Last week I was called by a producer from Radio 5, asking me to comment on a new report that claimed: ‘For every one person brought up with no religion who has become a Christian, 26 people brought up as Christians now identify as Nones (having no religion).’ To the radio producer this was clear evidence that Christianity was on a losing wicket and we’d be all out before tea.
I asked him to send me the report before I commented and, for a change, what I found there was both encouraging and challenging. Mark Twain is reported to have said: ‘Facts are stubborn things, but statistics are pliable’, so it is with some trepidation that I recommend reading the report, The ‘No- Religion’ Population of Britain, and the survey on which it is based. However, I think they offer a helpful insight into the backgrounds of those with whom we seek to share the Good News.
Conversions
The first encouragement is that people from non-religious homes are being converted. One in 20 people brought up in a non-religious home now identifies as some type of Christian. In an increasingly hostile world this is good news indeed.
‘Power is a powerful drug and the detox process is hard’
One of the most insightful speeches at the Church of England's General Synod in July came from The Revd Lindsay …