RELIGIOUS GROWTH CREEPING SECULARISATION AFFECTING ALL CHURCHES

Press, Volume CXIV, Issue 33454, 8 February 1974, Page 8

RELIGIOUS GROWTH CREEPING SECULARISATION AFFECTING ALL CHURCHES

/From the "Economist") i Reprinted by arrangement I A heavenly accountant sent down to inspect the books of the Christian churches at the start of 1971 would be bound to report that none of the old firms was doing well at the moment. True, the sudden and spectacular collapse that some people feared a decade or so ago lias not materialised, but business is by no means as usual. I he. churcheposition everywhere is being eroded by the spiritual equivalent of creeping inflation — creeping secularisation. Their customers are still deserting in droves, and many of the clergy are themselves getting out fast, and are becoming ever harder to replace.

11 clergymen and ministers •! marry are not necessarily : I much better off. Entry to .■the Anglican priesthood has ;;been falling steadily over lithe years, the same is true J of the other major denomir[ nations, although the '[Methodists hope to do a bit llbetter now that they are orildaining women as ministers. >; No wonder that influential 'voices can be heard pre'ldieting the death of tie in- - 51 stitutional church in the not- >| too-distant future. Well be- ' | fore the year 2000, says one ! Catholic writer, Monsignor [Malachi Martin, there will Jno longer be a religious in- [ sitution recognisable as the Roman Catholic Church. A similarly gloomy future has been prophesied for the Church of England by a leading Anglican layman. Mr Leslie Paul. At the end of the day, if the trend continues, all that is left of inI sthutional Christianity may Ibe a multitude of sects subsisting on a vague religiosity land indulging in an “orgy of ! costless sincerity” — the expressive phrase of a London university sociologist, Professor David Martin, in his new book, “Tracts against the Times”. Radical theology Some churchmen have reacted to this sombre prospect by embarking on a desperate search for “rele- ) vance” measured in terms of i politics and economics. This l line may work in the underdeveloped world, but there ) is no evidence that it has [made anybody in the West [ more religious. It has more [likely helped to make the [churches more secular, and [ less distinctive from a host iof worldly institutions. Less [distinctive and therefore probably also less effective. ! If the trend is going to be reversed, the answer may lie [ somewhere else. The curious thing is that radical theology, which was booming a decade ago with books like [the Bishop of Woolwich’s “Honest to God”, seems to |be going into a decline. | On the other hand, there [ is evidence of a new boom in works dealing with prayI er and other spiritual subjects. The biggest religious ; publishing success of the I past few months has been a 'handbook to the Bible which has sold more than 50,000 [copies since October and isj [again reprinting. Roman [Catholic publishers and [booksellers report the same [trend back o the more traditional “holy” subjects and' [away from the literature of [protest and criticism. i There is a widening interest in the religious orders, | [in knowing about them and f |in joining them. The most!

i The manpower crisis ; seems to be especially a 'Ute [in the Roman Catholic! I Church: the papal daiiy,. ; L'Osservatore Romano, has admitted that 20.000 priests! ;left the church in the past 1 ifew years. Another 20 per cent of the present total of) about 450,000 are expected; [to leave in the course of the) [coming decade. Of course,; [the Roman Catholic Church! has special problems with) its priests because of its; rule that those who belong; to its Latin rite must stay! celibate. | But other Christian denomi-; j nations that let their)

; demanding of the Anglican •(orders, the Franciscans, has i: so many applicants that it is ;l having to turn many awax ■On the Roman Catholic side, tithe contemplative orders are I increasingly in demand. The “'Catholic information centre :; is getting enough inquiries ■’about the life of monks and (nuns to have encouraged it I ( to produce a 60-slide kit git .ling some of the answers In . i the nonconformist churches J too, there is an evident increase of interest in prayer Jand other forms of spirit- ■ uality. Direct guidance Perhaps the best indica Ition of the new mood has .(been the spectacular growth of the so-called Pentecostal movement in the United ■ States and, more recently, in ‘Britain. The main characteristic of this movement, which includes members of all churches, even Roman jCatholics, is the search for what its adherents regard as ■direct guidance from the (Holy Ghost through group prayer and meditation. Professor Martin says pentecositalism is one manifestation ■of middle-class society's (growing taste for spirituality, comparable with the Methodist revival at the be(ginning of the 19th Century The movement seems to appeal especially to younger people. Why is this happening? The answer from senior men in the churches is that quite a lot of people are starting to realise that there is more to life than they had been led to believe. They want to discover how they can best live at peace with their neighbours, and with them- • selves, and they hope the churches can provide the ‘help they need. They are unlikely to get it from parsons j like the Rev. Tom Sonnens(chein, the fictional but all-|too-real character in Kingsley Amis’s thriller, “The I Green Man”, who advises an anxious agnostic to stop (worrying about “all that (crap about immortality” They will not be illuminated by men who believe that “mistiness is the mother of wisdom”, as Newman once put it. Mistiness makes excellent consensus politics, but bad religion. This Christmas both the 'Pope and the Archbishop of iCanterbury avoided instant (politics in their messages for December 25, and talked about more purely spiritual themes. It could be a beginIning. If the others follow, I those ecclesiastical firms (whose too-secular face has (failed to bring people back to the church may rediscover something they had forgotten.