Is The End of Christendom Nigh?

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johnny crossan

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Thought I'd share an interesting article & podcast by A.N.Wilson questioning if Christianity can survive the next 50 years. In a recent Spectator article he predicted that within 50 years the great cathedrals of Europe would be no more than “heritage” sites, their meaning incomprehensible to the crowds who visit them. It would not be a complete end, though. Fine worship and charismatic preaching would still be able to attract a faithful remnant; a small number of grand churches would probably remain viable, and a few of the most famous choirs could survive. But the culture as a whole would have moved on to the point at which Christianity was largely extinct.

There is an alternative view, which notes the conversion of some significant public figures in recent years and predicts a revival of belief. The historian Tom Holland and the secular Muslim Ayaan Ali Hirsi are examples of former atheists who have embraced Christian faith — partly out of a recognition that the best of Western culture is a product of Christian values, and partly out of despair at the erosion of Christian culture by secular materialism and its consequences for our well-being.

Here is a link to Wilson's Holy Smoke Podcast
www.spectator.co.uk

Is the end of Christendom nigh? with A.N. Wilson

Thousands of Brits will be attending Christmas and carol services throughout December. Yet festive attendance masks the reality that congregations just aren’t holding up. The most optimistic of estimates suggest that regular church attendance has almost halved in the UK since 2009. This is just...
www.spectator.co.uk www.spectator.co.uk
 
johnny crossan said:
Thought I'd share an interesting article & podcast by A.N.Wilson questioning if Christianity can survive the next 50 years. In a recent Spectator article he predicted that within 50 years the great cathedrals of Europe would be no more than “heritage” sites, their meaning incomprehensible to the crowds who visit them. It would not be a complete end, though. Fine worship and charismatic preaching would still be able to attract a faithful remnant; a small number of grand churches would probably remain viable, and a few of the most famous choirs could survive. But the culture as a whole would have moved on to the point at which Christianity was largely extinct.

There is an alternative view, which notes the conversion of some significant public figures in recent years and predicts a revival of belief. The historian Tom Holland and the secular Muslim Ayaan Ali Hirsi are examples of former atheists who have embraced Christian faith — partly out of a recognition that the best of Western culture is a product of Christian values, and partly out of despair at the erosion of Christian culture by secular materialism and its consequences for our well-being.

Here is a link to Wilson's Holy Smoke Podcast
www.spectator.co.uk

Is the end of Christendom nigh? with A.N. Wilson

Thousands of Brits will be attending Christmas and carol services throughout December. Yet festive attendance masks the reality that congregations just aren’t holding up. The most optimistic of estimates suggest that regular church attendance has almost halved in the UK since 2009. This is just...
www.spectator.co.uk www.spectator.co.uk
Click to expand...
Hopefully other religions follow.
 
johnny crossan said:
Thought I'd share an interesting article & podcast by A.N.Wilson questioning if Christianity can survive the next 50 years. In a recent Spectator article he predicted that within 50 years the great cathedrals of Europe would be no more than “heritage” sites, their meaning incomprehensible to the crowds who visit them. It would not be a complete end, though. Fine worship and charismatic preaching would still be able to attract a faithful remnant; a small number of grand churches would probably remain viable, and a few of the most famous choirs could survive. But the culture as a whole would have moved on to the point at which Christianity was largely extinct.

There is an alternative view, which notes the conversion of some significant public figures in recent years and predicts a revival of belief. The historian Tom Holland and the secular Muslim Ayaan Ali Hirsi are examples of former atheists who have embraced Christian faith — partly out of a recognition that the best of Western culture is a product of Christian values, and partly out of despair at the erosion of Christian culture by secular materialism and its consequences for our well-being.

Here is a link to Wilson's Holy Smoke Podcast
www.spectator.co.uk

Is the end of Christendom nigh? with A.N. Wilson

Thousands of Brits will be attending Christmas and carol services throughout December. Yet festive attendance masks the reality that congregations just aren’t holding up. The most optimistic of estimates suggest that regular church attendance has almost halved in the UK since 2009. This is just...
www.spectator.co.uk www.spectator.co.uk
Click to expand...

I'm not sure what values society currently holds that have been influenced by Christianity. Religion has always been a great way of controlling people and getting people to do things in the name of a higher power. A casual 1.7million dead from the Crusades. Women controlled as second class citizens to do what their men told them to. Great wealth and power bestowed to those at the top to do whatever they wanted, largely ignoring what was in the book.

If we can move away from such nonsense, liberate people and stop fighting over a collection of stories that people now don't believe in holistically we'll be much better off. But in the meantime there's still so much wealth and power in the church so it will be just fine.
 
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