18 July 2019
Too Much Plant
Lost in the long grass?
By J R Thomas
Last week this column was about the unlikelihood of being on the spot at a time of truly dramatic change. This week is about a change that has happened without most people noticing or caring about it, and if you don’t believe us, try going to your local church next Sunday.
That might not be as easy as you think; if you are Anglican and live in rural England (or Scotland) the chances are the church doors will be closed and a yellowing notice will let you know that services are now monthly. Wales may be able to accommodate you still, though you might find plenty of pews to choose from. There are a few inner city and even suburban churches still bursting at the doors for Sunday worship – usually of an evangelical leaning, but they are pretty rare; many inner city churches are converted to residential or office use (not to wine bars, there are usually covenants preventing such use), the Church of England preferring to emphasise the role of the cathedrals in urban areas; and suburban congregations are pretty thin on the ground.
A recent opinion poll confirmed the trend. The National Centre for Social Research, renewing a poll it has made periodically, says that although 55 percent of respondents believed in some sort of God, only 38% said they were Christian – and astonishingly, perhaps, only 12% identified themselves as members of the Church of England. The comparative figures in 1983 were 66%, and 40%. (7% identified as Roman Catholic, a fall from 10% in 1983, and other denominations accounted for the rest.) The only religion to have increased the number of its adherents was Islam which has gone from 1% in 1983 to 6% now.
A business which had seen the number of customers fall in the way in which Anglicanism has would be very concerned indeed, and you might think a Church run by a senior former businessman, Justin Welby, would be on the case. But no. Dave Male, who is the CofE’s “director of evangelism and discipleship” said that selecting an Anglican option in such a survey is now “an active choice” and that “the Church of England remains at the heart of communities.” Well, Dave, perhaps you need to look at that statement and go out to meet some communities. Catholicism and Islam together (an unlikely combination, we grant you) now has more active supporters than the Church of England. That does not suggest to most citizens that the dear old CofE is at the heart of much. And it also suggests that the formal role of the Anglican church in national and constitutional life is likely to come under increasing threat. How does one justify being the Established church of the land, or have Bishops sitting in the House of Lords, if 88% of the population do not identify themselves as members?
The rapid decline of the church is very evident in the public affirmations of the leaders of our major political parties. It is traditional for all Conservative Party leaders to make a public display of their devoutness. Mrs May, daughter of a rector, being a regular and, without doubt, sincere attender of church services. Mr Blair, in spite of his advisors’ wish that “we don’t do God” struggled publicly with his structure of faith, becoming a Catholic at the end of his term of office; and Gordon Brown, a son of the manse, is also a quietly devout man. But the generation now seeking to lead us think it best to keep quiet about any leanings they might have in the matter of religious faith, maybe horrified by the fate of Lib-Dem leader Tim Farron, perhaps the most able of recent Lib-Dem leaders, who, very publicly, did “do God”, and found it made leading his party impossible . Boris has a complex family history religiously, with recent ancestors who were Anglican, Muslim, and Jewish, highly appropriate for modern Britain, but himself professes nothing publically. Jezza is also silent on any religious leanings saying only that he finds faith interesting. (Jeremy, I find spy novels interesting, but I’m not saying anything about membership of MI6.) Vince Cable also professes no religious affiliation, though he criticised Mr Farron for bringing religion into politics, which probably tells us as much about Vince as it did about Tim. And Mr Farage? He often references Christian standards as those to which we all should aspire, but is a true Brit himself – he says he is a Christian but a long-lapsed church goer (CofE).
This must be the first time in in the last 1700 years or so that none of the nation’s political leaders have expressed religious affiliations – a position which would have almost certainly ruled them out of top jobs in political and social life less than a hundred years ago. Thank God, the Archbishops must think, for Her Majesty and her heir for keeping the faith, though Charles certainly takes a broader view than his ancestors of his role there. (Maybe that is one thing which may bring common ground to our monarchical heir apparent and our Conservative heir apparent.)
We are living beyond the end of Christianity. It may have been the guiding and formal morality of our society almost since, indeed before, the departure of the Romans, but it has moved from mainstream pillar of life to minority eccentricity in a few decades. The question as to what has caused this has already used a lot of printing ink and we do not have space to attempt such a subject here. Scandal has not helped, financial pressures have caused a great retreat from ministry, as the Church has become saddled with the costs of maintaining much expensive but historically and architecturally significant “plant” (the CofE’s word, not ours). Though, it must be said, if it were not for love of that “plant” the number of professing Anglicans would probably fall much more. Leaders who themselves seem to doubt the roots of their faith (step forward the late Bishop of Durham) and are constantly modernising and adjusting to modern mores, and have lost their missionary urge, probably do not much inspire the more traditional faithful – in comparison with Islam which believes in eternal verities. But even those bishops who are clearly of a strong, outgoing, and cheerful belief in their God, such as John Sentamu of York and Richard Chartres, late of London, though personally much loved and strong advocates for Anglicanism, have done little to reverse the decline.
Mankind seems to need religion of some sort, a belief in something, some powerful and external force, some way of achieving a salvation. But Christianity no longer does it for the West. Now our Gods must be gaia, greenness, the earth, the superiority of whales and trees and hen-harriers. Our churches are empty and recovering plastic from beaches is the Sunday worship. Nothing wrong at all with any of this of course, but in a society where Christianity has so long been the mortar which held us all together in common values and standards, we are indeed destroying the ancient plant of our national life, and it remains to be seen whether our new Gods will indeed keep us in good heart.
