A sobering report out of the UK says the Church of England is now considering which days to stay open given the increasing number of atheists in that country.
The Church of England is reportedly considering plans to keep some historic village churches across the country opened only on holy days such as Christmas and Easter due to population shifts and the ever-growing decline in attendance and church membership.
A major report by the Church Buildings Review Group noted that many churches are no longer sustainable, and that about one in four parishes have fewer than 10 regular worshipers.
The report proposes turning some parishes into “festival churches” in order to ease the financial burden, suggesting that they will only be used for key dates on the religious calendar, or occasions such as marriage and funerals.
Festival churches are only one of the widespread changes proposed by the review group, which says it is focused on “securing spiritual and numerical growth and serving the common good.”
The group’s Social Attitudes survey found that 40% of the British population identified as Anglicans in 1983, but that number was down to only 17% in 2014. Presently only 8.5 million Britons identify as Anglicans.
People of no religious faith now make up close to half of the population in Britain.
Here in the US a Pew Religious Landscape survey reported that as of 2014, 22% of the U.S. population is religiously unaffiliated, with atheists and agnostics making up around 7%.