Anglicanism's self-fulfilling decline
If priests lose faith in core doctrines, how can anyone else be inspired?
|
 |
According to a landmark survey of 1200 serving Church of England priests conducted by The Times (£), three quarters of them believe that Britain can no longer be described as a Christian country,
Almost two-thirds said Britain could be called Christian “but only historically, not currently”.
The survey uncovered a strong desire among rank-and-file priests for significant changes in church doctrine on issues such as sex, sexuality, marriage and the role of women to bring it into greater line with public opinion.
What’s striking isn’t just how many Anglican priests want to liberalise, but how many are so pessimistic about the future of Christianity in Britain. It’s not clear whether they think liberalising sexual doctrine will arrest the decline. They appear to fear all is lost.
What is clear is that they can’t see is that this is a self-fulfilling prophecy. The church will indeed be lost if they abandon the beliefs for which it stands. Far from stopping the rot by going with the secular flow, they are likely to bring above precisely what they fear is already happening... Melanie Phillips.
