Godless or Godlier?

Westminster Abbey in London

The Church in the UK wakes up to a new threat - not Islam, but ' 'secularism' and 'public atheism'… Anirban Bhaumik reports from London.

“Love and serve the Lord”, Cardinal Francis Arinze utters the concluding blessings in an ‘Academic Mass’ at Westminster Cathedral.

“Thanks be to God,” Kavin Regan, 26, joins nearly a thousand students and teachers of London. A student of social ethics in Heythrop College under the University of London, Regan is a ‘committed Catholic’ and a regular churchgoer. He has a few Muslim friends, who he says are just as devout as him.

Cut to nearby Victoria Station, where Salim Tieb distributes leaflets with headlines like, “What is Islam: A Holistic Vision” and “Jihad: Striving for Peace”.

If a passer-by wants to know more, the young IT professional zealously explains the true essence of his faith: Islam means ‘peace and submission’ and ‘jihad’ has nothing to do with terrorism, it is rather “a noble effort to improve oneself, one’s family and community, nation and world at large”. “Protection of non-Muslims’ rights is an intrinsic part of Islam,” says Salim.

Amid the cacophony of rhetoric and counter-rhetoric over radical Islam, terrorism and wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, perhaps Regan and Salim together make an ideal – if unreal – picture of a multi-religious, but tolerant UK.

They don’t see a threat in each other. But they, and their spiritual masters, are concerned over the rise of a new faith — secularism.

War on Religion

Not only have individuals like Oxford University professor Richard Dawkins and organizations like National Secular Society (NSS) launched a war on religion, even Tony Blair’s Labour Government seems keen to pursue the ‘politically correct’ agenda of secularization – to wipe off the anti-Islam slur it earned on the battlefields of Iraq and Afghanistan. So are the authorities of many universities and other institutions.

Dawkins – nicknamed by the media as ‘Godless Dawkins’ – has authored many bestsellers and the latest is “The God Delusion”, yet another polemic against religion. The militant atheist now plans to flood schools with new books, rubbishing ‘unscientific’ thoughts and promoting ‘rational’ ones.

Secularists argue that minority religions, which have grown in size and become more assertive in the UK, are sure to seek a share of the power pie, currently hogged almost entirely by the churches.

“When religions seek power, they will fight each other to get it. There are 1.6 million Muslims in the UK. By 2040, more people will worship in mosques than in churches. Conflict is sure to ensue,” says Terry Sanderson of the NSS, which campaigns to drive religion out of public space. “We have to be more secular to live together peacefully.”

The church has woken up to the ‘new threat’. The need to take on the secularists has spurred efforts to bring the Anglican and Roman Catholic churches closer. The Archbishop of Canterbury Dr Rowan Williams, who heads the Anglican Church, recently joined Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor, the head of Catholics in England and Wales, to slam the secularists. “Those who campaign for the removal of religion from national life are themselves guilty of an intolerant faith position,” they said.

Christianity in Decline

Though Christians still account for a nominal 70 per cent of the UK’s population, nearly a million stopped going to church on Sundays between 1988 and 1997. And according to the latest survey by the independent Christian Research Organization, half a million more stopped between 1998 and 2005.

The influx of Christians from Africa and the rest of Europe slowed the slump, but the survey also found that while 1,000 new people were joining a church each week, 2,500 were leaving. Only 6.3 per cent of the population goes to church on Sundays. And the congregations are getting older as youth abandons the pews. Regans are obviously being outnumbered by a growing population of atheists.

Archbishop of Canterbury met Pope Benedict XVI in Rome last week to draw up a strategy to deal with the secularists. “We are two churches standing in the middle of a secular and unfriendly environment….” he was quoted as saying by the weekly Catholic Herald.

About half of the UK’s Christians are Anglicans, while the Roman Catholic Church has an active membership of 1.8 million.

The Anglican and Roman Catholic bishops recently had a historic conclave in Leeds — the first of its kind since Henry VIII broke with Rome in the 16th century. The two churches have serious differences over many issues – like ordination of homosexuals, married and women priests.

But it was the common concern over ‘secularism’ and growing ‘public atheism’ that dominated the conclave in Leeds. The bishops took strong exception to the recent move by some universities to restrict or ban Christian Unions (CUs), which were accused of faith discrimination.

Falling Numbers

The rise of atheism hasn’t spared Islam, either. “I see fewer youths in mosques on Fridays,” says Salim. Perhaps that is why Moulana Ataullah Siddiqui joined Bishop of Bolton David Gillett to lambast the secularists.

“Those who cite religious pluralism as an excuse to de-Christianize British society unwittingly become recruiting agents for the extreme Right,” they said, adding that efforts to ‘secularize’ Christmas and other religious festivals were offensive to all communities. Birmingham has already renamed Christmas as ‘Winterval’ and Plymouth has withdrawn the free car parking near churches on Sundays.

The Church of England (CofE) last month reacted strongly to reports that Prince Charles –  heir to Queen Elizabeth II – is planning a multi-faith coronation.

The CofE reminded the Prince that it has been the duty of the Archbishop of Canterbury since 1066 to conduct the coronation service. It also stated that the Prince must restrain his interest in other faiths and stay within the 'constitutional framework', which makes the monarch the Supreme Governor of the CofE and the ‘defender of The Faith’.

The CofE even threatened to sell its £ 9 million stake in British Airways (BA) to protest the national airliner’s policy of not allowing its employees to wear crosses and other religious symbols openly – with an exception for turbans and headscarves.

A Christian employee Nadia Eweida challenged the ban in court. The BA won the legal battle, but buckled under pressure from the church and decided to review its uniform policy. Ironically, a primary school – run by the CofE itself – in Dewsbury recently sacked a Muslim ‘Teaching Assistant’ after she refused to take off her veil.

In multi-cultural UK, the new debate has just begun: to be godless or godlier?