from the increasing numbers of the latter group, and the apparent ease with which they add to their numbers. Their [apparently arbitrary] denial of science and technology, at various stages, coupled with their violent tendencies toward non-believers, and their [implicit] desire to force non-believers to agree with them, is truly dangerous to the individual freedoms most of us enjoy. Where their violence and coercive efforts are thwarted or lessened, they still actively seek to suppress any facets of science or technology which offer countervailing evidence.
Until the "moderate" group -- especially the "moderate" religionists -- recognizes the threat(s) to individual liberty the "fundamentalist" group poses, and seeks to prevent these threats from being realized (through legislation and/or vocal denouncement of such ventures), we can expect to wage this unspoken war on blogs, on bookshelves, and in the media. It is the lack of outspoken anti-fundamentalism (and not just the kind which focuses on an 'enemy' religion) -- especially from "liberal" religionists -- which provides the "fundamentalists" with such easy recruitment, and the refusal to publicly admit that even a "moderate" religious stance paves the way for bigotry, fear-mongering, and ignorance in general.
It is because of the mute "moderate" group that we still have the debate over Evolution, despite the fact that it is taught as fact in every public school in America. It is because of the undeserved "respect" for religious beliefs that we tacitly allow children to be denied basic, standard medical care -- many of whom die as a result. It is because of the indoctrination of children that we have adults who so vehemently deny scientific facts, and choose as a result to ignore them and embrace fanaticism.
So while it's great that "churchgoing" is on the decline in Britain, it is misleading, because mosques and temples are left out. If "churchgoing" were expanded to include these, I wonder what the results of this survey would then become? Also, if it is true that religious fundamentalism is on the rise, then only a simultaneous increase in "liberal" religious viewpoints -- vocal ones -- can offset the fundamentalism, and only the "moderate" religious group's vocal distancing from the "fundamentalist" group's more radical positions will slow them down at all.
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Stan
I'm a brit myself so i can offer a little perspective. We in Europe have much greater immigration from muslim nations than you Americans do. The increase in Islam and Hindu worshippers is not due to converts. Its due to large numbers of immigrants. Some sections of our right wing press get themselves all frothy at the mouth over this.
Hindus, quite honestly aren't a problem. Along with the Sihk's you couldn't ask for more peaceful neighbours. Sure, superstitious thinking is ignorance wherever you find it, but i've not seen Hindus or sihks (outside of whacko cults like the Hari Krishnas) proselytizing. Most Indian families in Britain are hard working and middle class. Same with the Sihks.
Muslims are a different matter. We have a huge group of different muslims here. Some are fine, some are not. Finsbury Park mosque in London in particular is a hotbed of fundy nutcases and terrorist sympathizers. Omar Bakri and Abu Hamza were both frequent faces there. On the other hand, we have a number of very moderate groups here too.
We have lots of immigration from Muslim regions of Africa and in Pakistan here. I used to live in inner city Bradford, a very heavily muslim, pakistani area.
It does concern me that with the Church of England being so spineless, our main religious aggitators are muslim. We have a potentially huge problem building here. The 7/7 bombers were all English born pakistani lads. They had all lived here their whole lives. They did the tube and bus bombings as a retaliation against the Iraq war.
Our government has made several very foolish moves regarding religion, ad several encouraging ones too.
We allow devout millionaires to fund schools and partially set their curriculum, hence he Peter Vardy schools teaching creationism. But we also told the religious groups (including the CoE) where to go when they wanted exemptions from a new law to allow them to discriminate against gays.
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