The Crumbling Edifices of Old Faith

It is difficult not to admire the senior members of the Anglican Church, meeting at the annual Synod in York this weekend.
They have presided over the long-term decline in church attendance, falling income from the collection boxes, and their once great institution is now faced with financial melt-down as well as the possibility of a schism,or even an outright takeover, by the evangalical wing.
And yet they still believe they can change the world.
None of this impressed Nosher, however, as we hunkered down in Nosher's old allotment shed, relaxing in our old deckchairs whilst watching the rain outside through the dusty cobwebbed window panes.
'It seems that the nicer they try to be about God' Nosher declared 'the fewer people bother to take any notice of their message. At least in the old days the faithful would turn out for baptisms, weddings and funerals, but these days they can't even rely on that any more.'
'I'm not fan of organised religion myself' I replied 'but I think we should give them credit for women priests, being more tolerant about gays, and at least trying to sound liberal - although old beardy-tits and his ridiculous pronouncements on Sharia Law obviously will have put a lot of people off.'
Nosher grinned happily.
'Yep - think you've hit the nail on the head' he said 'the more liberal they try to be, the more they sound as if they'd go to almost any lengths to make new friends, even if it means selling out. The fact is organised religion is built on fear, ignorance, prejudice and wishful thinking, all tied up with the desire of those in charge to feel important and powerful. OK, the weak-kneed moderates are in charge at the moment, but history shows there are always psychopaths hiding in the shadows waiting to re-institute religious oppression as soon as an opportunity presents itself.'
I sighed. Agreeing with Nosher is sometimes is difficult, but today our opinions were in totally in tune.
'So what do you think of the proposal to open up more churchs as tourist attractions in order to boost income?' I asked.
'Laughable!' he retorted 'I can remember in the 1950s every parish church was unlocked 24 hours a day. Theft was very rare. Now they're all locked up except for services, to prevent thieving scumbags from taking everything that's not bolted down. And even so the rate of burglary and theft from churches is alarmingly high. Where are the staff going to come from to keep watch over all the valuables if they open these churches for tourists? Volunteers? Some parish churches now only have a couple of old ladies and the church mouse attending services - how are they going to manage? And what if their visitors are actually crooks just looking out for valuables so they can return later to steal? No, I can't see it working.'
I sighed again. I hate when Nosher is right all the time. Sometimes more fun is to be had disagreeing.
'So what do you think will happen in the long run?'
Nosher grinned mischevously.
'They'll either recognise their irrelevance and fade gracefully away, and their churches, those monuments to folly and self-aggrandisement, will crumble to dust or be put to better uses; or the evangelicals will take over, in which case the ranting and denouncements of "God's enemies" will start up all over again, like they used to in the wars of religion a few of centuries ago.'
'Can't see them fading away - too much valuable real estate there' I said 'someone will want to get their hands on it, and right now the front-runners are the evangelicals, who are led by some rather dubious characters who like to tell everyone they don't like to go to Hell.'
'Yep' said Nosher 'give it a hundred years or so and I reckon we'll be back to the wars of religion. History repeats itself, it's just the slogans that change.'
'And the weaponry' I added.
More from www.overthegardenfence.blogspot.com soon.
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