Census data suggests UK faces ‘non-religious future’, say campaigners
The striking census findings – which also show more than 50% of twentysomethings are not religious, compared with under 37% a decade earlier – are expected to fuel debate over whether state schools should still be required to provide “broadly Christian” daily worship, and the role of the Church of England in parliament.
Last week’s rejection by the Church of England of demands to allow clergy to conduct same-sex marriages is likely to further the trend, said Abby Day, a professor of race, faith and culture at Goldsmiths, University of London, who said the church continued to show itself as “radically out of step”.
“Christianity is fading fast because of generational change,” she said. “The baby boomers, the millennials and generation Z are all turning away from Christianity.”
Census figures released in December had already shown England is no longer a majority Christian country, with the biggest factor being the growth of “no religion”.
This outstripped the growth in the Muslim population, which grew from 2.7 million people to 3.9 million in a decade.
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2023...ampaigners
The striking census findings – which also show more than 50% of twentysomethings are not religious, compared with under 37% a decade earlier – are expected to fuel debate over whether state schools should still be required to provide “broadly Christian” daily worship, and the role of the Church of England in parliament.
Last week’s rejection by the Church of England of demands to allow clergy to conduct same-sex marriages is likely to further the trend, said Abby Day, a professor of race, faith and culture at Goldsmiths, University of London, who said the church continued to show itself as “radically out of step”.
“Christianity is fading fast because of generational change,” she said. “The baby boomers, the millennials and generation Z are all turning away from Christianity.”
Census figures released in December had already shown England is no longer a majority Christian country, with the biggest factor being the growth of “no religion”.
This outstripped the growth in the Muslim population, which grew from 2.7 million people to 3.9 million in a decade.
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2023...ampaigners
teachings of the Bible are so muddled and self-contradictory that it was possible for Christians to happily burn heretics alive for five long centuries. It was even possible for the most venerated patriarchs of the Church, like St. Augustine and St. Thomas Aquinas, to conclude that heretics should be tortured (Augustine) or killed outright (Aquinas). Martin Luther and John Calvin advocated the wholesale murder of heretics, apostates, Jews, and witches. - Sam Harris, "Letter To A Christian Nation"
