�Believing Without Belonging�. Does this phrase adequately describe the state of Christianity in contemporary Britain? A quick overview of the spiritual state of Britain would give the impression that Christianity in Britain would appear to be in a state of near-terminal decline. This is a view that comes about due, mainly to the decline of the visible churches. This is not the complete picture as this portrayal fails to take into account the latent convictions and beliefs of the populace at large. The latent beliefs and convictions of the people tell you that most of the people do have elements of what is sometimes referred to as residual spirituality. This spirituality (being in a nominally Christian country) tends to be of vague Christian notions. The strength of belief in a form of God is exceptionally high even amongst those who never set foot in a church. Perhaps the strongest signal of this residual spirituality is the still � high proportion of weddings held in churches despite both families involved often being almost completely absent from all sorts of religious worship. Further analysis of the more specific areas of this topic must be investigated. The institution of marriage is still a very strong one in Britain despite the many factors that detract from this. Not least of these is the number of divorces that now occur: over a third of marriages now end in divorce. It is thus perhaps surprising that the number of weddings shows little signs of abating in spite of the many opposing factors ranged against them. More specifically in terms of the topic under discussion, the proportion of church weddings is incredibly high: despite only 10% of the English proportion regularly attending church, 47% of weddings are still held in a church. Admittedly, 1995 (the year that these statistics are drawn from) was the first time that the number of weddings in churches was less than the number of civil weddings; this was mainly due to the first effects of wide-ranging deregulation of the wedding laws. The relatively massive proportion of church marriages is a phenomenon that seems incompatible with the level of church attendance. The reason for this seemingly bizarre situation is the latent Christianity in Britain. Despite these people not attending church, they still feel that it is necessary for their union to be blessed. White weddings are one of the most beautiful and glorious features of the traditional church in Britain and this could conceivably be an important factor behind the level of church weddings. The reason for the high number of church weddings is deeper than this in my opinion. It is unusual to find either the bride or the groom in such situations lacking completely in Christian belief and as such I believe that the level of church weddings remains high as people do still believe in the Christian faith but see no need to attend church regularly. This whole change in the attitude of people today is significant and unique in the Christian era. It is hard to understand exactly why this should be the case in the modern age whereas throughout the rest of history, almost everybody was religious and worshipped (in whatever form) regularly. This whole cultural shift, particularly in what may be termed the North Atlantic countries, has its roots in the industrial revolution and the increasing independence of people in regards to the �class system�. Society today is close to the �classless society� that John Major was keen on completing in Britain. The above discrepancy between church attendance and church weddings is even more marked in funerals. It is incredible that despite only one tenth of the British population attending church regularly, 95% of funerals retain Christian aspects. The fact that religious adherence amongst the elderly is far higher than amongst other generations is clearly a major contributory factor here but this still does not account adequately for the colossal discrepancy present in this situation. Whether the extra factor is due to residual belief or whether Christianity is retained merely as a form of safeguard to try and ensure that the deceased does indeed make it to the after-life if it does exist. The possibility that people see Christianity as merely a safeguard is not as high as the majority of people are not so flippant as to see something as potentially powerful as Christianity to be seen in this trivial manner � almost as a commodity to be used when necessary but kept neatly out of the way when it is inconvenient. Elements of this are certainly present, but the consumer culture is not as all-pervasive as that. The media�s effect on the religion of the country is major, as is its effect on all other aspects of opinion within Britain. Opinions can be quickly inflamed amongst certain groups by certain newspapers with audacious power leading to significant consequences. An example of this in the political sphere is the potential influence that the shift in The Sun�s allegiance from the Conservative party to the Labour party. It may well be possible to show that the Labour party would have polled significantly fewer votes amongst the working classes otherwise. Another example of a more spiritual nature is the inflammatory effects of the media on the people�s reactions to the passing away of Diana. Without the media�s constant coverage of Diana�s actions and her willingness to use it to her own advantage, it is likely that her death would have brought about far less extreme feelings and graphic displays of grief than actually occurred. Without her elevation to iconic status by the newspapers and the television companies, in league with a similar derision of Prince Charles, the populace would not have been so concerned with her death. The vivid outpourings of mourning that are perhaps most exemplified by the mass of floral tributes placed outside Kensington palace and the millions of signatures in the books of condolences. The influence of the media is perhaps more indirect than suggested, however. The influence of American culture on our own is strong and brought about in no small part by our media. The contrast between American willingness to express emotions openly and traditional British reserve used to be marked and true. Now the difference is not so clear. The public reaction to the death of Diana bears many of the hallmarks formerly almost exclusive to the American public. Indeed, the death of Diana could almost be seen as the watershed in British emotional expression. It is remarkable that the death of Mother Theresa, in proximity to that of the Princess of Wales, received significantly less attention from the people despite her leading a more religious and less privileged life. This would have been inconceivable fifty years ago, yet society has changed that much. The death of Diana did ignite feelings of a deeply spiritual nature amongst the people. A reading of the books of condolences reveals many prayers and spiritual feelings. This is against a backdrop of almost universal decline in the traditional churches and is further strong evidence of the phenomenon of believing without belonging. The media�s influence directly on the church takes a different form from that related to Diana. The tabloids love a story about a cleric deviating from the Christian values, either via infidelity or some other vice. They recognise that these stories sell the newspapers, and conversely, influence people to believe that the clergy consists mainly of hypocrites. The high interest in the church as evidenced above is difficult to reconcile with the disinterest in attendance at church without recourse to the theory of believing without belonging. The media have helped to strengthen this circumstance by deriding the clergy but proclaiming traditional values. The Sun, already mentioned above, is firm in its strong moral convictions even though it may not appear to act according to these morals. This is perhaps the situation in Britain in a nutshell: people hold Christian values strongly but do not trust the church and do not act entirely according to their convictions. The presence of television on Sundays as well as other activities are really a separate issue that is covered below. The range of differing activities available on Sundays at present is far greater than used to be the case. All day shopping, garden centres, television and drinking establishments all compete for people�s time on Sundays now with the churches which was never true before. This thrusting of Christianity into the marketplace along with these other secular activities is bound to have a negative effect on church attendance. It s difficult to determine in this situation which is the cause and which is the effect. Did falling church attendance and ensuing lack of belief lead to more activities to be available on the Christian day of rest or was it the other way round. In many ways this situation is positive for Christianity. It is positive as it is evidence that church attendance is not falling because people no longer believe, but because they choose to do other things as church is �boring� or �irrelevant� or some such reason. This is perhaps best combated by new, innovative and exciting ways of worship. This is perhaps a strong reason why the charismatic movement has risen so strongly within this country. Overall, the situation within Britain as a whole is that of �believing without belonging�. The falling church attendance is not due to a fall in spirituality, but due to a lack of interest in church services when there is so much else available to participate in. The church needs to look for vibrant new ways to attract the estranged populace back within its doors or suffer extinction in this survival of the fittest capitalist society in which we now live. Some movements such as the charismatic movements have already achieved notable success in this manner. The traditional churches should take note and aim to evangelise the nation back to church. The basic conversion of belief is not truly necessary, as the belief is still inherently present.
