Christianity QA

Question:

"Faris Jawad" wrote CAIRO , September 4, 2005 (IslamOnline.net) – The number of Muslims praying at British mosques will be double the number of church goers by 2040, according to a study by the British-based association Christian Research.

As a civilisation progresses, it rejects superstition and embraces learning, rational though and science. The west is becoming more and more secular, the middle east remains gripped in some dark age religious mode, based on faith instead of rational thought and truth. In the west about 7 centuries ago we embraced faith and the result was the crusades. Now 7 centuries on, we are becoming decent rational human beings, interested in rational thought and truth. Petty the Islamic world is still 7 centuries behind us in culture.

Response:

– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – UK Mosque Goers to Double Church Attendance: Study CAIRO , September 4, 2005 (IslamOnline.net) – The number of Muslims praying at British mosques will be double the number of church goers by 2040, according to a study by the British-based association Christian Research. Its more fun to learn about Bomb making. The study, The Future of The Church, said that there will be nearly twice as many Muslims at prayer in mosques on Friday as Christians attending Sunday services, reported the Telegraph on Sunday, September 4.

<snip Anyone got a link to the original study that IslamOnline.net is quoting bits from, please? Ta. Alan

Response:

– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – The study, The Future of The Church, said that there will be nearly twice as many Muslims at prayer in mosques on Friday as Christians attending Sunday services, reported the Telegraph on Sunday, September 4. Anyone got a link to the original study that IslamOnline.net is quoting bits from, please? UK Mosque Goers to Double Church Attendance: Study http://www.islam-online.net/English/News/2005-09/04/article06.shtml I find it harder to find out what ‘Christian Research’ did publish this rapport. Religious belief ‘falling faster than church attendance’ http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml;jsessionid=CBCWNFDRXNMYZQF… By Matt Barnwell and Amy Iggulden – (Filed: 17/08/2005) Churches ‘on road to doom if trends continue’ http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2005/09/03/nchur… By Jonathan Petre, Religion Correspondent – (Filed: 03/09/2005) It’s probably The Future of the Church, Relgious trends # 5, 2005/2006, edited by Peter Brierly,  20 pounds, to order at : http://www.christian-research.org.uk/shop/html/shopindex.htm

Thanks for those links, Alfred. It would still be good to see the actual report itself rather than just some people’s interpretations of it or bits they have extracted. However, the overall impression seems pretty clear. I don’t think many people would argue that Britain is becoming a less overtly Christian country. By that I mean that it is becoming less based on Christian ethics than it used to be and people in general know far less than they used to do about Christianity, even if they only knew it in the past in some sort of "intellectual sense" rather than being practising Christians themselves. While not wanting at all to play down the seriousness of the situation, which would be plain daft, I would just like to point out one or two good things that are happening: 1) As one of the comments quoted says, the Church of England (my lot) reckoned its congregations had increased by 1% in 2003. It is also pertinent to point out that non-Sunday worship and fellowship is becoming more important, e.g. home groups meeting during the week show a trend away from the more formalised approach to worship and something of a move back to how the New Testament churches worked. This is happening even in the C of E. (OK, you can pick yourself up off the floor). 2) Ten years ago the British churches employed about 500 paid youth workers. Now it is around 7000 and rising. Perhaps we are getting real about our faith at last. Alan

Response:

UK Mosque Goers to Double Church Attendance: Study CAIRO , September 4, 2005 (IslamOnline.net) – The number of Muslims praying at British mosques will be double the number of church goers by 2040, according to a study by the British-based association Christian Research. Its more fun to learn about Bomb making. The study, The Future of The Church, said that there will be nearly twice as many Muslims at prayer in mosques on Friday as Christians attending Sunday services, reported the Telegraph on Sunday, September 4. British government and academic sources said in 2004 that some 930,000 Muslims go to the mosque at least once a week against 916,000 regular worshipers in the Church of England, the mother church of the Anglican communion. Mosques in Britain range from the splendor of Regents Park Mosque, and the big central mosques in Birmingham and Manchester , to more modest structures, often converted from other buildings, according to the BBC. The first mosque in Britain is likely to have been one recorded in 1860 in Cardiff . Another early British mosque was established in 1887 in Mount Vernon Street in Liverpool , and moved to Brougham Terrace in 1889, where the building, which is now a Registry Office, continued to be used as a mosque until 1908. Britain ’s first purpose-built mosque was built at Woking in Surrey in 1894 with money from the ruler of Bhopal , Shah Jehan. In 1940 the British government allocated a sum of up to

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