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| Homage of the Archbishop of Canterbury at the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II in Westminster Abbey. Source: Royal UK |
The latest release from the ONS Census 2021 reveals that "for the first time fewer than half of people in England and Wales describe themselves as Christian."
The ONS release emphasises that the religion question is voluntary but 94.0% (56.0 million) of usual residents answered the question in 2021, an increase from 92.9% (52.1 million) in 2011.
Wales had a greater decrease in people reporting their religion as “Christian” (14.0 percentage point decrease, from 57.6% in 2011 to 43.6% in 2021) and increase in “No religion” (14.5 percentage point increase, from 32.1% in 2011 to 46.5% in 2021) compared with England and Wales overall.
Following my previous entry a commentator trolled: "Another possibility is the infantile and derogatory nature of the thoroughly unChristian contributors to this site. The rest of us, however few in number, do at least try faithfully to address the injunction to love one another and leave the judging to God."
So what is a Christian? What is love? We are made a Christian at our baptism when we pledge to turn away from sin, reject evil and remain faithful to Christ to the end of our life.
Many of us are challenged for being unchristian because we do not accept the secularisation of Christianity. "All you need is love" say revisionists using the word synonymously for same sex relations despite the various forms of love referred to in the Bible.
Church going has declined because for many it has ceased to have any of the 'otherness' of old. Others continue to attend from habit or to seek affirmation of their life style based on the claim that 'all you need is love'.
The issue is coming to a head.
Warning bells are sounding as the coronation of Charles III approaches. The King's coronation must not be 'woke-fest celebration of so-called modern Britain', former minister Sir Edward Leigh told the Commons. The event must be a 'spiritual one', he said.
Concerns had been expressed following an interview in 2015 whether Charles would be 'Defender of Faith' or 'Defender of The Faith'. This was the response of the then Prince of Wales:
"No, I didn’t describe myself as a defender: I said I would rather be seen as ‘Defender of Faith’, all those years ago, because, as I tried to describe, I mind about the inclusion of other people’s faiths and their freedom to worship in this country. And it’s always seemed to me that, while at the same time being Defender of The Faith, you can also be protector of faiths. It was very interesting that 20 years or more after I mentioned this – which has been frequently misinterpreted – the Queen, in her Jubilee address to the faith leaders, said that as far as the role of the Church of England is concerned, it is not to defend Anglicanism to the exclusion of other religions. Instead, the Church has a duty to protect the free practice of all faiths in this country. I think in that sense she was confirming what I was really trying to say – perhaps not very well – all those years ago. And so I think you have to see it as both. You have to come from your own Christian standpoint – in the case I have as Defender of the Faith – and ensuring that other people’s faiths can also be practised."
The desire to protect freedom of beliefs is laudable but contradictory in part given the nature of some 'religions'. Under Article 9 of the Human Rights Act 'Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief and freedom, either alone or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief, in worship, teaching, practice and observance.'
One has only to read the appeal from Release International to see how Christians are persecuted in Muslim countries. Blasphemy laws are used to persecute Christians in Pakistan while Islamic terrorism is rife in Africa.
One cannot justify defending a political ideology that does not respect the rights of others and mandates the death sentence for apostates.
Breaking the trend in the census results apart from the increase in “No religion”, there were increases in the number of people who described themselves as “Muslim” (3.9 million, 6.5% in 2021, up from 2.7 million, 4.9% in 2011) and “Hindu” (1.0 million, 1.7% in 2021, up from 818,000, 1.5% in 2011).
In 2015 a survey found that Islam was the fastest growing religion in the UK while the Church of England was in decline. "In 1983, the number of people following Islam stood at 0.6% of the population compared to a little under 5% in 2014." It needs no encouragement
In the past, leaders in the UK and in the USA have claimed that Islam is a religion of peace despite all the evidence to the contrary. Many in the Anglican Church follow the same line.
The BBC has already taken the lead in promoting Islam by appointing Muslims as Religion Editors. If this spills over to the coronation of King Charles the Church of England may as well shut up shop now along with the Church in Wales where the 2021 census showed that Wales had a greater decrease in people reporting their religion as “Christian” (14.0 percentage point decrease, from 57.6% in 2011 to 43.6% in 2021).
Postscript [01.12.2022]
From Christian Post: Christians are being butchered in Africa. What are we going to do about it?
"The number of Christians who paid with their lives for their faith was 5,898 in 2022, which is up from 4,761 in 2021, according to the Open Doors USA organization.
"Out of that number, around 4,000 Christians were killed in Nigeria by Islamist groups, such as Boko Haram, Fulani herdsmen, and Ansaru, which teach that Christians should either convert to Islam or die."
What are we going to do about it?
Religious and political leaders can stop endorsing Islam's claim that it is a religion of peace.
If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.
ReplyDelete2 Chron 7:14
I have to challenge the comment "We are made a Christian at our baptism when we pledge to turn away from sin, reject evil .....", for two reasons.
ReplyDeleteFirst, I (and many others) don't believe that baptism "makes us a Christian". It's our faith in Christ which does that: baptism follows as a visible and public sign of that commitment.
Second, in infant baptism, it is not the person being baptised who pledges to turn away from sin. Small children and babies can't do that: at best, their parents and Godparents make that commitment (although one fears that, in many cases, they may not really think through the meaning of their words).
Here here. You become a Christian when you accept Jesus as your personal Lord and saviour. What happens at "infant baptism" matters about as much as what you put on a census form. Maybe one answer to the question should be "I self-identify as a Christian, but haven't actually been to church or read the bible for many years".
DeleteHow curious.
DeleteWhy then do parents of very sickly babies call for a Hospital Chaplain to Baptise their infant as quickly as possible and before the baby dies?
Is that all for nothing, merely a charade?
Because they have been taught (in my view erroneously) that their child will go to Hell/Limbo if not baptised; or that the baptism may bring forth some kind of physical healing. Of course I'm not saying that these parents shouldn't ask for prayer or a blessing, and I'm well aware of the comfort which half-remembered folk religion can bring. Personally I'd be happier to see the sickly child prayed over, anointed with oil and gently commended into God's care, rather than baptism.
DeleteWell, you did ask - and of course it's not a charade!
When I was baptised at six weeks old I was made an inheritor of the Kingdom of God.
DeletePlus Baptism is a Sacrament.
Or do you think that is also erroneous?
Baptists (and some other Nonconformists) prefer to speak of "ordinances" - i.e. "things we have been commanded to do" - instead of "sacraments". And we would not consider such things as being intrinsically efficacious; the spiritual blessing conferred is down to the individual's obedience, concentration and devotion.
DeleteNon conformist.
DeleteEnough said.
Our Lord, when on earth, was not known for conforming. (Neither was his cousin John the Baptist).
DeleteJohn the cousin baptised.
DeleteOur Lord, when on earth, was known to "Suffer little children to come unto me" .
Indeed he did. But he didn't baptise them (or anyone). Norndid John - he baptised people who were consciously turning away from sin, which seems to rule out infants.
DeleteIndeed so. But he didn't baptise them (or anyone else!)
DeleteJohn did of course baptise - but only people who had made a conscious decision to turn from sin and to God. That to me rules out small children and babies.
How do you know either way, were you present?
DeleteIt seems just as likely to me that entire families were converted and baptised at the same time, either by John the Baptist or subsequently by the disciples and their successors.
That, if I may so so, is a huge (and in my view unjustified) inference. All I can say is that the Bible tells only of John baptising individual people who asked for it; it doesn't tell of Jesus baptising anyone. As far as I recall, the only recorded instance in the Bible of household/family baptism is the Philippian jailer story, and even there we don't know exactly who was baptised.
DeleteIf "render unto Caesar what is Caesar's" isn't conforming then I don't know what is.
DeleteSimilarly, if throwing the money changers out of the Temple in Jerusalem isn't conforming with the Ten Commandments and the will of God, then I don't know what is.
If telling the whore "Your sins are forgiven, go and sin no more" isn't conforming with the Ten Commandments and the will of God then I don't know what is.
Those challenged by Yeshua were the Sadducees, Pharisees, priests and Rabbis who were more concerned with their own status and power, playing local politics with the Romans whilst leading the people astray.
Just like the current crop of plonkers on the planks in Wales and England.
Hurrah and hooray.
ReplyDeleteDown with the Cult in Wales and the Church of England.
Let's hear it for the original Celtic religion and the Druids. 😂
There are more Jedi Knights in Wales than Christians 😂 😂 😂
ReplyDeleteThe decline of Christianity in England and Wales along with the rise of the "nones" shows us the power of the zeitgeist, the media, the government, and spiritual powers all of which are dead set on silencing the Gospel.
ReplyDeleteEphesians 6:10-20 (ESV) Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm. Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and, as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace. In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one; and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end, keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints, and also for me, that words may be given to me in opening my mouth boldly to proclaim the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains, that I may declare it boldly, as I ought to speak."
That's all very well and good UP, but nobody is reading it anymore.
DeleteThey've all been put off by the useless Bishops of the last fifty years.
Speaking of the zeitgeist.
Deletehttps://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-63837761
Mermaids "charity" is under formal investigation.
The PC BBC describes as the "leading" transgender charity in the UK.
Notorious might be a more apt description.
ReplyDelete@undergroundpewster
You must remember UGP that Paul wrote most or all of his Ephesian outbursts as an angry old chap from prison (hence Prison Epistles AD 61-65) where he was embittered and felt particularly hard done by. Not unnaturally, he screamed out - in his anger against incarceration and lack of 'privileges' - against all Authority.
There are still today, in high security prisons in Britain and around the world, who sneak letters out calling, as Paul did, for supporters to rise up against Rulers and all Authorities; put on your helmets and extinguish the evil ones etc. All very war-mongering stuff but of much the same language as that used by incarcerated ISIS/ISIL or Daesh terrorists or in my day, the IRA at Parkhurst and Wandsworth prisons, but of course without the modern add-ons of 'firebomb the b*ggers' or ridding Capitol Hill of Speakers and Rulers. Same message though eh.
He also sent 'cc' to the Colossians and Philemon but there is no record of him every getting any reply.
Yes, there was a lot of good stuff in Paul's Eph. Just a pity you chose that part which calls out which read in modern context calls for us to 'take up arms'.
Still, what's to be expected. Sewage runs underground doesn't it?
Old Bill
Old Bill needs to stop drinking the Kool-Aid.
DeleteOld Bill would do well to remember underground sewers have only existed since the Victorian era.
DeletePreviously, most excrement ran in the middle of the "streets".
💩💩
The census results remind me of a story I read some years ago of a package being sent to "Christians (Solicitors), Wales". An employee at the Post Office wrote on the package, "Sorry, no Christians in Wales, try London".
ReplyDeleteSeymour
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-63792911
ReplyDeleteThe tree eater in St. Asaph spouts more drivel.
How much longer before he follows Caiaphas and waddles off into the sunset?
Bewildered
Not soon enough.
Deletehttps://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-63825611
ReplyDeleteMouse droppings found in the House of Commons.
Rat droppings, surely??
🤣
On a positive note......most people now only put Christian on the census if they are genuinely.....years ago everyone who had no connection to religion ticked Christian.
ReplyDeleteHaving said that.....nowhere in the world where the Church has gone down the political and woke route....has growth. Neither do denominations with massive areas (like ministry areas).....
why is the CiW coping Methodism?
Just look at the mega Churches, full of young people and they are offering Biblical based teaching in a modern, loving setting.
“Loving” ? Not if you are gay. The mega churches are not good news for queers.
DeleteDD
All Churches are good news for all sinners who wish to repent of their evil ways and renounce their sins and the devil.
DeleteThe real problem is that the queers want to have their sins blessed and be told it's all ok just to carry on.
God does not bless sin and it is not ok to carry on.
"Your sins are forgiven, go and sin no more".
If you want to carry on with your journey on the highway to hell that's your choice, but don't expect the rest of us to pat you on the back, and tell you all will be well as you do so.
@ UndergroundPewster [30/11/22)
ReplyDelete@ Exodus [01/12/2022)
Irrelevant as the topic of 'underground sewers' is to AB themes, you are both as ignorant of civil engineering history as UP is about the scriptures and St. Paul's letters sent from prison. No underground sewerage systems prior to Queen Victoria!!!?
What bullsh*t. Roman sites abound with them especially those excavated and now visible in modern Turkey. But the Romans were not the pioneers of underground sewage systems. They simply copied and perhaps slightly improved on the underground sewage and waste-water networks commonly laid by the Persians, Athenians, Macedonians and Greeks. Long, long, long before HM Victoria and Thomas Crapper. There were even some laid beneath the streets of London shortly after the Plague; one still almost intact in London EC2 leading into the old River Fleet and thus into the Thames - long before Victoria.
But only recently unearthed - Gulf War II and unearthed by a US Air Force bomb - the remarkable brick-lined, water-flushed network of underground sewage channels now visible and being archaeologically excavated in Eshnunnia some 50 miles North of Baghdad, Iraq. I appreciate that Queen Victoria lived a long, long time; but surely she didn't date back to +/- 2,500 BC; the dating of this engineering find. Come off it chaps. Before whacking in your 'I know better' critiques of others' AB comments, do your homework!
No need for apologies. Just read, learn and inwardly digest. (And actually, the technology of flushing toilets pre-dates Thomas Crapper who took the credit). But underground sewage systems? Certainly 2,500 BC ... We're not even 2,500 AD !
Toodle-loo.
Old Bill
Apologies for my delayed response but I was away over the weekend visiting distant family pre-Christmas.
DeleteAlso a second apology if it was unclear that I was referring to the British Isles.
An off wealthy Roman might have had a short sewer installed in their villa at the same time as their underfloor hypocaust heating system but 99,999% of the population here knew little of underground sewers until the Victorians built them in London etc.
Indeed, my grandparents in the Rhymney valley were stuck with an outhouse at the end of the garden (a pit dug in the ground, covered by a plank of wood with an oval shaped hole in it enclosed by a wriggly tin shed) until well after WWII. From habit, they kept a Po under their bed for night time use until their deaths in the mid 1970s - I can still see it now, gloss black glaze with pink roses and gold coloured trim. 😂
None of that fangled Turkish nonsense here!
I'll bet Paul DID have a pot to p*ss in while in prison or just a pile of rat infested straw, but definitely no convenient underground sewers to use.
Delete🤣
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-63795448
ReplyDeleteVicar in tears every Monday evening over free meals for the poor and homeless.
List of places providing free food on Christmas day. Llandaff, Radyr, the entire Vale of Glamorgan and the RB in their Callaghan Square Penthouse don't feature on the list.
One might be forgiven for thinking that Llandaff Cathedral doesn't have a nice new £30,000 kitchen stood idle in the Prebendal House.
Not forgetting the £20,000 Aga in the Llandaff Deanery kitchen.
DeleteDick the Dean and Teilo the dog will be well fed and warm but to hell with the homeless.
The one consolation is that the Capon won't be warming his slippers on his illgotten gains this winter.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-63754846
DeleteSome poor blighters in Cardiff are allegedly resorting to surviving on pet food and heating food with candles.
How much of the £100 million giveaway is being used where it is actually needed?
Randy Pandy, Gluttonous Gregory and DodoJo won't be going without, that's for certain!
No fodder on offer in Bangor either Lux Et Veritas. But even worse; rumour has it there will be no Nativity crib scene at the cathedral either. Yep, they have sheep aplenty, a few dusty old nodding donkeys but what they lack are Three Wise Men ... not even one !!! (or even a Sunday School to appreciate it).
ReplyDeleteThe sheep aplenty? Are these the ones rustled from other sheepfolds across the Menai Straits, Ad Clerum?
DeleteSeymour
Magi not required until 6th January and will arrive from the East so they're probably just about to set out from somewhere in Norfolk, in good time to avoid the train strikes.
DeleteNo Seymour. God put paid to Anglesey farm-boy Sion ap Rhys barnpot idea of pilfering congregants from Ynys Mon Welsh community to justify his wheezes by sending down thunderbolt to close the Menai Bridge. The sheep I refer to are the human types who simply follow whatever they're told to follow without question. And Dick Pickles? Yep, agreed. But the Wise Men who are no longer are those not from the East but who have fled West ... resigned in droves from the Diocese of Bangor to England to escape the madness of +Andrew and his 'sheep' and Nodding Donkeys.
ReplyDeleteAd Clerum.
Last time I checked, England was to the North, East, and South of Bangor with Ireland to the West. Have I missed some shuffling of Dioceses or something?
DeleteSpot on Mr. Pickles. Boy Scout trained eh? I was standing on my head doing my Yoga exercises while typing hence mistake. Noticed my own error too late to change it. Happy Christmas.
Deletehttps://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-63848998
ReplyDeleteNow it seems those responsible for policing Plod are not to be trusted.
Interesting letter in today's telegraph......is this what follows on logically from ministry areas?
ReplyDelete.........The Church of England authorities are considering a complete overhaul of the organisation of the Church to make it more streamlined and efficient.
The proposal is to dispense with the parish system, the bedrock of the Church for centuries, in favour of a much more business-like approach – a team of ministers in each diocese.
The Leicester Diocese proposes a team of approximately 20 ministers to cover 234 parishes.
By how many Bishops will the establishment be depleted?
DeleteHow many Dioceses will be merged into Episcopacy regions? 🤔
The way things are going in Wales there will soon be no priest, vicars or Rectors. There will be so few clergy they will all be Canons, Archdeacons, Deans or Bishops, all with extra non-job titles attached.
DeleteThe reality is, Danny, that that's the way it has already become even without mention in the Daily Telegraph. Up in the Diocese of Bangor, the only time one encounters a priest outside his or her half-hearted turn-out to Sunday chores is to officiate at funerals and weddings ... for which of course, they take their financial cuts.
ReplyDeleteBut also in today's Press the advance speech of Rowan Williams who begs that those who object to same-sex marriages ought not to be demonised. Have pity on them sort of thing. Is he bonkers? Surely the begging he ought to be making is quite the reverse. Those who promote same-sex marriage should be forgiven their beliefs.
Was it Rowan who quit as world leader of the Anglican Church because he couldn't confront the tsunami of rebellion from his African and many American Evangelical bishops on matters of gay bishops and same-sex marriages. He didn't want to be the Lambeth primate overseeing the split so packed his bags and headed off back to academia. Bit like that other retired turn-coat George Carey. At least Barry Morgan simply headed off to the Golf course. For now at least ...
Old Bill
Oh, please. Take their “financial cuts?”. Some clerics have never taken the financial “cuts” because they realise that, actually, those who have given throughout their Christian life shouldn’t be ‘charged’ for the privilege of being married or buried. Drop the generalisation please and STOP broad brushing the whole of us.
DeletePriest with a conscience.
I think you will find that the financial ‘cut’ is to subsidise a stipend and go somewhere to provide a living wage. There are some clergy who won’t take their fee for certain funerals and weddings but I think most do most of the time. And why shouldn’t they. The preparation time for both weddings and funerals can be immense. In England fees are assigned but not here in Wales.
DeleteCAB
You both missed my point - in fact neither of you (Priest with a conscience) and CAB - probably read it correctly. I actually said that priests "quite rightly" take their 'cuts'; no mention from me that they oughtn't to.
ReplyDeletePoint I made was outside Sunday church services, that's the only time most of us get to see them. Goodness only knows what they do for the rest of the time except presumably attend clergy conferences, take sabbaticals, tour France and Spain on 'pilgrimages' bicker among each other and for many take on 'second jobs' Certainly no parochial pastoral caring, home visits, etc. of yore.
Perhaps with diocese like Leicester, just one need be appointed to be totally dedicated to funerals and weddings, leaving the rest to crack on with the needs of the flock. The God Work.
Old Bill.
Er ... I don't think you did say "quite rightly". And the post did seem to imply criticism of said priests, to my reading at least.
DeleteOk: 'for which of course they ...' In my mind that was 'rightfully'. Pedantics are hardly top of my 'priorities' list Baptist Trainfan dear chap. You get the gist ... where are our (Anglican) priests and what do they do to serve their communities between Sundays?
ReplyDeleteOld Bill
Thanks ... and, of course, it's a good question for all of us in Christian ministry!
ReplyDeleteA very good question, as I step out to difficult work in the frost. On the Green - 3 priests and a 'Director of Ordinands' imminent, usually a Bishop and Chaplain, office staff. Visiting priests often 'help out' at a Eucharist. And then we're asked to pray for them in their ministry.
ReplyDeleteLW
I much prefer the C of E system where all clergy are paid more and fees go back to HQ. This stops the unfair system of one Priest earning far more than another when they both might be equally busy but one visiting parishioners while the other serves the wider community in funeral visits.
ReplyDeleteWhen we were lived in England the lay reader did most of the funerals as he had a particular flair for it plus time to visit families before and afterwards, for many months/years if required.
I think you're overlooking the obvious flaw.
DeleteA hard working, good and well-liked incumbent is more likely to attract young couples to his church to get married and subsequently baptise their children as well as requests from the elderly to help plan for, and officiate at, their funerals.
However, if you happen to be stuck with a completely idle unpopular dud, as has happened at Llandaff Cathedral more than once in recent years, the opposite is the case.
I have no difficulty with the popular and diligent earning wedding and funeral fees and the indolent slackers going without.
The same applies to an Easter offering.
The objections to Bonaparte receiving his final £4,500 Llandaff Easter offering was that he did so at a time when he was running the Cathedral at an £85k-£90k deficit and that (according to Anna Morrell) the sum was not given in the plate on Easter Sunday by pew sitters but calculated according to some formula (that remains concealed to this day) and the false claim that Easter offerings had been stopped throughout the Diocese, which was a barefaced lie (nothing new for Diocese or Church in Wales)!
Sir
ReplyDeleteI wonder what the consequences of the collapse of Christianity will be?
Given that Christianity holds:
1. All men are made in the image of God (equality before the law (Magna Charta));
2. That there is a resurrection of the dead (eternal destiny);
3. All will appear before the Judgement Seat to explain their acts of comission and omission.
Then on what basis can the above influence jurisprudence?
If only man-made law exists then we can argue for:
1. Racialism;
2. Killing babies;
3. Terminating the old, the sick and the frail;
4. Slavery (the majority of men are not fit to govern);
5. Control people's bank accounts on charges of disconformity.
We shall be able to carry all this out with smart hair cuts, ultra-bright white smiles and neatly manicured finger nails.
What an old fart you are Singh. You come out wth Dickensian rubbish.
DeleteDD