To find it interesting how the UK is apparently having a 'Christian revival'?

[BonxBonx]

I was watching the news the other day and they were talking about how there has been a big increase in church attendance over the past couple of years, particularly among Gen Z. Anecdotally, I have seen a few friends (in our mid-to-late 20s) 'find God' and start going to church over the past couple of years. Not just passively attending either; actively engaging in Bible classes and retreats. My TikTok is also showing me a lot of this - British 20-somethings talking about their Christianity.

I find it really interesting, especially the timing of it. With the advances in science and us having been a pretty atheist society for a while now, I am surprised. Is it a consequence of being on the back end of the pandemic followed by a cost-of-living crisis that people are looking for answers outside of themselves? I know when things get hard I find myself praying, even when I don't believe in God. Is this an example of that kind of thinking but on a bigger scale?

I’m in my 30s and have become religious as an adult and regularly attend church.

For me it started with a sense of there being something other (I was lonely), and now it is also a feeling of community, of reflection and trying to be a better person, of a connection to a bigger constant than the very transient day to day.

I have been to lots of churches in my lifetime and all have welcomed LGBTQ, divorcees, single parents, SEN etc.

If it's true (and I'm not sure it is) I suspect it goes hand in hand with the rise of the far right, misogyny and the anti-trans agenda.

Most churches welcome 'sinners'.

Extra 'god points' if you can turn people away from sin.

FFS why on earth is being Christian an indicator of being far right, anti trans and misogynistic?
CofE has been around since Henry vii why would you now deem this religion to be a threat?

Same here

I have always been a Christian and sometimes attend church. It is good for people to believe in something bigger than themselves.

Science shouldn't have anything to do with it. Science can only look at the physical world, it's by definition an empirical science. But science tells us nothing about whether or not there are non-physical realities, those are philosophical questions, metaphysical or ethical questions, for example.

There is a lot of evidence they Gen Z is more conservative than their parents or grandparents, in many ways. In a way I think that conservative here is a misleading term - many are rejecting the kind of liberalism that is normative in their demographics, for their families that kind of liberal progressive outlook is the standard, or "conservative" choice. Actually being politically or socially conservative represents a break from their family tradition.

Anyway, my belief is that this is mainly down to two things. One is that modern secular capitalist progressivism fails to give a robust sense of meaning to life. And the other is, most are two generations removed from a religion, neither their parents nor grandparents are observant. So it has no baggage for them.

Mythology around Mithras and Christianity

I have no interest in organised religion nor in any institution that tries to police the private grief, love, or conscience of another human being nor in something that tries to dictate morality while ignoring humanity.

However, I am interested in the idea of God. I'm not sure I'd ever believe in it but I'm open to it.

I find comments like this baffling. The most cursory reading of the news, or recent history, or social media will show that, while this may well be your personal experience it is certainly not universal, or even usual.

There’s 4 of them, at least (that I know of). I don’t know the ins and outs of how they operate or if they have any grants from the government, but my relative had no money coming in, neither do most men in there. So they definitely exist and you end up baptised.

'A lot of the Bible'? I don't think so. Evolutionary theory and the Big Bang are our current explanations for life, but the Bible is full of much more, none of which is meant to be scientific. Many people from Abrahamic religions would say that the Old testament is the 'why' and science explains the 'how'. Historically, there are many comparison points between both Old testament and New testament and events occurring.

I have seen this also, at my local Catholic Church I have noticed a lot more families attending.

I think this is partly due to school admissions, to enter a good catholic school parents now need to have a priest sign a form stating they have been regularly attending for 5 years.

It's not necessarily, but you have to look at which denominations are seeing an increase in youth attendance and where these churches are situated in the current political and cultural landscape.

https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/5050/trump-us-christian-spending-global-revealed/

Suggest you look at what's going on with the evangelical right in the US and consider their connections with the evangelical movement outside of the US.

In the US an media literate, organised and well funded religious movement, hand in hand with the Trump government, is determined to reverse the progressive policies that have advanced the interests of women and minorities over the past half century. The evangelical church is a central part of this. These churches have outposts around the world and they exercise their anti-progressive agenda through them. Hence the uptick in anti-choice activism in the UK. Ditto the aggressive campaigning by religiously funded groups in cases like Alfie Evans.

Wow didn't expect this to get so many replies, thank you everyone! I've just sat with a cup of coffee and read through them all. There are so many interesting points.

I myself don't think it's a bad thing. The basic Christian principles from the New Testament of love thy neighbour are definitely something our society could do more with. I also think the sense of community is something that is missing from a lot of our lives. I'm sure the average church goer is just a normal person who believes in God and wants to ground themselves with a religious framework to live by and a sense of community, not someone with extremist views who is out to harm society.

I'm not a Christian but I always find it interesting how much anger there is when Christianity is brought up, it's like the notion of respecting people's religious beliefs extends to all other religions bar Christianity.

The issues I have with all religions in the main is hypocrisy. Christian values as described are basically "love thy neighbour" unless they don't accept "Christ", or disagree with some of the punitive and questionable arbitrary rules designed to placate an entity that the Bible itself, written by Men says we cannot possibly fathom. And then it's OK to kill them (historically).

And as for money and wealth related issues, religions use fear to keep people poor, like any ideology.

Did God really create man in his image, or did Man do the creating, overlooking and demonising Women over poor culinary choices?

There may be some sort of "power" in the Universe that underpins it all, but claiming it's big beardy Daddy in the sky who will smite his children for their transgressions on a whim has caused incredible suffering, cruelty and given megalomaniacs excuses to exercise the very traits they decry.

The rising influence of this regressive thinking on politics and war is frankly a grave concern.

@BonxBonx”
“I'm not a Christian but I always find it interesting how much anger there is when Christianity is brought up, it's like the notion of respecting people's religious beliefs extends to all other religions bar Christianity.”

People often say this. The issue is that in the UK Christianity is the only religion that actually impacts on the lives of non-Christians. I am perfectly happy to let Christians get on with their lives-the problem is they don’t want to let me get on with mine. If we had a secular state there wouldn't be an issue.

The parents were Catholic, I think most parents would campaign as hard as possible to prevent losing their child regardless of religion.
Islam is very much anti choice and misogynistic. Are you concerned about Islam eroding women’s rights?

@mumofoneAlonebutokay Christians don’t have any issue with single Mum’s, and Christians are the group most concerned with assisted dying, its impact on the disabled, benefit cuts targeting the poor and the plight of the poor in general.

Mainstream UK Christians have very little in common with US religious fundamentalists.

If you are genuinely interested in why this could be happening, this podcast is worth a listen open.spotify.com/show/7lovL2tXCyAGkbWZM9F9hg?si=mVtyfnkHT96d55qruBGx4Q

How does Christianity impact the lives of non Christians in the UK?

All state schools are required to have daily worship.
26 bishops sit in the house of Lords, part of the lawmaking process which affects everyone.

@KrisAkabusi my DD went to high school in the UK and there was no daily worship? Where did this notion come from?

@BonxBonx I agree that it’s the sense of community thing. I’m not religious myself either but I’ve been going to support the relative I mentioned earlier and his (and others) main point is the community aspect. People just want to feel some sense of support around them that they’re not getting otherwise.

All English schools are statutorily required to have a daily act of collective worship “broadly Christian in nature” The fact that many schools do not do thus does not make it any less an example of Christian privilege. Christians have an automatic block vote in the House of Lords in the form of the Bishops, which can have a significant impact, particularly in health and social policy. Christian families gave access to 33% more state funded schools than people of other or no faith. Many statutory holidays are in place for the convenience of Christians. And those are just for starters!