IS CHRISTIANITY LOSING GROUND ? - I
By KENNETH INGRAM
THE fact that this question is being asked in many quarters today is itself symptomatic of the profound changes which are taking place in the realm of thought. We are prepared to contemplate possibilities which our forefathers would not have dared to consider. Nor is this a question which affects only those who are intimately associated with one or other of the religious organisations. The Christian tradition has been embedded so deeply in the national culture that its disappearance could not fail to produce consequences extending far beyond the ecclesiastical field.
It is always difficult to provide an exact answer to a general question. Those who are seriously attempting to discover whether institutional religion is on the increase or on the wane will probably turn in the first instance to statistics. Official religious statistics, however, do little more than reiterate a fact which no one will deny, that regular Christian membership represents a small minority of the community. On a generous estimate that minority is not greater than one- fifth of the (English) population. If we compare more recent figures with those of previous years no startling results will be disclosed. There is a slight tendency in some directions to a decrease and there is no indication of an increase propor- tionate to the rise of popfflation : but on the whole institu- tional religion is holding its own. The unreliability of this type of evidence will be appreciated when it is seen that in none of the denominational totals is it possible to distinguish between those who belong to the older and to the younger generations. If, as many observers suspect, the drift from Christian allegiance is taking place mainly among those who have not yet reached the thirties, the decline in formal religious membership is likely to be accelerated in the next decade. It may be urged that present-day scepticism is merely a symptom of juvenile instability and that with middle-age it will be shed. My own view is that it is a symptom of something much more fundamental.
One of the conspicuous features of the immediate situation is the steady trend to the Left of the more intelligent types of young men and women. The profession of Left political views does not necessarily involve a rejection of Christian affirmations. But the Left, as a whole, whether Marxist or non-Marxist, is certainly critical of or indifferent to the claims of Christian institutionalism. This Leftward trend is one expression of the revolt from orthodoxy which is apparent not only among the working-classes but in middle- class schools and universities. The stream of human creative energy is flowing today in channels far removed from the Church's jurisdiction.
As counter-evidence some may point to the spread of the Buchman Group Movement. So far as the numerical test is concerned the secularist development far exceeds any occasional religious revival or any combination of religious activities. But what is more significant is the kind of personnel which is being attracted to the secularist banner as compared with the type which remains faithful or is converted to the official Christian cause. Few of those who are familiar with public schools or universities will deny that it is those who are mentally vigorous who usually profess themselves atheist or sceptical : while those who adhere to formal Christianity are, in the main, those whose minds are less critically alert.
We may dispute the extent of this drift from formal religious allegiance, but we cannot deny its existence. It is relevant therefore to ask why this drift is taking place. In a subse- quent article an attempt will be made to trace the effect of the present world-situation on religious thought, for it is this impact which, in my view, supplies an explanation cf the problem before us. But in the immediate context a more general analysis must serve. Whether we turn to the economic or to the social sphere we are at cnce made aware of a conflict between modem and traditional con- ceptions. This conflict is particularly marked in the realm of moral ideas and behaviour. It is essentially a conflict between two cultures, between a system of civilisation which the bulk of the older generation support, and the coming to ,birth of a new order which claims the conscious or instinctive support of the majority of young men and women. It is indeed because the Left supplies a programme for con- structing a new form of civilisation that it is winning its recruits.
What is the role of official Christianity at this juncture ? In the eyes of youth it is identified specifically with the traditional culture which they are challenging. It represents the very order which modernity rejects. The Christian solution for the troubles of the world appears as an invita- tion to return to the traditional codes. The Archbishop's appeal for a religious revival is a "recall," a recall to the forms of religious exercise which are characteristic of a former age. Official Christianity is speaking and thinking in the language of the old order. It follows therefore that those who are convinced that the existing civilisation will give way to a new system and culture are led to conclude that Christianity will share in that collapse. So sure are modern intellectuals that Christianity in this country is already in the process of decay that they are disposed to be entirely tolerant towards it.
How far are these assumptions tenable ? There can be no doubt of the inevitability of the first, for history shows us that no form of civilisation is permanent. The collapse of the present economic-social order may be delayed, it may be gradual or violent, but it cannot ultimately be averted, and as a result a new culture must evolve. The reliability a the second assumption depends primarily on what we mean •by Christianity. Is it to be identified absolutely with its organisation ? Is it committed to certain beliefs which are credible only in a particular type of cultural and intellectual environment ? The more rigid schools of orthodox interpretation come very near to that conception. The function of the Church is regarded as being primarily that of defending a final creed and an unalter- able moral standard against modern encroachments. This is particularly marked in the sphere of sex ethics. From the orthodox standpoint the Church has once for all condemned sex relationships outside marriage as impure, and has insisted that marriage is a union which is indissoluble save by death. In orthodox eyes Christianity is so entirely committed to this principle that any deviation from it is pagan. It may be claimed that such a principle is an eternal truth and is thus transcendent to any stage of human culture. But it is a con- ception which identifies Christianity with a traditional law and it raises the issue whether Christianity is in fact a static code or a force which is capable of expressing itself in evolu- tionary forms. That is the question which must be explored if we are to reckon the fortunes of Christianity and the extent of its influence in the years which lie before us.
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