OPINION
Death of Christian Britain? It’s good that people are turning away from church
We are becoming more informed and thinking more critically about the formal institutions scaffolding our country
The Church of England is making headlines for all the wrong reasons this week. Again. This time it’s a “landmark survey” of CofE clergy that has kicked up a spiritual stink.
According to The Times, which commissioned the survey, three quarters of CofE vicars say Britain can no longer be described as a Christian country.
Twelve hundred serving CofE priests were surveyed, which translates to around 6 per cent of the church’s active clergy. Fifty-three per cent of respondents want the CofE to start marrying gay couples (a striking reversal from a similar survey in 2014). Sixty-three per cent want the CofE to drop opposition to pre-marital sex. And 65 per cent want to drop opposition to gay sex.
The church’s front line, it seems, understands what senior clergy do not: religion, like culture and social values, is dynamic. Time cannot stand still and neither can the church. The CofE is not an institutional version of Miss Haversham – no matter how dusty the pews.
Mathew Guest, professor in the sociology of religion at Durham University, says: “The Church of England has been in persistent decline in terms of its membership and regular attendance since reliable records were first available.” And yet many commentators were quick to co-opt the survey’s findings to fit a culture war narrative.
It’s easy, and lazy, to point the finger at those pesky wokeists with their absurd ideas about civil rights and social equality. Yes, public attitudes to sex might be becoming more liberal, but the church has more problems than its old-fashioned and discriminatory attitudes to gender and sexuality. The Church of England’s historic response to child abuse alone is enough to put anyone off.
Many social media commentators, appalled at the survey findings and the idea that attitudes to gay marriage and sexual morals might become more progressive, reacted with outrage. The church shouldn’t pander to the wokeist agenda! The Bible says clearly that homosexuality is wrong! Jesus was a rebel who was prepared to be unpopular – why isn’t the CofE following his lead! Don’t deny or compromise the true Christian teachings for the sake of a non-believing general public! Respectfully, my friends, that’s a load of old rubbish.
Dr Christopher Greenough, a reader in social sciences at Edge Hill University in Ormskirk, Lancashire, specialises in religion and sexualities. He says that no one should be surprised by the survey’s findings. “For Christianity to survive in the contemporary world, it must evolve,” he says.
According to Greenough, that evolution “is an expansion of the tradition, rather than an undermining of it”. He gives short shrift to those resisting progressive attitudes to same sex relationships: “Those who object to such change want to see Christianity as a relic, rather than a dynamic living faith. LGBTQ+ Christians, amidst constant debates about the acceptance of their genders and sexualities, demonstrate the strong perseverance of faith that is an example to all Christians.”
Dr Meredith Warren, senior lecturer of biblical and religious studies at the University of Sheffield, agrees that religious teachings evolve. There isn’t – and never has been – one “true” set of biblical teachings. “The idea that holding certain views about society or history makes a person more or less Christian is absurd,” she says. “There is no one way to read the Bible; there is no one ‘true’ meaning in that sacred text. We know this because of the myriad conflicting ways it’s been interpreted over the past 2,000 years.”
Warren goes on to to say that “arguing that Christians read the Bible ‘incorrectly’ because they support progressive politics is just another right-wing talking point that doesn’t hold water”.
Those lamenting the death of Christian Britain can dry their tears. The fact that more people in the UK are turning away from the established church is a good thing. It demonstrates a refusal to accept the imposed assumptions and values of a privileged institution.
Most importantly, it suggests that the public are resisting a system that has shown an astonishing lack of accountability and self-awareness. We are becoming more informed and thinking more critically about the formal institutions scaffolding our country.
Katie Edwards is a former academic at the University of Sheffield, specialising in the effect and influence of the Bible on contemporary culture
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