The perils of organised religion

In March this year the Guardian carried an article 'Christianity as default is gone': the rise of a non-Christian Europe.

It showed that "In the UK, only 7% of young adults identify as Anglican, fewer than the 10% who categorise themselves as Catholic. Young Muslims, at 6%, are on the brink of overtaking those who consider themselves part of the country’s established church."

The figures are published in a report, Europe’s Young Adults and Religion, by Stephen Bullivant, a professor of theology and the sociology of religion at St Mary’s University in London. They are based on data from the European social survey 2014-16.

"According to Bullivant, many young Europeans 'will have been baptised and then never darken the door of a church again. Cultural religious identities just aren’t being passed on from parents to children. It just washes straight off them'.

"The figures for the UK were partly explained by high immigration, he added. 'One in five Catholics in the UK were not born in the UK'.

"And we know the Muslim birthrate is higher than the general population, and they have much higher [religious] retention rates.

"In Ireland, there has been a significant decline in religiosity over the past 30 years, 'but compared to anywhere else in western Europe, it still looks pretty religious', Bullivant said.

“The new default setting is ‘no religion’, and the few who are religious see themselves as 'swimming against the tide', he said."

The BBC recently highlighted a ComRes survey for the Asian Network. It revealed that "On religion, over half of 18-34 year olds in the general population said it wasn't important to them "at all". Just 8% of young British Asians said the same.

"Overall, 46% of British Asians said it was "very important" to them - compared to 12% of the general population."

Christianity is shrinking while Islam expands.

In Anglicanism the reasons are clear. As physical education activities are reduced in schools, sports replace religion on Sundays. Consequently few families attend church.

Also, the Anglican Church which provided the means of expressing one's faith in a structured way in fellowship with others has has been secularized, again resulting in falling attendances as gender politics have replaced spirituality.

Sadly nobody in the church cares about the disaffected. It is good riddance to worshippers who were valued only for their giving.

In Wales, what felt comfortable and familiar is being replaced by an alien structure reminiscent of nonconformity as the bishops tinker with the structure and employ more 'experts' to keep themselves in employment.

Anglican congregations are increasingly identified as elderly. The absence of families means the absence of children needed to maintain continuity. Without young people the church which nurtured past generations is dying.

So the routine ends.

For those whose lives revolved around the church, taking a step back from organised religion results in a significant change in their social lives as well as their spiritual lives.

After supporting the unsupportable for so long, former worshippers no longer have to accept what is served up week by week, often by manipulative clerics with a vested interest in what they preach. Faults projected onto submissive congregations, making them feel guilty and in need of forgiveness.

The problem with organised religion is that congregations are expected to obey the rules regardless of the examples set by those who seek change. Consequently views such as 'the Vicar knows best' or 'I just keep my head down' prevail implying acceptance.

Over the years much has been accepted in silence. Now stories of abuse abound.

Accounts of cruel treatment handed down by the Christian Brothers were accepted with resignation. The so-called care by nuns of "fallen women" in Magdalene laundries amounted to outright cruel exploitation.

That has changed. The Irish no longer fear the Roman Catholic Church as they did in the past.

Many RCs 'escaped' the authoritarianism by becoming 'middle road' Anglicans (catholic and reformed). They find themselves thrust into another quandary now that the Anglican church has departed from the catholic faith.

One Catholic priest who became an Anglican because he could not cope with a vow of celibacy appears to have accepted the whole 'do as you please' secular package. He has been forced to quit after it was discovered that he was having an affair with his married curate. Reminiscent of a former bishop of St Davids and his chaplain, the temptation of mixing with female colleagues can become too much.

"Lead us not into temptation" has clearly become more difficult for some clerics following the ordination of women, even when married.

Where celibacy is the rule temptation is more widespread. In the US state of Pennsylvania it is reported that more than 1,000 children were abused for decades by hundreds of priests and systemically covered up by church officials.

Stories of abuse are rife. They encourage critics to point the finger but it is not the Church. It is the people in it.

Guilt and the forgiveness of sins play a prominent part in organised religion. So much so that young children make up 'sins' so that they have something to confess. Meanwhile the most appalling abuse has been covered up by bishops fearing that the Church would be seen in a poor light!

Abuse is not confined to the clergy.

It was the 'purging of sins' which resulted in an alleged victim of a deceased former Christian charity leader being beaten by him 3,000 times in the shed of the perpetrator's home and at the camps he ran in Dorset for young evangelical Christians.

A confidential report seen by Channel 4 News in 2017 described what it called the “beatings” of 22 young men:

“The scale and severity of the practice was horrific…8 received about 14 thousand strokes: 2 of them having some 8000 strokes over three years,” the document, written in 1982, noted.

"Despite the findings of the report, the Iwerne Trust did not inform the police. Instead, a senior figure in the Iwerne Trust wrote to John Smyth, telling him to leave the country. He went on to live in Zimbabwe, and then South Africa."

Yet another cover up. The reports mount up.

For many Anglicans, supporting the unsupportable is no longer an option so there is a dilemma. For the architects of the dilemma, those who engineered the ordination of women, the answer is simple, go to Rome.

That suggestion shows a total lack of understanding of faith. Many who suggest it are late entrants who 'came to faith' when they saw a convenient opportunity for expanding the feminist movement. That has had dire consequences for the Anglican Church.

It is not a simple process of crossing one's fingers and saying what is necessary. Consequently people of conscience are stuck.

For them the 'catholic and reformed' Anglican Church is their church of choice. It says much about the bishops and those who are responsible for outlawing faithful worshippers that they couldn't care less about those who, effectively, have been excommunicated.

Christianity is under attack. Unless organised religion adapts to accommodate the few remaining Christians 'swimming against the tide' the outlook is bleak.

Predictions indicate that Western Anglicanism has no future. Secularizing the church has been an abysmal failure, surrendering the church to feminism and all the liberal baggage that comes with it.

True Anglicans have been thrown overboard, in Wales without a lifeboat. The mutineers are heading for the rocks.

While Anglican patrimony has been carried over to the Ordinariate, membership is confined to those who promise to accept the teachings of the Roman Catholic Church. That is a big ask for anyone with a questioning mind as illustrated by the revelations detailed above.

Catholics who found that they could not in conscience continue to accept all the teaching of their church and who have become Anglicans along with Anglicans who can no longer accept the teaching of the Anglican Church are left in limbo.

Meanwhile the decline continues. Something has to give.

They still don't get

Memorizing Islamic texts which condemn other religions.                 Telegraph/Photo: REUTERS

"The Education Secretary, Nicky Morgan, has asked officials to review home schooling amid fears that thousand[s] of children are having their minds “filled with poison” by radicalised parents. Between 20,000 and 50,000 children are thought to be educated at home – but the Government has no idea of the exact number because parents are under no obligation to inform their local council.

Ms Morgan has already announced a crackdown on unregistered schools and “weekend madrassas” after some were found to be promoting extremist ideology. But senior government sources have revealed that home schooling is now “on the radar”.... The focus on home schooling highlights growing concern in government over the problem of children being radicalised by religious extremists abusing positions of trust to promote hardline doctrine." [My emphasis - Ed. Full report here.]

From the  Telegraph in 2011: "Several madrassas – religious schools often run by mosques – use “excessively strict approaches to discipline” to keep children in line, it was revealed. Researchers said the imposition of hard-line rules on behaviour instilled a sense of “spiritual fear” in young people, marking them out from mainstream schools.

The study, by the Institute for Public Policy Research, found a number of examples of madrassas actually employing corporal punishment. A ban on physical beatings, including the cane, was introduced in the 1980s. But the legislation does not cover “supplementary schools”, including many madrassas, where lessons are taught for fewer than 12.5 hours per week."

What is being studied? This is the Conclusion from "Peace or Jihad? Abrogation in Islam":

"The issue of abrogation in Islam is critical to understanding both jihad and da'wa, the propagation of Islam. Some Muslims may preach tolerance and argue that jihad refers only to an internal, peaceful struggle to better oneself. Western commentators can convince themselves that such teachings are correct. However, for learned Muslim scholars and populist leaders, such notions are or should be risible. They recognize that, in practice, there is compulsion in Islam. They take seriously the notion that the Qur'an teaches not just tolerance among religions, but tolerance among religions on the terms of Islam. To understand the challenge of the current Islamist revival, it is crucial for non-Muslims and moderate Muslims alike to recognize that interpretation of Islamic doctrine can have two faces, and that the Medinan face may very well continue to overshadow the Meccan face for a major portion, if not the majority, of contemporary Muslims."

Political and religious leaders need to understand that "...everything in the Qur'an about forgiveness and peace is abrogated by verse 9:5 which orders Muslims to fight the unbelievers and to establish God's kingdom on earth." Once that fact is grasped it is evident that the "Islamic extremist" horrors witnessed are carried out according to the texts being studied.

Children in Britain should be educated according to British standards in the British way of life if we are to achieve any sense of integration. There is nothing to be gained by allowing children to memorize that their host nation is inhabited by less worthy creatures (apes and pigs) who deserve to die if they do not convert to Islam.

In the entry, "Why there will be no Merry Christmas wishes from 'ordinary' Muslims", twelve months ago I included video of an Imam explaining that in Islam, wishing each other a "Merry Christmas!" is "worse than fornication, drinking alcohol or killing someone" because Christmas celebrates the Incarnation which is rejected by Muslims along with the Crucifixion.

One has to wonder therefore why the Archbishop of Canterbury welcomed Shia theologians to Lambeth Palace at the culmination of three days of dialogue with Christian theologians. Expressing his appreciation for this dialogue, Archbishop Justin Welby said: "At a time of increasing fear and division in the world, it is ever more important that people of faith, Christians and Muslims, come together to work towards the common good for the betterment of all." What delusion. His sentiments are sound but can not be genuinely reciprocated by Muslims because it is contrary to their beliefs. It would have made more sense if he had followed a predecessor's example and demanded an explanation of why other faiths are persecuted in states where Islam dominates.

As Islam expands and Christianity wanes there is an unsettling change in attitude which regards Islam as fact and Christianity as fiction when there is Incredible Proof for Why You Should Have Faith in the Bible: "There are 16 total historians apart from Scripture that reference Christ. Almost everything about Christ we can find without ever going to the New Testament" and "There's more evidence that Jesus lived than Julius Caesar, yet no one doubts Caesar existed." Islam claims to be authoritative but denies historical evidence.

Christians know that false prophets will test their faith but our faith leaders entertain representatives of a supremacist ideology on an equal level which accords legitimacy to beliefs that, certainly in Christian terms, must be wrong because there is "only one way to the Father". Jesus said, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." There is no ambiguity.

What is needed is not an education system which permits children to memorize texts that demand all to convert or die but one in which faith can be challenged in the same way that Christianity has been challenged and proved to be true. Any faith which can not tolerate scrutiny must be suspect. Denying Muslims the truth is to deny them salvation.

This morning I read "Archbishop of Canterbury supports 'our Muslim brothers and sisters' ". Read The Logic of Islamic Intolerance for an explanation of why such trust is a perilous mistake.