Onward Christian soldiers? The role of religion today

Historically, many people turned to religion in times of crisis. To some extent, this was true when the Covid-19 pandemic struck. Google searches for ‘prayer’ increased by 50 per cent, for example. Yet there has been little evidence of a more widespread turn to faith or spiritual reflection. The role of organised religion, or indeed the ‘relevance’ of God to the modern world, remains an open question, despite the tumult of recent times.

At such a critical moment, how did organised religion fare? In a period in which we might have expected organised religion to offer solace, comfort and hope to frightened followers, places of worship were shut – and not just by order of the government. The Catholic Church suspended the public celebration of mass and dispensed with the obligation to attend Sunday mass. Mosques cancelled Friday prayers, temples closed, synagogues shut.

The aim was to protect parishioners and followers, particularly the vulnerable and elderly. Churches offered services via livestream, and many claimed it was easier for a wider range of people to take part that way. Yet the eerie sight of an empty St Peter’s Square in Rome at Easter, when it would normally packed, caused unease for many.

But the churches were in trouble long before Covid. Congregations are ageing and shrinking. One consequence is that the churches are in financial trouble and struggling to reorganise as a result. For example, the Church of England has been undergoing a ‘radical’ and controversial review of vision and strategy. The Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, explained to a recent conference that the Church as an institution needs to ‘get out of the church as it is normally seen’, and has set a target of 10,000 new lay-led churches in the community by 2030.

While this has been promoted as a shift in emphasis to get out of the churches to reach ‘younger generations, the unchurched, minority groups, and groups of people not seen in the existing churches’ and into the community, some see it as trying to justify cost-cutting. A grassroots group, Save our Parish, is campaigning against what is seen as a bureaucratic centralised plan that undermines local parishes and their priests, calling it ‘a coup by Archbishops to take control of everything’.

For others, the problems are less organisational and more theological. The churches have alighted on the sensibilities of the day. For example, environmental sustainability is now a key message, with the Church of England Synod voting to pursue ‘net zero’ by 2030. Pope Francis has condemned ecological sin: ‘It is a sin against future generations and is manifested in the acts and habits of pollution and destruction of the harmony of the environment.’

Like many other institutions, the churches are also convulsed by historical issues. Welby told BBC Radio 4’s Today of plans to review ‘very carefully’ statues and historic monuments at major places of worship, saying ‘some will have to come down, some names will have to change’.

Where does this leave organised Christianity in the UK today? Can religious morality survive secular trends? Can we expect a new renaissance of spirituality in the wake of the recent intimations of mortality we all faced, as we all take stock about what matters in life and beyond? Can and should the church adapt to the ‘new normal’?