Astonishing decline of Christianity in Britain

by slimboyfat 41 Replies latest jw friends

• 

  slimboyfat

  Well the results of the English Church Census for 2005 have just recently been published by Peter Brierley in a book called Pulling out of the Nose Dive.

  It shows that church attendance in England continues to decline at an amazing rate. First I will just give the bottom line figures, then I will add some other interesting facts and figures. The results for the previous censuses and the most recent one are as follows for church attendance on Sunday in England:

  1979 ---- 5,441,000

  1989 ---- 4,742,800

  1998 ---- 3,714,700

  2005 ---- 3,166,200

  And notice that the interval between the censuses has become shorter - meaning that the rate of decline is even greater than it may at first appear. When people talk about the so-called 'decline' of Jehovah's Witnesses (which often turns out simply to mean a slowdown in growth!) it is good to keep in mind what real decline in religious participation involves - and it is a phenonmenon affecting mainline Christianity in Britain to a far greater extent than Jehovah's Witnesses. Consider, if Jehovah's Witnesses had declined since 1979 in the same way as Christian groups as a whole their figures would have been as follows:

  1979 ---- 77,634

  1989 ---- 67,542 (actual figure: 117,058)

  1998 ---- 52,682 (actual figure: 131,981)

  2005 ---- 44,780 (actual figure: 127,206)

  Slim
• 

  tetrapod.sapien

  yes, well, britain is part of europe, and europe is going secular pretty fast!

  i find that the memetic evolution of our species, occurs with the greatest rapidity in places where the theory of evolution is regarded with the high esteem it deserves. if a lot of people do not believe in evolution in the first place, then they are going to try to keep things the way they have always been, instead of taking responsibility for their minds and growing as humans.

  simply put, the cultural niche that the meme of xianity once filled so well, is changing SO fast, that the meme is not adapting fast enough, hence the decline.

  also, is not charles darwin appearing on the ten pound note? this should say something about the liberal forces in a country, imho.

  tetra
• 

  frankiespeakin

  It appears that the God of the Bible myth is going the way of all other ancient myths like Mars, Apollo, and Baals, to the trash heap of onces beleived superstitions.
• 

  Clam

  Good points Tetra and yes Darwin has been on the tenner since 2000. It still reminds me a bit of old Charles Taze though.
• 

  Warlock

  also, is not charles darwin appearing on the ten pound note?

  Wow, I never knew that. I wonder what would have been the response if they tried to put a picture of Jesus on it?

  Warlock
• 

  slimboyfat

  You would have a hard job proving Jesus was British first.
• 

  jgnat

  Mainstream, maybe....

  www.alpha.org

  http://www.24-7prayer.com/

  http://www.churchsociety.org/crossway/documents/Cway_087_Otherstatistics.pdf
• 

  tetrapod.sapien

  Wow, I never knew that. I wonder what would have been the response if they tried to put a picture of Jesus on it?

  incredulity as to the real nature of the man on the bill?

  but i see what you mean.

  peace,

  tetra
• 

  slimboyfat

  Jgnat,

  Actually, those figures include all Christian groups, only excluding non-Trinitarians: Jehovah's Witnesses, Mormons and a handful of others.

  There are a few very small evangelical groups that have modest increases, but those increases are far and away outweighed in the overall figures by the dramatic decrease in Christian groups as a whole.

  Alpha is a failure, and the other initiatives too. They brought some into the churches for novelty value, but most of those have since stopped attending.

  Slim
• 

  jgnat

  Huh? Alpha a failure? It's still going strong in this neck of the woods.

  slimboyfat, your relentless pursuit of a single message reminds me of....Tokyo Rose.