Are We in a "Post Christian" Era? -

Are We in a "Post Christian" Era? - Chuck Missler - www.khouse.org

 
The former archbishop of Canterbury Lord Williams caused a stir in World Christianity when he said that Britain is no longer a country of believers but rather has entered a post-Christian era.
 
When asked if Britain was a Christian Country, the former cleric said, "A Christian country as a nation of believers? No. A Christian country in the sense of still being very much saturated by this vision of the world and shaped by it? Yes."
 
That did not mean though that Britain embraced secular humanism. Williams explained, "A Christian nation can sound like a nation of committed believers, and we are not that. Equally, we are not a nation of dedicated secularists. I think we're a lot less secular than the most optimistic members of the British Humanist Association would think," he said.
 
Lord Williams of Oystermouth, who stood down as leader of the Church of England in December 2012, said the time of habitual worship was over and that a further decline of widespread faith was likely. His comments, in an interview with the Sunday Telegraph, came after the prime minister was criticized for saying the UK should be "more confident about our status as a Christian country" and more evangelical about faith.
 
David Cameron's comments prompted fury from secular and atheist groups and led to the Liberal Democrat leader, Nick Clegg, an atheist, calling for the separation of church and state in England.
 
A poll for the newspaper also found that 55 percent, agreed that Britain is a Christian country, compared to just a third disagreeing.
 
The poll goes on to say that 50 percent of the public do not see themselves as belonging to any particular religion, compared to 43 percent who do. When asked to rate how religious they think they are, 77 percent answered "not very religious" or "not religious at all," compared to 20 percent answering "fairly religious" and just three percent saying they were "very religious."
 
Williams, who is now master of Magdalene College, Cambridge, said that while Britain's "cultural memory is still quite strongly Christian," it was post-Christian in that habitual practice across most of the population was not taken for granted.
 
Asked whether Britain would lose its faith altogether, he said: "Given that we have a younger generation now who know less about this legacy than people under 45, there may be a further shrinkage of awareness and commitment."
 
Williams added: "The other side is that people then rediscover Christianity with a certain freshness, because it's not 'the boring old stuff that we learnt at school and have come to despise.' I see signs of that, talking to youngsters here at Magdalene and in school visits. There is a curiosity about Christianity."
 
The Sunday Telegraph's poll, which surveyed 2,000 people online, found that 56% of people regard Britain as Christian, rising to 60% among men and 73% among over-65s.
 
Not only does this strike a blow against the secularists, it suggests a degree of resistance to "multiculturalism," where people of different religions and cultures are encouraged to live separate, parallel lives within the same country.
 
In another interesting statistic, sixty-two per cent of the people surveyed said the rise of religious fundamentalism made them afraid to express their faith.