Professor Stephen Bullivant reports on Christianity in Europe
Young people are deserting Christianity across Europe, according to a London Professor. Secularism is the prime beneficiary, according to a new report. However, Muslims are also increasing their numbers through fecundity and tenacity to their faith.
The findings come from Stephen Bullivant, professor of theology at St Mary’s University in Twickenham. Professor Bullivant analysed data for 16- to 29-year-olds from the European social survey 2014-16.
Europe’s young adults
The figures are published in a report, Europe’s Young Adults and Religion. The English Language pdf version is here. A report in the Guardian, with more accessible charts, is here.
Disturbingly, a majority of young people in a dozen countries do not follow any religion.
The survey found the Czech Republic is the least religious country in Europe among the young. 91% of the age group said they have no religious affiliation. Between 70% and 80% of young adults in Estonia, Sweden and the Netherlands also categorise themselves as non-religious.
The most religious country is Poland, where 17% of young adults define themselves as non-religious, followed by Lithuania with 25%.
UK Muslims set to overtake Anglicans
Young Muslims will soon overtake Anglicans
In the UK, only 7% of young adults identify as Anglican. That is fewer than the 10% who categorise themselves as Catholic. Young Muslims, at 6%, will soon overtake their peers in England’s established church.
Young Christians as a whole in the UK are around 22% of their age group. Russia, in the news recently, is doing better, with 41% Christians among the young. Russia also has a slightly larger percentage of young Muslims than the UK.
France has the largest percentage of Muslims in Europe, at around 10%. Only 25% of French young people identify as Christian. The vast majority of those are Roman Catholic, as are the Poles and Lithuanians.
Professor Bullivant said religion across Europe was “moribund”. “With some notable exceptions, young adults increasingly are not identifying with or practising religion.”
The trend was downward. “Christianity as a default, as a norm, is gone, and probably gone for good – or at least for the next 100 years,” Prof Bullivant said.
But there were significant variations, he said. “Countries that are next door to one another, with similar cultural backgrounds and histories, have wildly different religious profiles.” The two most religious countries, Poland and Lithuania, and the two least religious, the Czech Republic and Estonia, are post-communist states.
Practice of religion
Young churchgoers outnumber non-attenders almost four-to-one in Poland.
The trend of religious affiliation was repeated when young people were asked about religious practice. Only in Poland, Portugal and Ireland did more than 10% of young people say they attend services at least once a week.
In the UK attendance was 7%, in France 6% and in Russia 4%, despite many more young people identifying as Christian in the Russian Federation. Estonia was the lowest in attendance. Only 2% of young Estonians go to church at least once a week.
Prayer outside a regular service is more frequent. Fifty percent of young Poles pray weekly or more and 31% of Irish. The same proportion of young Irish 16-29’s say they never pray.
In the UK, 18% of young people pray weekly or more and 63% never. The figures for France are 14% and 65%, while in Russia 14% pray weekly or more and 46% never.
Christianity ‘washes straight off’ children
According to Professor Bullivant, many young Europeans “will have been baptised and then never darken the door of a church again. Cultural religious identities just aren’t being passed on from parents to children. ‘It just washes straight off them.’
Judges 2:10 And also all that generation were gathered unto their fathers: and there arose another generation after them, which knew not the LORD, nor yet the works which he had done for Israel.
The figures for the UK were partly explained by high immigration. “One in five Catholics in the UK were not born in the UK.
Disturbingly, he adds that Islam is only going to expand at the expense of Christianity: “We know the Muslim birthrate is higher than the general population, and they have much higher [religious] retention rates.”
No religion ‘is default’
In another report, Professor Bullivant found almost half of Britons followed no religion. ‘Those who identify as ‘No religion’ … are 48.6% of the British adult population. This is roughly 24.3 million people’ he wrote in The No-Religion population of Britain.
“The new default setting is ‘no religion’, and the few who are religious see themselves as swimming against the tide,” he said. “In 20 or 30 years’ time, mainstream churches will be smaller, but the few people left will be highly committed.”
The importance of our families
Writing in the Catholic Herald, Professor Bullivant proposes a ‘new evangelism.’ However, he suggests: ‘We won’t live to see Europe’s Christian revival – but it will happen’.
Professor Bullivant goes on: ‘Arguably, the primary challenge of the new evangelisation – and the root cause of why it is needed in the first place – is keeping those we already have.’
He stresses the importance to Christianity of the family: ‘The research … points very strongly at how critical the formative years of childhood and young adulthood are for “setting up” a person’s adult religiosity. Unfortunately, that means that, in terms of broad societal trends (individual souls are a different matter, of course), “decline” is almost certain to continue for several years to come.’
He says that as the more practising older generations gradually die off, ‘the resolutely non-practising baby boomer generation “behind them” will certainly not be replacing them in our churches.’
Do the little things
St David, patron saint of Wales, urged his followers to ‘Do the little things’. Strata Florida church, Ceredigion
The final words of Saint David were recorded as “Do the little things, the small things you’ve seen me doing.” This is essentially what Stephen Bullivant offers as an action plan and it has support from scripture:
Zech 4:10a For who hath despised the day of small things?
Little things indeed add up. Moreover, when we do the little things that only we can do, we can safely leave the miraculous to God.
However, there is no room for lethargy, or for leaving just a few of us ‘doing the little things.’ Stephen Bullivant is a young man, and a fairly new convert. He brings remembrance of the mind of a non-believer but not necessarily all wisdom. Nor do I, but as a first step, I offer the following. We should as a body at the very least be:
1 Stirring up our gifts, whatever they are.
2 Sharing our testimony with whoever will listen.
3 Vocally confronting our culture with a Jesus counter-culture.
3a That includes witnessing to those in power,
3b Writing letters to newspapers and social media.
4 Out evangelising in public (those who can), with preaching and/or leafleting.
5 Having ‘incarnation theology’ involvement as churches in the community.
6 Discipling new converts, not leaving them to their own devices.
7 Remembering the enthusiasm and power of the Apostles.
8 Having confidence in our faith and the Holy Bible,
9 Marketing our services and events using all media.
10 Exercising humility and unity, not seeing other churches as competition.
11 Praying always to the Lord of the Harvest not just to send labourers but also to reveal new things to do.
Please add other points through a comment below!
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This should not particularly surprise us, “For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.”
I am delighted to be in agreement with Mark, as we occasionally are. This article is not particularly surprising, in fact I was aware of the main facts already (but not how often people pray at home). Do people still want to stop all those Poles and Lithuanians coming into the country ?
I think it would be helpful to indicate that about 10% of YOUNG people in France are Muslims, so this figure can be compared with the British 6% . I don’t think most of them are very devout Muslims, though.
Mark doesn’t tell us where his quotation comes from, but it doesn’t seem to be universally applicable at all, for example, it doesn’t apply to Poland. There most of the population have to squeeze through the small gate that leads to life, and the gate that leads to destruction is unnecessarily wide.
also, the Bible says there will be apostasy in the Last Days.
also, btw: “Mark doesn’t tell us where his quotation comes from”: its the words of Jesus from the Bible, dear Rox.
Book,chapter and verse ?
Christianity – Smeared by the Education System, despised by the Cult of Youth and it’s fawning Celebrities, driven out of the public square by our Politically Correct State and Media fanatics. All minorities, Holy Books and Temples can crowd into our benighted Realm. All clamour for entry to our small island, all are made welcome. All but one – The Bible and the Church.
We were founded as a Christian Nation, we exported the Faith, Education, Democratic institutions and technology to all the corners of the Earth – but oh how we have fallen. The fruits of a crass Liberalism, Britain being encouraged by it’s elites to wallow in permissiveness and Atheism, is the abovementioned statistic that 24.3 million people are now ‘non-religious’. If we are true Christians we know that this degradation especially of our young people cannot go unpunished.
Ours is a Jealous God. His Righteous Anger must surely be rising as He sees us corrupting the immemorial custom of Marriage, obsessing over the Idolatry of Money and commodities, replacing Stained Glass windows with Smartphone screens, flagellating His Church while putting every Cult and Sect on a pedestal and doing obsequious homage to them all in the name of Marxist (Atheist) Political Correctness.
The seeds of our own destruction are already with us. I see so many indigenous White British taking the cars they fawn over to be sprayed and waxed by Asian Muslim men. Money goes to fund settlement and (who knows?) Jihad. Western Idols polished by hands bathed in Halal blood sacrifice. The Westminster Elites and BBC ideologues cosset are complicit in this ‘ Stealth Jihad’ that hides the true reality and extent of Shariah Law courts now operating the length of the country, similarly with the cpver-up of Hareems or Asian grooming gangs, the pervasiveness of Halal meat in our food-chain, the promotion of this brutal sacrifice as a ‘delicacy’ and the drab Burka headgear as an empowering lifestyle choice for all women… God has abandoned us to our own delusions.
The inexorable result is already foretolled – Deuteronomy 28:42-44 “The cricket shall possess all your trees and the produce of your ground. “The alien who is among you shall rise above you higher and higher, but you will go down lower and lower. He shall lend to you, but you will not lend to him; he shall be the head, and you will be the tail.…”
Who founded “us” as a Christian nation, and when ?
It wasn’t William the Conqueror. We were already Christian when he arrived.
But it wasn’t the Anglo-Saxons either. They were pagan when they arrived.
Nor was the country very democratic for a long time. It was surely liberals who developed that. We were ahead of most European countries in the matters of democracy and industry, but rather behind many of then when it came to mass education, until this was developed by liberals again.
I have never seen a woman in the streets of England wearing a burka, only hijabs and occasionally niqabs. Are you sure you know the difference ?
” British taking the cars … to be sprayed and waxed by Asian Muslim men. ……. Western Idols polished by hands bathed in Halal blood sacrifice.” Wow ! This is strong stuff.
There are plenty of churches in our small island, far more than mosques. Nobody has made them unwelcome. On the contrary, they are treasured, but not everyone wants to go to services in them.
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Most people date the Christian foundation of England as such to Alfred the Great, but the faith was flourishing among the various tribal leaders and their people way before that, there and in the other nations of the UK. Aristobulus, after all, one of the ’70’, landed in Wales in 37AD. A lot of us believe one Joseph (of Arimathaea) landed in the West Country around the same time.
But when Stephen J. says “We were founded as a Christian Nation”, he implies that without Christianity there would be no England or Britain, because that it how it was originally founded (as you might say of the United States of America). I suppose you could say that of the United Kingdom (of England and Scotland, or of Great Britain and Ireland, or of Great Britain and Northern Ireland), but it’s rather an artificial point.
The smaller kingdoms were not founded as Christian, they were pagan originally. Alfred the Great did not rule the northern half of England, let alone Scotland, where the Picts were still pagan. Any progress made in England by the likes of Aristobulus was made long before the Anglo-Saxons arrived to refound bits of the country as pagan kingdoms.
Moving abroad, what about Greece or Kenya ? Were they founded as Christian nations ? It’s almost a meaningless phrase in most cases.
Thanks for your micro-critique Rox. You’ve never seen a Burka in Britain? You either don’t leave your ivy-clad quadrangle for a stroll very often or you are being duplicitous. Secondly, as Stephen G. says, i’m referring to King Alfred but you could also include William TC which was a sort of refounding under the Normans, all the way through to the Plantagenets. But my comment is not meant as a historical discourse and I think you know this. Your end point sums you up and in fact confirms my own argument. Britain as a Christian Nation – “It’s almost a meaningless phrase in most cases” this speaks volumes. It appears you have already caved in to the Secular regime and it’s Stealth Jihad. Christians should instead be opposing the disintegration of Christianity in Britain, and particularly England, caused by the Dementia of Political Correctness and the coming Islamic Apocalypse. I don’t blame you for your conformity, the vast majority of Brits are now disarmed and brainwashed. But it is women, young girls and the vulnerable who are suffering as Christian values atrophy, all because of other people’s reckless ‘tolerance’, craven apathy and atheism.
Dear Christian Witnesses, Greetings to you. Many nations youth is not attending Churches for worship because Parents Christian Life is not influencing them as they are very bad role models as Christians. 2. Out side world is too bad and easily spoiled by bad friendships. Boy Friends and Girl friends trend has damaged the family setups and obedience to parents, pastors and to God finally. 3. Dating with boys and girls (Premarital Sex) has major concerns for the Youth not attending to the Churches services or Synagogues. 4. Less educational qualifications leading to Unemployment finally trapped in wrong practices of earning money or fell in evil / illegal activities keeping more youth away from Church and prayers in homes. 5. Many Christian families do not have evening or morning Family Prayers along with children, even many Pastors and Bishops homes, this is also keeping the Youth away from God and attending to the Church.
I have observed this in India, South Africa and my stay in America for 3 months.
I am and Evangelist & Revivalist since 1974. I have God given Vision and mission for the “LOST SHEEP WITH IN THE CHURCHES”. Through CRRD= Churches Reconstruction Revival and Development. There is no other way now for us but to Revive existing Churches/Christian members to reach our children and the World with Gospel of Christ Yeshua the Messiah. …. Dr. VUCHULA.SATYANANDAM, CRRD, VIJAYAWADA, INDIA. , Mobile:- +91-9490455519.
Absolutely.
I confess that my beliefs waver between atheism and agnosticism, but there’s nothing I can do about it; that’s just me being honest with both myself and everyone else, and possibly due to being a remnant of my younger days as a Marxist, something I’ve since rejected for some years now. However, I do at least recognise that I’m culturally Christian, and now even defend Christianity against virulent atheism.
I would suggest that the decline of Christianity throughout Europe is related the European Union. Not for nothing do European countries outside of the EU have more adherence to Christianity, most specifically, Russia, despite it having been under Communist rule for almost sixty-six years. It’s also worth noting that not only Poland, but also Hungary, are two countries of the ‘awkward squad’ within the EU that still adhere to Christianity, and that they are the most resistant to accepting Muslim migrants. For these reasons, whether practising Christian, cultural Christian, or just plain social-conservative, we must seek to defend the likes of Russia, Poland and Hungary, and its leaders – and even President Assad, protector of Syria’s Christian minority – against the virulent propaganda from the decadent Western ruling elites who seek to destabilise those governments.
The European Union, as with national governments throughout the West, has long been imposing the Cultural Marxist agenda onto their populations through a long, subtle process that’s picking up steam as of late. Furthermore, there is, at the core of the EU project, another agenda that aims to destroy Christianity, the nation state, and Europe’s indigenous white race through encouraged miscegenation with imported migrants from Africa and the Middle East, namely, the despicable Coudenhove-Kalergi plan. Not for nothing do Western governments single out President Putin for vilification due to his defence of Christianity and its principles, most particularly with regard to resisting the degenerate LGBT agenda that has now become a high priority for imposition in the West, and the fact that he’s set aside a fund for the rebuilding of churches that were destroyed by the Communists.
Unfortunately, for defending President Putin, particularly over the past week or so, I’ve been criticised as a ‘Putinbot’ and a traitor to my country, but at least none of this causes me personal anguish, and I have no doubt that many others have experienced the same. I stand by those who believe as I do, and not with those who seek to do the opposite. Genuine Christians, self-aware cultural Christians, and social-conservatives alike should recognise that those such as Theresa May and Angela Merkel, etc., who now enthusiastically promote the Cultural Marxist agenda (particularly with regard to LGBT) are fake Christians and fake conservatives. They are a part of what old Communists Antonio Gramsci and Rudi Dutschke called: ‘The long march through the institutions.’ They know that if Christianity falls, a spiritual vacuum will appear which will be filled by Islam and all the mindless obedience that goes with it.
You may or may not have seen it, but I’ll herewith provide the URL of a Russian television documentary (dubbed in English) which exposes much of the corruption and attack on Christianity in the West through the promotion of LGBT from both within the churches and without:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_pBMLOhqhls
Great comment
An increasing number of people in Europe have been led to believe that the Bible is just a collection of myths and fairy tales and that Christianity is just one of many religions, and a fraud.
Christians have, uniquely, been blessed by a wealth of evidence to support their faith. This includes fulfilled prophecy, the archaeological evidence showing that the Bible accurately recorded facts which secular writers had earlier claimed were untrue, the book contains no statement that is contrary to any scientific fact, historical and early manuscript evidence, and the millions of personal experiences and the number of charitable organisations such as schools and hospitals that have been inspired by Christianity. There is also the re-birth of the nation of Israel and its survival against apparently overwhelming opposition since then.
Would it not be helpful if anyone attacked for his/her Christian faith, or witnessing, would be able to say “Are you aware of the evidence? I can give you the address of a website that will give you a summary.” I have in mind an obvious homepage option such as “Evidence for Christianity” which would lead the visitor to a list of headings which could include Fulfilled Prophecy, Archaeology, Science, History, Early Manuscripts and Israel.
I have looked at many church and other Christian websites but have not yet come across one that gives such a summary. There are apologetic websites but although they contain a wealth of information it is not in a form which would be helpful to an unbeliever, and they cloud the issue by referring to cults and other religions
The information would be an encouragement to Christians and a challenge to others; it might even result in a revival.
Well, go on then !
I would love to but unfortunately do not have a website, would not know how to produce one, and my elderly brain finds it increasingly difficult to learn new tricks. I was hoping that someone with the necessary expertise and more intellect would agree with the suggestion and take it up.
A few months ago I suggested to the leadership of Christian Voice that they asked readers of the monthly newsletter “for their responses to 1 Peter 3:15 which asks us to be “Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have.” In the membership there must be many Christians with the necessary knowledge and ability to write convincing articles on the points I have mentioned, and others. If they do not consider themselves able perhaps they could ask their friends or fellow church members/leaders for contributions. Ideally the responses should be concise, contain verifiable facts, and say why the writers are Christians rather than how they became Christians. Selected articles could be published on the Christian Voice website (or another if you chose) and be available for anyone to use by various means, such as in booklets for witnessing, and there could be a policy of continual improvement.”
Would it not be great if each one of us had a stock of business cards with “For evidence about the Christian faith visit …………………” (or similar) printed on to give out (or leave around).
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This is a good idea, which I had to be honest quite forgotten
Such cards with bullet-point arguments would be a good memory-aid. American Creationists have produced similar items for years to point out the erroneous claims of Evolution ideology. However what must be remembered here is the context. In Britain we are now in a hostile environment in which Christians are smeared for being as ‘bad’ and intolerant as Nazis. These cards if containing the pure and simple Gospel Truth could more than likely be deemed Hate propaganda and be seized by the authorities, those caught in possession would fare worse than a slacker caught with 30mgs of grass in a plastic bag.
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They still have to take us ultimately to the crown court about it, where no preacher, properly represented, has even been convicted. But there is a chilling effect from such actions, that is true.
Nevertheless, let’s go for it! Where can we get our hands on these cards?
I’m sorry, Pedrapwallis, I misread your punctuation.
I thought you simply said “I can give you the address of a website that will give you a summary.” implying that one already existed, hence my reply “Well, go on then !”.
I have never heard Christians being smeared for being as ‘bad’ and intolerant as Nazis. Of course, there were so many Christians in Germany in the 1950s and 1960s, that a lot of the Nazis must have been Christians at the same time, rather as a lot of the Russian Communists must have been Christians at the same time, if we are to believe they are all Christians now (which I personally don’t).
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You should try going on a course at a British university if you want to hear Christians denounced as ‘Nazis’.
During the last few days I came across the website http://knowwhatyoubelieve.com/believe/evidence/summary.htm
It contains a large amount of apologetics material but is aimed at Christians rather than enquirers. Nevertheless it is the nearest source of information to what I had in mind. There is no shortage of companies that will print on business cards, the wording could be:
For evidence about the Christian faith visit http://knowwhatyoubelieve.com/believe/evidence/summary.htm
Perhaps a Christian Voice newsletter reader knows of a more suitable website?
I can’t agree with some of this website.
For example, Pliny. He was keen to give suspected Christians every chance to save themselves, as related in his famous letter to Trajan :
“Interim, in iis qui ad me tamquam Christiani deferebantur, hunc sum secutus modum. Interrogavi ipsos an essent Christiani. Confitentes iterum ac tertio interrogavi supplicium minatus; perseverantes duci iussi. Neque enim dubitabam, qualecumque esset quod faterentur, pertinaciam certe et inflexibilem obstinationem debere puniri. Fuerunt alii similis amentiae, quos, quia cives Romani erant, adnotavi in urbem remittendos.”
(Meanwhile, in the case of those who have been brought before me as suspected Christians, my course has been as follows: — I put it to them whether they were Christians or not. To such as professed that they were, I put the enquiry a second and a third time, threatening them with the death penalty. Those who persisted, I ordered to be executed. For, indeed, I could not doubt, whatever might be the nature of what they professed, that their pertinacity, at any rate, and inflexible obstinacy, ought to be punished. There were others afflicted with similar madness, about whom, as they were Roman citizens, I made a memorandum that they were to be sent for judgment to Rome.)
The website particularly misrepresents Pliny with this :
“how he was killing both Christian men and women, boys and girls. There were so many being put to death that he wondered if he should only kill certain ones. ”
This is what he actually wrote to the emperor :
“Nihil aliud inveni quam superstitionem pravam et immodicam. Ideo dilata cognitione ad consulendum te decucurri. Visa est enim mihi res digna consultatione, maxime propter periclitantium numerum. Multi enim omnis aetatis, omnis ordinis, utriusque sexus etiam vocantur in periculum et vocabuntur.”
(I could discover nothing else than a vicious and extravagant superstition: consequently, having adjourned the inquiry, I am seeking your advice. Indeed, the matter seemed to me a proper one for consultation, chiefly on account of the number of persons imperilled. For many of all ages and all ranks, and of both sexes, are being called, and will be called, into danger.)
So he felt that nothing very serious, like treason, was going on (he mentions them sharing meals together), and he stopped investigating it to avoid executing any more of the persistent Christians, feeling that a large number of people of all ages and both sexes were at risk. He is not saying that he had killed them all ! Quite the opposite —- he wanted to avoid that.
Trajan replied:
“Actum quem debuisti, mi Secunde, in excutiendis causis eorum, qui Christiani ad te delati fuerant, secutus es……. Conquirendi non sunt; …… Sine auctore vero propositi libelli in nullo crimine locum habere debent. Nam et pessimi exempli nec nostri saeculi est.”
(You have followed the right mode of procedure, my dear Secundus, in investigating the cases of those who were brought before you as Christians. …… These people should not be searched for; ….. Anonymous information ought not to be allowed a standing in any kind of charge; a course which would not only form the worst of precedents, but which is not in accordance with the spirit of our time.}
Given his own obvious sympathies and the OK he obtained from the top man, Pliny actually must have saved many Christian lives. !
The website says:
“They did not benefit from claiming that Jesus was God. They were ostracized, criticized, rejected, persecuted, hated, scorned, persecuted, excommunicated, imprisoned, tortured, exiled, crucified, boiled alive, roasted, beheaded, disemboweled and fed to lions. ”
And thus they became MARTYRS, a highly sought after position not unlike sainthood (which often went with it). They went to heaven, and took up a respected position there. Their sacrifice led to the conversion of others. Of course they benefitted, as did the whole Church.
We all know the names of the first Christian martyr (St Stephen, Acts 7:58-60) and of the first English martyr (St Alban). Martyrs are celebrated all over Europe, one of the most striking examples being the procession of 26 martyrs in mosaic which runs the length of the Basilica of Sant’ Apollinare in Classe , Ravenna.
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The benefits are just a tiny bit posthumous, though, however real they may be, aren’t they?!
We need great Disciples that will not be ashamed of the Gospel; May God help us to raise generation of Kingdom minded people and not microwave Christians
Amen to that.
It is interesting to reflect that there are three Christian crosses in our national flag. Furthermore, our Constitutional declarations (Magna Carta, the Declaration of Rights, etc) and our essential laws have all been inspired from a higher authority.
Meanwhile, there has been an unprecedented attack on Christianity for decades and especially since the 1920s, when the Frankfurt School of Subversion (google it!) determined it was the leading impediment to what might now be described as the ‘new world order’. ‘Political Correctness’, of course, is social marxism, and it involves tearing down the old order, traditions and cultural heritage – much of which originated through the inspiration of Christianity.
The media, in particular, has gone out of its way to undermine Christianity, not least by providing regular coverage to its detractors.
To know where we are heading, it is first necessary to understand from where we have come and, not least, to understand the nature of the enemies of Christianity. When this is understood, it will be possible to begin a resistance and renewal, based upon principle and knowledge. This will involve an incursion into the political realm, for it is in this theatre that the rot is apparent.
What the young Professor has identified is all very true. However, it also falls within a far bigger picture and this embraces the undeclared war against Western civilisation. When this is understood, it will be possible to marshal opposition and rediscover the essential faith.
Finally, may I say that you are doing good things, Stephen. Your internet activities have established a reach that can only be helpful. Your in-depth research about certain matters appertaining to the EU are exactly the type of thing to which I am referring.
There are elements in our elite who want to see both Christian values AND Secularism eclipsed by a new barbarism, I refer to this craven appeasement as the ‘Stealth Jihad’.
Christ stated, that when He returns there will be little Faith in this world. I personally see each and every day a step closer to His return. I too am in this world and not of it. So the fulfillment of His words I see in this main article. That’s good news.
Tough, but this what misplaced children’s rights have led to. And driving God out of our classrooms and boardrooms. We, the older people and the “remnant” younger ones need to go back to the first love we had for Christ (Rev. 2:1-7)
Yes!
We need to pray for revival! It seems that we have not had a revival anywhere in the UK for nearly 70 years (the Hebrides revival). Yes, we have had charismatic renewals and the growth of mega-churches, but reading the account of the revival in the Hebrides one is aware that nothing like that has occurred since then. Wales had several revivals, but nothing like that for over one hundred years. Oh, that God would rend the heavens!
Stephen: You missed out ACTION POINT NUMBER ONE… Take your kids out of school TODAY. and educate (teach/train/instruct) them at home. Like God says in the Bible.
It’s that simple.
Not easy… but simple.
And eminently do-able.
As has been said before: “If you hand your kids to Caesar, don’t be surprised if he turns them into Roman citizens.”
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What a good point! And this matter of home-schooling is going to be in the news soon …
So far our Godless Big Government is still allowing a monitored form of Home Schooling. But for how long?
#1 It is in countries where Christians are under persecution that the church is growing. No-one would wish for conditions like those in North Korea, Pakistan, &c., but it could take severe difficulties for large parts of the Church in the UK and Europe to restore real and active faith!
#2 Many people in the UK have a smattering of religion, maybe from schools, family or set church services, and think that alone makes them Christians without any need to encounter the Lord and to come to Him in personal repentance and faith. It is vital that people of all ages have the Gospel presented to them frequently and urgently!
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i need to research this of the alleged growth of the persecuted church and do a nanosermon on it!
However vital you think it is, many people of all ages will not want the Gospel presented to them frequently and urgently! How do you propose to do this ?
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Ah, it’s the age-old difference between ‘want’ and ‘need’.
Rox G, so defeatist. Have Faith. Only a minority are irretrievably Corrupt. For most people, when you are sick you avoid the poison. When you are near to oblivion you will grasp the Medicine. You need to read the Psalms. Ps 69:1, Ps 63:3.
Not a great surprise to me this information by professor Bullivant. I am interested in the cross Europe survey and the trends that result.
I observe several reasons for this.
1. In the UK we have a state church which gets itself intertwined with government politics and influences which automatically compromises the true Biblical Gospel. This has been for decades a false norm which is finally being exposed.
2. Church leaders have themselves lost their conviction of faith and so lead others down their self defeating path. They no longer believe the message consigned to them. As such, they are receiving their salary by false pretences. This will inevitably lead to loss of confidence in the |Bible and conviction of the Gospel. When an Anglican Minister admits in public that he comes from the wing of the Anglican church that actually believes there is a God, there the problem is highlighted.
3. There is massive Biblical illiteracy in the church. This couples with epidemic lack of personal and spiritual discipline if the likes of ourselves with a ‘tokenist’ approach to our faith, something in which the Muslims are far less guilty. There is within us as Christians no real conviction of faith so no real motivation to evangelise. The change has to occur first within ourselves.
We can suggest many solutions to this problem but first there has to be repentance and soul searching personally and seek the presence of God, as did the likes of Isaiah and Jeremiah in the Old testament. We could well be in for a very torrid time both spiritually, politically and socially. In short, as a nation and civilisation we have become a walking disaster area.
I could not agree with you more on your assessment of the situation – the complicity of Church authorities, the extent of our social degeneration.
I’m not really surprised by this information but there is a big difference between “religious” and “faithful”. Attending church is a religious activity that may be an act of faith to some but a habit to others. For those who pray, do they know to whom they pray? Do they expect a response? Do those who pray and identify as Christians have a 2-way relationship with God? I would like to see the statistics of those who have the relationship with God that the Bible describes, where Jesus is Lord of their lives and they are in relationship with all three persons of the Trinity.
As we see a decline in numbers, the Gospel does not change on the page. People are put off by the way it comes off the page into reality; how should the practical Gospel work for the people who are not engaged?
It’s hard enough for those of us who are involved in a church and do have a daily relationship with God; there is a gap between church life and the rest of life, whether at home or tent-making at work. I try to ensure that the gap is bridged by my being the same person to all; what may seem a slightly compromised version of the Gospel in a church setting can seem like an extremist view at work even where Christian values aim to respect others for the benefit of workplace ethics. I wish I could answer the question of how to engage people but I don’t have a great understanding of them; appreciating them as Jesus would is as much as I can manage; the rest needs miracles but it is the Holy Spirit who saves people. More Lord!
mbellis. Your difficulties in finding a way to ‘engage’ with the world or people outside of the Church seems linked with the problem that Church elites also constantly agonise over nowadays – how to make the Bible and Tradition more ‘relevant’ to a Secular Multicult society. The fact is however that we presume too much about the Gospel. For instance, we presume that it is a Politically Correct document or that we should interpret it in Multicult manner. Many of Christ’s words were directed only to His immediate followers, the early Priesthood. Much of St Paul’s comprehensive expansion of the Gospel in his letters (that make up most of the New Testament) were for Laws and social-relations amongst ‘the Brethren’, that is, only for Baptized Christians and the Community of Believers. “And if he will not hear them: tell the church. And if he will not hear the church, let him be to thee as the heathen and publican” (Matthew 18:17). “Therefore, whilst we have time, let us work good to all men, but especially to those who are of the household of the faith” Galatians 6:10. Christian leaders are supposed to go out and make converts of all Nations, not to modify what has been passed down to them by the Saints in order to pander to the materialist tastes, Idolatry and cultural sensitivities of every sect or post-Christian minority. “Religion clean and undefiled before God and the Father, is this: to visit the fatherless and widows in their tribulation: and to keep one’s self unspotted from this world” James 1:27. Do what you can. The Lord sees all.
onward christian soldiers!!
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Tragically, there are so many ‘divisions‘ in this army, all believing in their OWN, differing truths, making the battles practically impossible to win.
But to GOD nothing is impossible.
Consider the rising tide of megalomaniac institutions such as secularism and humanism, who by their titles and manifestos admit to being composed of only Godlike individuals. Each being Purveyors of laws and
all that is right. Add to these….,Lucifers Gangs of Bigoted Troops
and wonder how the next revolution, reformation, call it what you will, is going to affect humanity and Civilisation, …which is born of CHRISTIANITY.
There is, at present, more than enough proof of ‘false‘ truths and lies in all walks of life is there not ?
There is only ONE THRUTH ! Spoken by CHRIST. Not our opinions of what HE said. Human Interpretation is an opinion NOT a truth.
I think that one of the first megalomaniacs was Henry 11X .The bible was full of Kings and Princes.!!! He did not understand,or accept from where his power came.
Now, our governments are listening to and acting upon secular and humanist terms and opinions. So many differing opinions, as ,tragically, to be unworkable.
I have only one question re the condition of the immoral, inhuman, uncaring ,vicious, uncivilised, greedy, Godless society we have established,
by legalising divorce, contraception, the slaughter of the innocents,
LGBT and same sex union [never marriage]
How did these laws ever merit ‘’royal assent’ ?
L,Jaconelli ,
Author
They didn’t deserve royal assent because Her Majesty promised at her coronation to uphold the laws of God, but they received it because Her Majesty only acts on the advice of her ministers.
Our constitution is a little ill-defined.
There is “royal prerogative”, but by convention that is really in the hands of the prime minister, or in practice more probably the cabinet. An important example of that was going to war, but Cameron decided that he should not go to war without consulting Parliament. When they refused, he accepted this.
I am reliably informed that nobody really knows whether this has set a precedent or not ! In other words, Theresa May (perhaps individually, perhaps with her cabinet) might be able to go to war without the approval of Parliament, but perhaps not. Quite tricky, really, at this moment, when Russia is virtually threatening Cyprus (which has American bases), which (like us still) is part of the European Union (or at least he southern part is, the northern part being de facto part of Muslim Turkey).
Onward Christian soldiers.
We are all supposed to be made in the image of God, Luigi, not only humanists and secularists. But I don’t share your view of secularists as megalomaniacs who believe that only they are right. On the contrary, most of them are in favour of a democratic state in which no one set of religious beliefs has privileges, but all separate groups can flourish as long as they keep to the law and don’t upset each other. There is nothing new in this. Since the 18th century, laws restricting the activities of protestant non-conformists, Jews, Roman Catholics, atheists, and (it almost goes without saying specifically) others have been gradually relaxed, until we are living in a virtually secularist society already, in which religion still flourishes as much as individuals wish each persuasion to survive. The establishment of the Church of England is extremely nominal.
Henry 11X of which country ? Do you mean Henry XII ?
http://www.nairaland.com/henryxii
Louis XII of France, Alfonso XII of Spain, Charles XII of Sweden ?
The author of the knowwhatyoubelieve website welcomes comments and suggestions.
You may be relieved to hear that those who class themselves as “No religion” on census forms are not necessarily atheists !
This was reviewed on Radio 4 recently, and interviews with those who had no religion revealed some startling views, even from those who did say they did not believe in God, and yet had supernatural and irrational beliefs.
The one which sticks in the mind was a couple who believed that their deceased young daughter has become an angel, and as an angel she directs reassuring symbols of herself at appropriate times. For example, when other children were playing in their garden, it was a feather which always moved around with the children, clearly representing herself. Often it is a robin,
The father eagerly offered proof. When they were putting up posters on fenceposts for some fund-raising event connected with whatever it was that killed their daughter, there was always a robin which perched on every fencepost they visited. This couldn’t be a coincidence, he said. Some of us might say that it is not inconsistent with the usual behaviour of robins, I’m afraid.
But some of those interviewed do believe in some kind of god, although they are “not religious”. It’s so difficult to get the question right. “No religion” can be taken as meaning not being a paid-up member of any particular church. Or it can be taken (quiet correctly, really) as not being of a religious temperament and so not bothering to go to church, while holding vaguely to Christian beliefs. What is clear is that if more than 50% of the country now has “No religion”, it doesn’t mean that they are anywhere near staunch atheists or paid-up humanists. On the other hand, one must remember that a large portion of those with a religion adhere to Islam etc.