Recently religious identity data became available from the 2021 Census for England and Wales. It showed that less people are self-identifying as Christian and more people identify as having no religion. This has been a strong, continuing pattern since the 2001 Census first asked the religion question.
| 2001 | 2011 | 2021 | |
| Christian | 71.7% | 59.3% | 46.2% |
| No religion | 14.8% | 25.2% | 37.2% |
I have just been writing the section of the magazine about Lent and the Lenten mindset makes me see these figures as an urgent call to repentance. As a society we need to turn back to God, return to Sunday worship, to saying our prayers, to reading the bible and to following the ways of God.
But we must acknowledge that there are many things about life nowadays that make this difficult. We always have the entire world immediately available to us on our smartphones. This is a wonderful thing in itself but it supports a culture in which we can be permanently distracted by the latest chat, news item or music playlist. We can often sort things out ourselves without the need for relationships with the people around us. Sundays used to be a quiet day which forced us to stop and take stock, but now shops and sports clubs are open and Sundays are as busy as other days. The Lord says, “Be still and know that I am God” (Ps 46:10) but we never get round to being still. Consequently, we become distanced from God. We think of God less, become less religious and eventually come to the point of having no religion.
But does it matter? Our society is much less Christian than it used to be, but is it actually a worse society? In some ways it seems better; more open, inclusive and free. We seem to benefit so much from wealth, technology, health care and education that we have less need of God.
Obviously I personally think it really matters! As we lose sight of God and God’s perspective we start to fall prey to our own egos and fallibilities. We lose the ability to be self-critical and we support ourselves with unsustainable structures like the hay and straw of 1 Corinthians 3: 12-15. Sooner or later a day will come (perhaps the day of our death) when transient things pass away, and we realise our dependence on the things of God. Let us heed the call to repentance and be saved!
With prayers and best wishes, Fr Patrick
Prayer for Lent by Frank Colquhoun
Teach us, O God, so to use this season of Lent
that we be drawn closer to our Lord,
and in fellowship with him may learn
to hate sin,
to overcome temptation,
to grow in holiness,
that our lives may be strengthened for your service
and used for your glory.
We ask this in Christ’s name. Amen.