February 10, 2016 - UNITED KINGDOM - Practicing Christians are now a minority in the UK and the
Catholic and Anglican churches must pull together in order to survive,
according to two senior British clerics.
The Right Reverend Richard Chartres, Bishop of London, and Cardinal Vincent Nichols, head of the Catholic Church in England and Wales, were speaking at an event at Hampton Court Palace, London, on Tuesday.
They hailed the reconciliation between two churches that have traditionally been rivals, and the gathering also saw the first Catholic act of worship at the chapel of Henry VIII for 450 years.
“I would like to think of this evening as a celebration of how far we’ve come and also a celebration of a common agenda,” Chartres said.
Nichols spoke about the contribution Catholics had made to the UK as a “significant minority,” to which Chartres said “we are all minorities now.”
“What I see, particularly around London, is that increasingly we are living in a post-denominational era,” Chartres added.
Recent studies suggest the cleric may be correct, with figures showing a plunge in regular worshippers in the UK.
The church’s annual pew count reports only 1.4 percent of the population of England attends Anglican services every Sunday. Mid-week services have also slipped below the one million mark for the first time.
Average Sunday attendance has fallen by 22,000 from 764,700 in 2014. That is a third less than the average during the 1960s.
The fall is partly down to the ageing and death of worshipers, with the church losing one percent of its attendees per year.
Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby told a recent crisis meeting of Anglican leaders the church is being affected by an “anti-Christian culture.”
“In this country many talk of the post-Christian society, but the Church of England educates more than a million children in our schools,” he told the gathered Primates. - RT.
ISIS fighters destroyed a porcelain statue of Jesus, which is now missing its face.
"Last Christmas was the first time that bells did not ring out in the
city of Mosul in 2000 years. I think that speaks to the reality that
hundreds of thousands of Christian families are living on the edge of
extinction." - Elijah Brown, 21st Century Wilberforce.
November 13, 2015 - MIDDLE EAST - The dwindling Christian population of the Middle East could vanish
completely within a decade unless the global community intervenes, say
alarmed aid groups who say followers of the Bible are being killed,
driven from their land or forced to renounce their faith at an
unprecedented pace.
The world has largely stood by as a dangerous tide of intolerance has washed over the region, according to a new study
by the international Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need. The
study includes disturbing data about the plunging numbers of Christians
in the part of the world that gave birth to the faith, and makes a dire
prediction of what could happen.
“It’s an answer that depends on the
response of the world,” Edward Clancy, director of outreach for the New
York-based Aid to the Church in Need, told FoxNews.com. “What response
is there going to be toward us if we act?”
Syrian refugees near the Christian village of Kaa, Lebanon. The
Christian presence may disappear completely within a decade
or even
sooner according to a recently released study. (Aid to the Church in
Need-US)
While Christians are under siege from Islamic State radicals in
war-torn Syria and Iraq, the report notes that the religion is being
targeted throughout the region. Christians who have managed to escape
ISIS have fled to places like Europe and Lebanon, while members of the
faith also are under increasing pressure in Iran, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia
and other Gulf nations.
The Christian population in Iraq has plummeted from 1.5 million in
2003 to current estimates of 275,000 and could be gone for good within
five years, according to the report. The dwindling numbers are due to
genocide, refugees fleeing to other countries, those who are internally
displaced, and others hiding in plain sight and not allowing their faith
to be publicly known. A dozen Christian families flee Iraq each day,
according to 21st Century Wilberforce Initiative, a Falls Church, Va., nonprofit dedicated to promoting religious freedom worldwide.
“Unless the global community gets involved, we will witness the loss of Christian witnesses in a land that is biblically significant,” Elijah Brown, executive vice president for 21st Century Wilberforce, told FoxNews.com.
He noted that Iraq's second-largest city, once home to a thriving
Christian community as old as the faith itself, has now been overrun by
ISIS and purged of Christians.
“Last Christmas was the first time that bells did not ring out in the
city of Mosul in 2,000 years," Brown said. “I think that speaks to the
reality that hundreds of thousands of Christian families are living on
the edge of extinction.”
In Syria, where Aid to the Church in Need has sent $9 million in aid
to help Christians driven from small villages north of Damascus, an
estimated 15,000 Christians have left their villages to seek refuge in
Homs, Zaidal and Fairouzeh in recent days, according to Syrian Orthodox
Archbishop Selwanos Boutros Alnemeh. He told the charity Christians are
terrified that ISIS, in a constant see-saw battle for territory with
government forces, will capture their villages and kill all non-Muslims.
They are particularly fearful for the key city of Sadad, where
Christians lived peacefully with Muslims for centuries.
“We are afraid that ISIS -- which God will hopefully prevent -- will
conquer the town. We would lose the center of Christianity in our
diocese,” Archbishop Selwanos said, adding that two years ago, jihadists
held the town briefly and killed at least 45 Christians, and destroyed
churches and homes.
The report names Egypt as the one nation in the Middle East that has
reversed the trend under President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, following the
ouster of the Muslim Brotherhood and its Islamist agenda. El-Sisi,
himself a Muslim, has vowed to protect Egypt's Coptic Christians, and
last Christmas attended church services with them in an unprecedented
show of tolerance and solidarity.
"Such a development holds out a potential beacon of hope for
Christians and others in the Middle East against a backdrop of growing
Islamism," the report stated.
While the situation is most dire in the Middle East, Christianity is
under assault in Africa and Asia, too, according to the Aid to the
Church in Need study. It cited persecution at the hands of Islamist
terror groups such as Boko Haram in Nigeria and other extremists in
Sudan, Kenya, Tanzania and other parts of the continent. Asia's
Christians have been targeted by nationalist religious movements --
Muslim, Hindu and Buddhist -- in such countries as Pakistan, Hindu and
Myanmar. Many of these groups increasingly view Christianity as a
foreign, "colonial" import, and believe its practitioners are doing the
bidding of the West, said Clancy.
Persecution has been allowed to spread in many of these countries
because of the complacency of its citizens and inaction of the
international community, said Brown.
“On average, in many of the Muslim majority countries, an average of
73 percent believe that they already have religious freedom,” he said,
referring to a Pew research poll. “So we often see a passive public that
is resistant to change.
“Unfortunately, there are also many who are hesitating to use the
proper label for what is occurring in many of these countries, which is
genocide.”
Both 21st Century Wilberforce and Aid for The Church in
Need agree that preventing further genocide requires an international
undertaking.
“It’s going to have to be a multi-tiered effort,” Clancy said. “We
can definitely start with restrictions on the borders of some of these
countries. There are definitely weapons flowing into the region. These
channels need to be squeezed.
“We need to start putting on the pressure and if and when there is
some sort of peace, we need to ensure that minority religious groups are
represented in newly forming governments.” - FOX News.
"There is no place in our world for an ideology that seeks to close minds, force obedience, and return the world to a paradise that never was. Students should learn that the universe can be confronted and understood, that ideas and authority should be questioned, that an open mind is a good thing. Education does not exist to confirm people's superstitions, and children do not learn to think when they are fed only dogma." - Tim Berra, Evolution and the Myth of Creationism.
November 13, 2013 - UNITED STATES - Singing songs, clapping hands, praising acts of giving and community work – all the things present in a Church have now found an official home in so-called ‘atheist mega-churches’, a quirky idea spreading like wildfire across the Western world.
One of the latest countries to come into contact with the trend is the United States, with dozens of gatherings by those sharing in their non-belief in God planned ahead. A similar situation can be seen happening in Australia and Canada. But it all started in the United Kingdom in January 2013, when two popular comedians started seeking an outlet for their feelings on the subject.
Sanderson Jones and Pippa Evans then embarked on a quest to collect hundreds of thousands of dollars to help atheists the world over connect with each other, do good deeds and laugh in the kind of community atmosphere a Church would offer – except without God.
The Associated Press reported from Los Angeles on Sunday, where several hundred people gathered to do just that – as they had been doing more and more in places like New York, San Diego, Nashville and others.
Jones and Evans have dedicated an entire comedy tour around the US and Australia – called ‘40 days, 40 nights’ – to raise $800,000 to establish such congregations around the globe. They have just passed the $50,000 mark.
What is perhaps unexpected of Jones’ and Evans’ atheism is their refusal to crucify believers in God. In fact it is just the opposite. Jones remembers being very moved six years ago by the feeling of a Christmas carol concert, which, sadly for him, was just short of what he was looking for.
"There was so much about it that I loved, but it's a shame because at the heart of it, it's something I don't believe in," Jones explains to his 'disciples'. "If you think about church, there's very little that's bad. It's singing awesome songs, hearing interesting talks, thinking about improving yourself and helping other people. And doing that in a community with wonderful relationships. What part of this is not to like?”
British comedians Sanderson Jones (L) and Pippa Evans (R) co-founders of
The Sunday Assembly,
an atheist service held at a converted church,
pose for pictures after a service in north London.
(AFP Photo / Leon
Neal)
He told RT at one of the group's London congregations that "I think that, just because you don't believe in God, doesn't mean you don't want to hear really interesting talks, to think about improving yourself, to sing with others and have a cup of tea with them at the end. This is really all the best things about Church, but without the one thing I'm uncomfortable with - which is the religion part."
Although the Sunday Assembly – as its founders christened it – is a godless place and not an official religious institution, it is marked by a uniquely religious atmosphere. Evans would enter, followed by a band playing classic rock hits. Queen’s ‘Don’t Stop Me Now’ is the anthem. There is a ‘service’, with reading, discussion, moments for reflection, and activities directed at engaging the members in getting to know each other. But a lot of this has a very serious mission – to engage in community work and the setting up of projects.
Just like a real Church, there is a sermon. But it is dedicated to questions about the universe and things like quantum theory and anti-matter, all very tongue-in-cheek.
All this is then tied up with Stevie Wonder’s ‘Superstition’, with everyone standing up to sing.
“The Sunday Assembly is a godless congregation that celebrates life. Our motto: live better, help often, wonder more. Our mission: to help everyone find and fulfill their full potential. Our vision: a godless congregation in every town, city and village that wants one.”
So says the homepage of the organization set up to promote Jones’ and Evans’ atheist congregations. Founded in January this year, it went from its cradle in an East London community center to sending out press releases containing expansion plans, coupled with a 3,000 percent growth in the several months the movement was in operation.
British comedians Sanderson Jones (R) and Pippa Evans.(AFP Photo / Leon Neal)
Jones and Evans are confident that the world is looking at “the fastest growing church in the world,” as Alternet cites them as saying. And this was before the giant fund-raising campaign-slash-comedy-tour was launched.
And the duo’s initiative is far from a joke, as the rise of their movement coincides with the increasing view that there are more atheists in America than previously thought. So claims the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life, after discovering that the percentage of atheist responders to their survey has risen by 5 percent in the course of five years, to 20 percent. That group was further broken down into categories that view themselves as either ‘spiritual’, or believers – but not in an organized religion.
In Britain, a quarter describe themselves as having no religion at all, and that figure is going up by about 750,000 people each year. Meanwhile, Christianity is losing believers at an incredible pace - more than half a million followers annually. At those speeds, the number of atheists is projected to overtake the number of believers by 2030, RT's Polly Boiko reported from London.
"The congregations are getting older and older. And I think we're getting now to the stage where there are second and third generations of people who've just never been to a Church. More and more people are finding that the Church is not relevant, particularly when the leaders of Churches taking positions on women's rights and gay rights, which are totally [different] from what people in the congregation think," said Keith Porteous Wood, Executive Director at the National Secular Society.
Each place where the movement takes root also has its own reasons for allowing it to flourish, explained Phil Zuckerman, professor of secular studies at Pitzer College in Claremont, US.
WATCH: Godless Gatherings.
"In the US, there's a little bit of a feeling that if you're not religious, you're not patriotic. I think a lot of secular people say, 'Hey, wait a minute. We are charitable, we are good people, we're good parents and we are just as good citizens as you and we're going to start a church to prove it… it’s still a minority, but there’s enough of them now.”
Naysayers of course exist, even among the atheist camp. Some of them flat-out do not believe a movement so closely resembling religion should be set up for anything indicating a lack of belief. Others are pessimistic about the movement’s growth because they think atheism for many is the exact opposite of community.
Roy Spekchardt, executive director of the America Humanist Association, told Alternet that the one strong challenge he sees to the movement is that "it tends to overlook the fact that the majority of involved atheists and humanists aren’t actually interested in personally being involved in a congregation atmosphere.”
But as criticism continues to pour in – and is expected – the Sunday Assembly continues to grow at a rapid rate. - RT.
