{"id":116912,"date":"2022-12-01T09:00:16","date_gmt":"2022-12-01T14:00:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kendallharmon.net\/?p=116912"},"modified":"2022-12-01T17:34:30","modified_gmt":"2022-12-01T22:34:30","slug":"ian-paul","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kendallharmon.net\/?p=116912","title":{"rendered":"(Pzephizo) Ian Paul–Is Britain no longer a \u2018Christian\u2019 country?"},"content":{"rendered":"

The census was of \u2018religious attitudes<\/strong>\u2018, and not religious practice, so there was no question here about any kind of attendance. This leads to some key observations.<\/p>\n

First, there is a large disparity between those identifying as \u2018Christian\u2019 and actual regular attendance at churches, on Sundays or midweek. C of E regular attendance is around 850,000, and (according to the work of Peter Brierley) this represents around a quarter of all attendance, which would then be 3.4 million, or just under 6% or the population. That attendance figure is a small part of the 27.5 million identifying as \u2018Christian\u2019.<\/p>\n

(An interesting comparison is football viewing and attendance. In 2020\/21, a record breaking 26.8m people or 40% of the population\u00a0watched a live Premier League match<\/a>\u00a0at some point during the year. During football season match days,\u00a0total attendance at matches of the first four divisions<\/a>\u00a0is 720,000\u2014so the Christian faith is still far more popular, in terms of commitment and affiliation, than football!)<\/p>\n

So the question is, what did people mean by saying they identified as Christian? For some, they will be aware of the heritage of Christian values which has shaped our culture\u2014but I suspect for most, particularly those who are older, the term is effectively equivalent to \u2018decent\u2019, \u2018moral\u2019, \u2018respectable\u2019, or even \u2018traditional British\u2019.<\/p>\n

This is very different from any reasonable working definition of \u2018Christian\u2019. In the gospels, it is clear that the core of Jesus\u2019 message is \u2018The time has come, and the kingdom of God is at hand\u2014repent and believe the good news!\u2019 (Mark 1.15<\/a>). We might express this in contemporary terms: \u2018the kingly, ruling presence of God is on its way; change the direction of your life, and trust your life to me.\u2019 St Paul sums up Christian commitment as confessing that \u2018Jesus is Lord\u2019 (Rom 10.9<\/a>,\u00a01 Cor 12.3<\/a>), that is to say, it is to Jesus we owe the faithful allegiance of our lives as we receive the forgiveness, hope and confidence that he offers through his life, death and resurrection. As an ordained Christian minister, I confess I am much more concerned with how many people are Christian in this sense, than how many tick a box on a census form!<\/p>\n

Read it all<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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Good article, and I think a secular country needs to hear the challenge of this paragraph. https:\/\/t.co\/zzTKST5FFc<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/hZjl79R08C<\/a><\/p>\n

— Phill Sacre (@phillsacre) December 1, 2022<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n