In other words, are you saying that even in the 1950s there were no real Christians among cathedral choristers in the UK and when they acted like Christians (in the presence of adults), it was only make-believe? Not even one boy on the island (chorister or non-chorister) said: “What you are trying to do is sinful and you may go to hell because of this.”
I must compare this with tragic circumstances in the Middle East where a few years ago a Christian boy was captured by ISIS. They wanted him to convert to Islam, but he chose martyrdom.
If this book is an accurate portrait of British private schools and society in the 1950s, it means that Western civilization was dying much earlier than we usually tend to think (and gay “marriage” and LGBT+ problems are just late symptoms of this dying process).
And writing praying before meals, doesn't do a anything at all for the plot; especially since all of the other prayers ( at bed time, etc., weren't included in the story either.
What's a "real Christian" anyway? Are people who don't pray before every meal, but who follow the tennents of Christianity NOT "real" Christians? SAYS WHO ?
I doubt that you know anything at all about what any Brit PUBLIC ( what they call private schools there ) school was like in the 1950s or earlier, let alone what the general public was like back then, either.
And no, "WESTERN CIVILIZATION" wasn't "dying" in the '50s.
The UK still had laws on the books that criminalized homosexuals acts, cross dressing, and even homosexual men wearing eye makeup. So forget about your same sex marriage ( an oxymoronic term ) worries.
* Almost every single private boarding school, in the UK, in the 195s had extremely rigid rules and schedules, back then, with cathedral choir ones having even more stringent ones!
At the beginning of the book, you see that, as the boys still keep to the behavior they were used to and act as one cohesive group ( almost like a military platoon! ), unlike the other boys, who were not a part of that group. Still and all, all of the boys are very "civilized" and organized. It is the descent, throughout the book, of almost all of the boys ( except for Ralph and Piggy ), who become wild, unthinking savages. And THAT is the whole theme of the book!
Well, if your idea is that bullying and buggering in England in the 50s signalled the end of civilization, what do you make of the 19th century novel “Tom Brown’s Schooldays” which also presented evil running amok in public schools. The character of Flashman is the evil bully in that one. Interestingly, that character became the hero in a series of 20th century novels written by...someone named MacDonald, I think. No Pardons may remember. Cruelty in English public schools is a stable of both literature and films and says very little about end times, I’m afraid.
I imagine the all-female Lord of the Flies is going to bomb like the female Ghostbusters.