Posted on 06/27/2009 8:50:42 PM PDT by ozguy
Britain is no longer a Christian nation and the Church of England could die out within a generation, an Anglican bishop has warned.
The Rt Rev Paul Richardson said declining church attendance and the rise in multiculturalism meant that "Christian Britain is dead".
He criticised his fellow bishops for failing to appreciate the scale of the crisis and warned that their inaction could seal the Church's fate.
The General Synod, the Church's parliament, will next month consider proposals to cut the number of bishops and senior clergy amid fears over the Church's finances.
Writing for The Sunday Telegraph, Bishop Richardson said: "Many bishops prefer to turn their heads, to carry on as if nothing has changed, rather than face the reality that Britain is no longer a Christian nation.
"Many of them think that we are still living in the 1950s – a period described by historians as representing a hey day for the established church."
He said that the Church had lost more than one in ten of its regular worshippers between 1996 and 2006, with a fall from more than one million to 880,000.
"At this rate it is hard to see the church surviving for more than 30 years though few of its leaders are prepared to face that possibility," said Bishop Richardson.
(Excerpt) Read more at telegraph.co.uk ...
Everyone has faith in something.
“Master of the Obvious” poster goes here.
I wouldn’t be surprised to see England divest itself pretty soon of even ceremonial links to its once prominent and influential church. This could prove a Good Thing for the church itself, as it would not have no more occasion to nod and wink at its notoriously naughty royalty.
would not have no more => would have no more
typo (i ain’t no user of double negatives)
The UK Agnlican Church is merely reaping what they have sowned via abandoning their Covenant with the Lord, even this article bears that out.
The “Church” is meant to obey the Lord, and to teach others to do so, not whine about declining numbers.
The word “Duh” comes to mind...
Of course, America is also a post-Christian nation - yet many here refuse to recognize it!
2nd religion in America is Obama.
I believe I will have a beer.
Now that is a response worthy of acknowledgement. Have one for me as well. ;-)
Private participation in US churches, as compared with almost any other country, appears to show that this obituary is a bit premature. What is gone is virtually any vestige of government acknowledgment of religious mores.
Even the British picture isn’t so dim as this bishop would paint it. He’s only looking at the Church of England. If he counted in Catholics, Lutherans, Baptists, Presbyterians, etc. (in general, those churches that hold to an orthodox view of the bible) the numbers would be much higher.
Martin Luther would agree, though the Baptists would be aghast. Down a big foamy one Saturday night, then get up on Sunday morning for worship on the Lord’s Day.
This is too funny!The Church of England has had less to do with Christianity than an atheist for years. How would the Bishop know.
Its interesting, the common thread, historically, throughout the G7 has been displaced, so I have to assume that globally we have entered into a period of decline.
The free industrialized west is being displaced not through invention or innovation, however the opposite... just displaced demographically by a backwards cult demanding rights from a generous group of people. The Christians.
Britian is no longer an ANGLICAN nation. Seems the bishop confuses the “Church of England” with Christianity as a whole. There are large numbers of devout Christians in England. They just tend to be Catholics and other Protestants rather than the “official” religion of the nation. Guess Henry VII’s efforts to start a religion so he could divorce another wife didn’t work out that well 500 years later.
“Christian Britain is dead”.
John 15:6
If anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned.
I fail to see how anyone can look at the culture of America, and conclude anything but we are a post-Christian nation. If sincere Christians were anywhere close to 50%, there is no way the nation would be like it is today.
“There are large numbers of devout Christians in England. “
I lived in England from ‘89-92. For your statement to be accurate, a massive revival must have taken place.
Generous and, I’m afraid, stupid. This is nothing new under the sun. Jews did it before them in pre-Christian days, dozens of times. Even now we see ostensibly Jewish elements in Israel who don’t want that country to be.
Keep in mind that you are viewing most of this through the eyes of the Big Secular Media.
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