My best friend moved to England about 4 years ago, and yesterday he called. In the middle of discussing British food (lol) he brought up the fact that lots of the old churches he used to know are now being used as pubs and restaurants, simply because no one could afford to restore them.
Isn't it ironic how the fate of a religion is so deeply determined by money?
2007-02-14 07:11:00 · 13 answers · asked by Anonymous in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
I think it's marvellous. I'm proud that the UK is pioneering the way to a new age of reason and enlightenment.
2007-02-14 07:16:16 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 6⤊ 1⤋
It isn't as simple as that, though with one or two minor exceptions all the Christian congregations in the UK are shrinking significantly, even if counting those with little knowledge of their declared religion who rarely attend church.
However one big cause of redundant churches comes in the population shift in the last 150 years from rural villages to urban centres. There's hardly a village in the country which does not now have a church larger than its population requires, with the financial drain that imposes.
But overall there are many fewer even nominal Christians.
"Overall, Sunday churchgoing continues to fall at a rate of 2.3 per cent a year, an improvement from the 2.7 per cent decline in the 1990s but still a very alarming slide. Just 6.3 per cent of the population is now in church on Sunday"
2007-02-14 08:02:18 · answer #2 · answered by Pedestal 42 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
You're making a cause and effect connection where there is none.
The churches didn't die out for lack of money, exactly. They died out because people had no use for them. So few people go to mass.
The irony is that England launched many Crusades against the Muslims to recapture the Holy Land, and now they don't even care about the religion that caused the conflict.
Christianity won the battle, but the Muslims eventually won the war.
2007-02-14 08:52:49 · answer #3 · answered by pachl@sbcglobal.net 7 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Religion has been manipulated for so long by those in power as a tool of control. Now that the average man has obtained a degree of differentiating power between truth and fiction, religion is now taking a back seat. But the "veils" of deception is still quite thick. Who,when, how we can penetrate to the truth again seems to be shrouded in the "unknown:God?"
2007-02-14 07:36:22 · answer #4 · answered by spiritseeker2 1 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Some of my English friends contend that the largest gathering of atheists is to be found in the Anglican church. But it's not so much that Christianity is dying in England. After all, they are fond of tradition. It's just that in most civilized nations, especially in those with a high standard of living, religion is not the obsession we find in the U.S.
2007-02-14 07:24:08 · answer #5 · answered by JAT 6 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Good riddence to bad rubbish.
Hopefully, though, the pubs and restaurants are maintaining the purely historic value of the church buildings such as any stained glass and the architecture though.
2007-02-14 07:18:59 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 3⤊ 0⤋
Hopefully it means we're slowly evolving to a new age of enlightenment instead of being shackled to 2000 year old superstitions.
2007-02-14 07:18:18 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 3⤊ 0⤋
Think about all the cheap office and warehouse space that will be available as the mega-churches die off.
2007-02-14 07:28:54 · answer #8 · answered by Joe 2 · 2⤊ 0⤋
the sooner it dies in england the better not a lot of people got to church anyway it will not be missed i live there
2007-02-14 07:16:06 · answer #9 · answered by andrew w 7 · 5⤊ 0⤋
Here's to the Brits, keep up the good work!
2007-02-14 07:19:08 · answer #10 · answered by Murazor 6 · 3⤊ 0⤋