….it\u2019s overwhelmingly likely that the children and grandchildren of today\u2019s immigrants will be less religious. Secularism is the dominant cultural force. For Christians, especially, the trends are alarming. If they continue, we are only decades away from complete statistical invisibility and near-total atheism.<\/p>\n
But it would be wrong \u2013 and surely un\u2011Christian \u2013 to give in to fatalism, or to the Marxist historical view that we are subject to vast, impersonal forces and can\u2019t do a thing to resist them. There are points of light scattered about and reasons for hope.<\/p>\n
For a start, young people become parents \u2013 and when they do, they\u2019ll find faith schools dominating the league tables and achieving the best results for their children. They may even find themselves re-engaging with the Church to win a place at them.<\/p>\n
There is also evidence of an emerging Christian counter-culture. Evangelical churches are springing up, partly thanks to a sympathetic Archbishop of Canterbury. The new Gas Street Church in Birmingham, based in an old warehouse, attracts hundreds each week. Good liturgy \u2013 tambourines for some, the music of Thomas Tallis for others \u2013 is for me the crucial factor. It helps to explain a wonderful fact: attendance at Anglican cathedrals is up over the last decade.<\/p>\n